What is overclocking? is it useful? do i need to do it? please i need some tips.

Overclockingis taking a piece of hardware beyond its factory specifications. Say you have a 2.0Ghz. Processor, overclocking would be changing the speed to say 2.2Ghz. You can overclock many parts of your computer system(Your CPU, GPU, Memory...etc..) Just be warned Overclocking can shorten the life of your pc, but it all depends on how far you go with it.....Think of it like somone on drugs, they seem to really like it, until one day they go to far and take too much, and either end up retarded or dead.....

Nice way of putting it. I have a p4 2.66 or 2.7 (it changes when it wants to) do u recomed overclcoking that. I also have a Gigabyte 8sg-800 which comes with overclocking softwear, do u recomend overclocking that. Finally i have a Geforce fx 5200 128mb, wot is ur verdict of overclocking that?

Well overclocking that P4 on that motherboard a little it wont hurt it. However I dont know if I would overclock the FX5200, I would search around the net and look for others success with that card and overclocking, just go to google and type in "FX 5200 overclocking". Because I've heard that those cards weren't the greatest thing as far as quality goes, and so overclocking may not be a good idea. Giving yourself a few MHz. would be fine, but do it incrementally, a little at a time, same for the P4. When you overclock it, monitor the CPU temp, make sure its not going too high..anymore questions just ask...

My fan always seems to be working pretty hard, it sounds like a hoover, is there anyway i can lower the noise a bit. Also wen i play demanding games, well most games for that matter the area around the back of my pc get quite warm, is this a problem?

Do you have any extra fans? Like an exhaust fan? or just your cpu and powersupply fans?
And your cpu fan sounds like a hoover because your cpu is a 2.6Ghz P4.....they get pretty warm...have to keep them cool...

well since im a rookie all i can say is i have 1 big fan at the bak that pumps out some serious heat, im considering send my my central heating since my pc seems to manage it just fine.

lol...Is your pc a custom built system or is it a Dell or something??

Edit:
Ok here's my honest recommendation, don't overclock, and dont worry about anything else like heat, it will be fine. The best thing you could do at this point is buy a better video card, and if you dont have one already an Audigy 2 sound card...that would make your system a really good system...

Its custom built, i gave the specs i wanted to a pc dude and he built it, relieable company so i didnt get conned, apart from the £4 modem he put in, cheeky ****

Ok but did you read what else I wrote? That integrated AC97 soundcard is slowing your system down, you need to get atleast an Audigy, though an Audigy 2 would be better..And you could definitly use a better video card if you have the ££'s

Well what video card do u recomend, im not looking for a beast, just somthing that can play al the latest games at full standard, and i was thinking of buying a Creative soundblaster 5.1 oem for around £20

That soundcard would be an ok card, Audigy would be alot better...but get what you can afford:grinthumb ....As far as a video card goes you probably should hold out until the new ones are released, I say that because the FX cards are supposed to be DX9 cards, yet they probably wont have the power to even play the DX9 games, Ati cards are DX9 compatible too, but are supposed to be alot better. As far as what card to get, I'd look around at the other posts on these forums..there are plenty of them discussing which video card to get...

cheers, how much is the Audigy or Audigy2?

DONT OVERCLOCK IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING

just not worth it.....you may not even have a good cooler!

btw,rory1, are you rmwc?

am i what?

I live in the U.S. so I dont know how much it would be over there..An Audigy 2 is only $80 here. Do you use the Euro or the Pound? I used this converter thing and it said it would be 70 Euros or 50 Pounds..Prices are probably different there though. The Audigy should cost half as much(should...since its a couple years old now)

are you rmwc

edit - never mind, you admitted you where here:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=56042#post56042

lets just hope you are a new man I didnt think baned people get a second chance

agissi I already told him he shouldnt overclock...he's just getting recommendations for upgrades now...

oh ok, sorry about that.

You already have a pretty good system, with the 2.6Ghz P4, and nice ram, however your videocard is crap! bad, bad, bad. Depending on your budget, I'd get either a Geforce 5600 Ultra, or the ATi Radeon 9700 PRO. The 9700 having the upper hand, as it costs more.

Yeah I told him he needs a new video card and sound card, he's using the integrated sound which sucks system resources...:dead: