hey I have a zalman CNPS7700-AICu fan on my cpu runng around 40C. Can you tell me how much i can over clock it and what celsius should it be ?
thanks

It's impossible to know how far you'll get with overclocking, there are simply too many variables. Even removing all but one variable; nobody can possibly know how much additional stress your particular CPU wafer can endure. The best anyone will be able to do is give a rough guess based on the success of others, however, no guarantee can be made. Trial and error is your best friend...

As far as a safe operating temperature is concerned; it's maximum temperature is probably around 70C-75C (though I admittedly haven't looked up the E8400's specifications), and you'll likely want to keep it below 60C-65C at load if possible.

I find that about a 20% overclock is usually safe. If you are one of those who likes to squeeze out every mhz. possible, be careful. You would do well to look up your ram modules and how much extra voltage that they can handle. Look up your CPU @ Intel and find out the absolute highest operating temp that is safe. Study all of it. I have gotten to the point where safe temps and stable operation have become my goal. Computers have gotten so fast now that I can't even see a screen come up...it's just there! Once your machine is this blindingly fast, you lose the urge to go faster. It doesn't make any visible difference. Safe temps are number 1.

CPU specs, including safe temps/voltages (as released by manufacturer), are listed in site page http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm



I wouldn't say that you lose the urge to go faster.... or worse, that you don't see any visible difference in overclocking. It all depends on what you do on your computer. Video rendering still takes forever (although not as slow as they used to be on my P3), but until everything I want to do on my comp gets done in a split second, ITS NOT FAST ENOUGH!!