Is it safe to overclock my PC?

Everything on it is OEM, but I plan on getting a new gpu soon, because my current one sucks. Specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240 2.8 GHz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 6150SE nForce 430
Mobo: Pegatron 2A6C Chipset Nvidia MCP61
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. v6.01 9/29/10
 
If its an OEM machine its likely that the options required to overclock your cpu in bios will be locked. Gpu should not be a problem with some third party software.

Read some overclock guides here at techspot, watch your temps and you should be good to go.
 
Eh, safe is a relative term. Theoretically, higher clock speeds will produce more heat which in turn will wear out your components faster. However I've found that technology advances in a shorter amount of time than it takes to wear CPU's and GPU's so you'll probably find yourself replacing the components long before they wear out. This is at least true in my experiences with overclocking. Now if you do it wrong you can fry components. This is much harder nowadays than it used to be but it's still possible to do. But like Fimbles said, find a good guide here on Techspot or on another reputable website and learn about overclocking an then do it.

So in short, I can't say whether it's "safe" or not. There is an increase in risk as opposed to normal operation but it is much less risky nowadays than it has been in years past.
 
Have never worn out the life of a CPU or GPU before an upgrade was desperately needed.... Including all my overclocked comps running 24/7. Had some of them running for over 7 years.

To give you an idea, 7 years ago you would be running a Pentium D 8xx, or an Athlon X2. Early Dual Core stuff. Paired with a GeForce 7xxx series graphics card or X1000 series from ATI. And SLI was just (re)introduced the year before. Starting to feel nostalgic yet?

Gotta love it when people start factoring in the life of a CPU chip into the overclocking equation.... Unless you're going to do something extremely "out there" (think LN2, or maybe liquid Helium) you'll thank your lucky stars for a reason to upgrade when your computer dies of old age.

I reckon you'd have a better chance of dying of liver failure if you picked up alcoholism at the same time you bought your new PC. Anyone feels like trying it out?
 
I do think think its getting more easy than what it used to be but obviously if you dont know what your doing then the consequences are servere. I think I have read in a pc mag that AMD are making it more easy for people but beyond that I dont know how else is doing the same.
 
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