Overclocking my e6300...need some moral support

[Nightrain]

So yesterday I started overclocking my e6300. I knew i wasnt going to get much with my ram limitations and the motherboard (and as i found out the mobo reached its max slightly before the ram did). This is my first time overclocking a cpu, have always kept them stock, but i think i did a decent job with what i had. I kept track of all my numbers and frequencies, and took notes on what worked and what didnt.

so what i found worked was lowering the 667 ram down to 533(matching the bus speed of 266), and then raise both of them together manually. When i left the ram at 667 i reached my ceiling much earlier. anyways what i found was that my mobo's bus speed maxed out at about 330mhz...so i backed it of a few mhz and i had the processor running at 2.25Ghz...not bad for my board i guess (wish i had spent and extra 100 bucks for the better asus board but strict budgets do have their consequences). So is this decent for the limitations of the board...i kno its a pos for ocing so im quite happy iguess...it raised my 3dmark03 by ~1000points which i guess is decent. havent tried 06 since i oc'd it but i will.

now im concerned with the longevity of my board and such. the temperatures didnt raise much at all...i kept track of what i started with and each increase. but should i be worried about leaving it at 2.25ghz or should i just lower it back down to the stock 1.86 and take the 400mhz cut. will it make that much of a difference? temperatures seem fine but is there anything else i should worry about...any tools i can use to stress test it? it seemed to work fine without consequences, but i guess im just paranoid...i dropped it back down to stock speeds, but i have all my numbers so i can just put it back to the higher speeds anytime...you think the higher speed will help my fps in games or should i just keep it at stock

im just paranoid, and probably just want someone to tell me its ok to keep it at overclock'ed speeds...guess i just need a helping hand

 

[holyjunk]

Keep the overclock. The core 2 duo won't run much hotter anyways. You could probably take the fan and heatsink off but don't Anways I think everything will work for you. Good Luck!

~I have a question. Why did you get two 7600gs's and sli them?

 

[Nightrain]

thanks. ill keep the overclock.

i got the 2 7600gs, and sli'd them because when i built it it was the best deal for performance that i could find at the time. after rebates i got both of them for ~$100. nothing else i could find even came close. and as you can see from the mobo i got i was on a pretty strict budget. together to they do run great (atleast 100 bucks great lol). with my cpu and those two cards i get about 5000 on 3dmark06, when my friend with his evga 7900gt ko only gets 5500, or so he says anyways...lol...(he first told me he got 9000...wrong test). so i get similar performance for much less.

it seemed like the best deal at the time, and it gives me room to upgrade. when the dx10 cards come out ill prob upgrade to a 7900 or two. but im content now. my monitor only goes to a res of 1024*768 so its not a huge difference anyways. havent tried hooking it up to my tv yet but ehh.

seemed like a good deal, any cards that were gonna give me similar performance were way more expensive. plus ill get used to this and when i upgrade itl be like wow! lol. no this was plenty a step from my hp dual core laptop with a 7400go. i get 4x the score and way better frame rates, so im happy.

thanks for the advice on keeping the overclock...ill put it back next time i turn off and on the computer. thanks man