Purchased new CPU and need advice

[sillybilly]

I had my little bro put together a CPU for me and with the budget I had, I ended up with:

AMD Athlon 64 x2 dual core processor 3.0 g

2- Nvidia Gforce 7600 GT video cards

2- 1gig OCZ  dII 800ddr ram

OCZ|OCZ700GXSSLI 700W RT power supply

windows xp sp2

My question is,about over clocking graphics and cpu, and benchmarking. I am experienced user but this is all new to me with this high tech SLI and dualcore and dual video. I am using AI booster which came with the equipment, but Really scared to do a whole lot. I have resourced the manufactures webs and I keep running in circles,,, any help or advice????

Part2:

When I reboot, it takes a very long time, and I have my bios setup for quick boot and all that but still slow. It was very fast when first installed everything, but now for ever it takes!!!

Thanks so much,,,

SillyBilly

[dlewis23]

When you overclock your CPU and GPU you are suppose to do in 2Mhz intervals then test and make sure everything works fine. As long as you don't try and jump 500mhz at once you will be fine, just go slow with it because when you over clock the processor you over clock everything.

The X2's are not the greatest over clockers either, its no core 2 duo where you can get a 1000mhz extra easy, you may only get a extra 150mhz with that processor, and its probably not even worth it because add another 150mhz is not going to make a noticeable difference.

What part takes a long time when rebooting? is it the bios screen, windows startup, or windows shut down.

[sillybilly]

O.K. some great info here!!! I am clocked at 3255.00mhz front side bus is at 1085.00 external frequency is 217.00 and my multiplier is 15.

Does this info help you in helping me??? I can also adjust voltage. I grabbed a bench marking progam called mark5, but it takes so long to run after readjusting my clocking. Any ways,, Yes at the bios screen it takes for ever. once windows welcome screen comes up, it hauls butt...

[RTB]

You kind of got the wrong CPU to overclock, this one is about as fast as most AMD dual cores will go, including overclocking. The 5000+ Black Edition would have been cheaper and could have scaled just as far as this one, and you even get the ease of an unlocked multi. Also, yours is 90nm, and the one I mentioned is 65nm and thus requires less wattage. If anything, I'd lower the voltage to see how low it can go, to lower the wattage output yet again.