[Callil]

OC-ers! Over the last couple of months I've been hanging around the forums, mainly reading tech news but more recently asking many questions about the parts to choose.

Spoiler: Warning: My Baby!!

- Nexus Real Silent 120mm Case Fan (x3)
- Silverstone Fortress FT03B Black
- Kingston HyperX 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3
- Western Digital WD Green 1TB
- ASUS P8Z77-M PRO Motherboard
- Intel Core i7 3770K
- Silverstone Strider 750W Gold Evolution
- Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB SSD
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Overclocked 2GB
- Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk CPU Cooler

- Dell U2713HM (bought on sale!)

Basicly I've listed my build above for reference and wanted to ask, for someone who just built their first pc, what should i start with!

General plan is to check my cpu temps (so nothings out of the norm) overclock it and my graphics card! Only modestly, so recommendations on the best programs and guides would be muchly appreciated!

Cheers for enticing me to build my own pc, was too much fun!

 

[OS-Wiz]

Realtemp
CPU-Z
GPU-Z
EVGA Precision X or MSI Afterburner
Prime95
Heaven 4.0
Futuremark 3DMark

 

[MisterFred]

1) Install some sort of temperature checking program first off (makes sure some weird catastrophic heatsink mounting mistake didn't occur, something like that)

2) Install the programs you normally use. Some of your more demanding games/applications as well.

3) Do some gaming with everything still at stock settings (make sure everything is working correctly before attempting an overclock).

4) Overclock only ONE of the GPU/CPU. Go slow, increase voltage only by small increments (sometimes, not at all in the case of GPU). Follow a guide.

5) Stress test & repeat step 3 (ensure your GPU or CPU overclock is stable so you don't incorrectly attribute problems)

6) Overclock the other component (CPU or GPU)

7) Repeat step 5.

8) Take pleasure in the results of your hard work & look down your nose at friends who bought some piece of crap pre-made for twice as much as you paid.

9) Try to just enjoy your monster machine and not get a pointless upgrade bug!