New to overclocking, and need some help

[myowngod]

To add to what myowngod said, some good programs to use to stress test the cpu are Prime95 (there is a 32bit and a 64bit version, not sure what you have) and IntelBurn Test .

^^ this, I didn't want to suggest anything in particular, as I am not too familiar with AMD chips... but those are the programs I've used on my intel..

 

[Nubbleet]

And when you get an OC you like, and want to run 24/7 you should stress test it for about 24 hours to make sure it's stable enough for everyday use.

 

[Antec-User]

^ 24 hours??! I run it for 4 or 5 hours and that's enough for me.. It starts to get good and warm after about an hour and a half. I won't run it overnight, just in case it crashes. I babysit the system when I test it. I don't need it to be in a boot-reboot cycle for 6 hours.

 

[james.wired]

Yeah 24 hours isn't really necessary...I think 4 or 5 hours on Prime95 at the most. Maybe leave it overnight if you don't have the time between work and sleep like me

 

[mikesx4911]

Well Im still not very pleased with my results lol. After using a quad core dual core just dosent cut it for me lol. I cant run fraps and gears on high resolution without havn some decent FPS. So Im going to upgrade my cpu. But this one will prove as a good test cpu ; )