Thinking about overclocking

[mo52087]

Here's the setup I run..

8800GT 512 mb alpha dog edition
AMD 64 dual core 4200+ 2.2ghz
2 gb of ram
Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8EKRS SLI mobo
430 watt (12v) coolmaster psu

I'm looking to overclock my CPU. From what I understand you can do everything straight from the bios. There's so many options to mess around with like how much power and all that, I'm totally confused.

First things first. I know I need some kind of monitoring program for CPU temps and all that. Any advice on some free programs? Now I'm not running any water cooling system or anything, just standard fans. So I'm pretty sure that will have a role in how much I can overclock this processor.

Do you guys recommend any guides on how to overclock a processor. I searched around on google but I would like a response from people who know what they're talking about, especially since I'm totally new to this and have no clue what I'm doing.

Thanks in advance.

[Midknyte]

Did you look at the Best of CPU's and Overclocking (http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=181413)? Please take time to look at the stickies before posting.

Granted some of the guides are a bit old, but the same rules apply.

Speedfan is a freebie temp/fan monitor. The link is in Tech Tools along with other sysinfo tools.

[jb_3276]

Hi. If you are new to overclocking and your procie/mobo is all that you treasure, you have to do a lot of readings about your pc before you tinker with it. It's like driving a car for the first time. You'll get plenty of scratches on your bumpers before you become a pro-driver. If you have older processor and motherboard, it would be better tinkering there. But this should not discourage you from learning to overclock.

I myself burned my only PC Pentium 3 533 mhz the first time I learn overclocking. After several years and I know how to, it's not anymore a priority option for me. But the learning is great. Go for it with caution.