PC Built! Can an Overclocker help me?

[Vitter]

Ok, in 2 days my PC will be finished. Here are the final parts, most of these (especially the ones relating to OC'ing) have a link to the NewEgg page which provides detailed information, reviews, and a link to the manufacturers page:

Power: 550W Aztec
Cooling: 4x80mm fans (2 front, 2 back) not counting Power Supply fan.
Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe (800Mhz FSB)
Processor: P4C 2.8 Ghz (800Mhz FSB)
Memory: 2x512 (1GB) OCZ Dual Channel EL Gold DDR500 (PC4000)
HardDrive: Seagate 7200Mhz Serial ATA 160gig
**Note: Later i'll probably upgrade this to two 10,000 RPM 76gb SATA HD's running on RAID0
Video Card: 256MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Sound Card: SB Audigy Live

Before you (an experienced PC Builder and, hoperfully, overclocker) read on, please feel free to advice me on the wisdom of whether or not I should overlock this PC.

As this PC was being built I went through the effort to look up several guides on overclocking. I learned alot of stuff about latencies and frequencies. However, I did NOT find any actual "How To" guides.

The decision to overclock was recently made after I read through the manual of my motherboard (link above) and found it to be VERY overclock friendly. The manual gives a full list of all the options available to overclockers in the Bios. The manual, however, did NOT give me advice on how I should go about overclocking. For instance, what categories to tinker with in what order and at what ratio.

This is why i'm here. I'm hoping an experienced overclocker can guide me through all the categories (which i've provided below) and offer me advice as to what I should do with each setting in the Bios to insure a safe and succesful overclocking experience.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following are the categories and settings inside Bios that can be modified. I've taken the liberty to jot down the category, settings, and a short description of each. The word in brackets [] next to each setting (but before the description) is the default.

Inside the Advanced Menu is a list of categories. The list of settings inside each category follows. The first of the categories is:

JumperFree Configuration

AI Overclock Tuner [Standard]

Allows selection of CPU overclocking options to achieve desired CPU intenal frequency. Select either one of the preset overclocking options.
Configuration options: [Manual], [Standard], [Overclock 5%], [Overclock 10%], [Overclock 20%], [Overclock 30%]

CPU Ratio [18]

Sets the ratio between the CPU core clock and the FSB frequency.
Note: This item appears only if you are using an unlocked CPU.

Performance Mode [Auto]

Allows enhanced sysyems performance. Configuration options: [Auto], [Standard], [Turbo].

When you set the AI Overclocking Tuner item to [Manual] the related overclocking items appear:

CPU External Frequency (MHz) [XXX] (value is auto detected)

Indicated the frequency sent by the clock generator to the system bus and PCI bus. The bus frequency (external frequency) multiplied by the bus multiple equals the CPU speed. The value of this item is auto detected by BIOS. The values range from 100-400.

DRAM Frequency [Auto]

Allows you to set the DDR operating frequency.
Configuration options: [266 MHz], [333 MHz], [400MHz], [Auto]

AGP/PCI Frequency (MHz) [Auto]

allows you to adjust to a higher AGP/PCI frequency for better system performance and overclocking capability.
Configuration options: [Auto], [66.66/33.33], [72.73/36.36], [80.00/40.00]

CPU VCore Voltage [Auto]

Allows you to select a specific CPU VCore Voltage.
Configuration options: [Auto], [1.6000V] ... [1.4750V]

DDR Referance Voltage [Auto]

Allows selection of the DDR SDRAM operating voltage.
Configuration options: [2.85V], [2.85V], [2.75V], [2.65V], [2.55V], [Auto]

AGP VDDQ Voltage [1.50V]

Allows selection of the AGP operating voltage.
Configuration options: [1.80V], [1.70V], [1.60V], [1.50V]

CPU Configuration

Hyper Threading Technology [Enabled]

This item allows you to enable or disable the processor Hyper Threading Technology.
Configuration options: [Disabled], [Enabled]

Chipset

Configure DRAM Timing by SPD [Enabled]

When this item is enabled, the DRAM timing parameters are set according to the DRAM SPD (Serial Presence Detect). When disabled you can manually set the DRAM timing parameters through the DRAM sub-items.
Configuration options: [Disabled], [Enabled]

Performance Acceleration Mode [Auto]

Allows boost in system performance.
Configuration options: [Auto], [Enabled]

DRAM Idle Timer [Auto]

Configuration options [Infinite], [0T], [8T], [16T], [64T], [Auto]

DRAM Refresh Mode [Auto]

Configuration modes: [Auto], [15.6 uSec], [7.8 uSec], [64 uSec], [Auto]

Graphic Adapter Priority [APG/PCI]

Allows selection of the graphics controller to use as primary boot device.
Configuration options: [AGP/PCI], [PCI/AGP]

Graphics Aperture Size [64MB]

Allows you to select the size of mapped memory for AGP graphic data.
Configuration options: [4MB], [8MB], [16MB], [32MB], [64MB], [128MB], [256MB]

Spread Spectrum [Enabled]

Configuration options: [Disabled], [Enabled]

ICH Delayed Transaction [Enabled]

Configuration options: [Disabled], [Enabled]

MPS Revision [1.4]

Configuration options: [1.1], [1.4]

The following items appear only when the item Configure DRAM Timing by SPD is set to [Disabled].

DRAM CAS# Latency [2.5 Clocks]

Configuration options: [2.0 Clocks], [2.5 Clocks], [3.0 Clocks]

DRAM RAS# Precharge [4 Clocks]

Configuration options: [4 Clocks], [3 Clocks], [2 Clocks]

DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay [4 Clocks]

Configuration options: [4 Clocks], [3Clocks], [2 Clocks]

DRAM Precharge Delay [8 Clocks]

Configuration options: [8Clocks], [7 Clocks], [6 Clocks], [5 Clocks]

DRAM Burst Length [4 Clocks]

Configuration options: [4 Clocks], [8 Clocks]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following were also under the Advanced Menu but did not appear to be of any use in overlocking so i will just give the title of the categories. If you'd like I can expand on them.


Onboard Devices Configuration

PCI PNP

USB Configuration

Speech Configuration

Instant Music Configuration