Why do you need to know idle?

The load temps are the important ones. As long as you're sure that the max temps the chip will reach are within your comfort zone (And within the chips limits) then you can keep going.

quote Player1

The load temps are the important ones. As long as you're sure that the max temps the chip will reach are within your comfort zone (And within the chips limits) then you can keep going.

Well, that's the thing: I don't know what my chip's limits are, nor do I have any idea what a reasonable comfort zone would be. That's where you guys come in.

bp, my idles at 215 MHz were hovering in the low-to-mid 40's.

player1 is the one who showed me how to OC

he is pretty damn good, he can help you more than i can

We can't tell you what your comfort zone is.

What cooler are you using?

I'd push it to 70C and be comfortable. I'd prolly push it further for fun.

I've had my 920 hit 100C a few times and it still works.

Lol yeah, I know you can't tell me what my comfort zone is, but my point is that I don't have a comfort zone because I don't know anything about safe temperatures. Until I downloaded HWMonitor I wouldn't have known that 40C idle is okay.

All my coolers are stock, so whatever came with my case, cpu etc are what I'm using.

So... 70C isn't going to damage anything, or shorten the lifespan?

i would say 70C at load would be reasonable

but 100C is downright crazy

It's hard to say for sure what would shorten the lifespan of a chip, because they are all different.

You should be fine with 70C though.

Again it's up to you.

Because you are using stock coolers I'd stop where you are. If you want to overclock further you should purchase an aftermarket cooler.

Here's my stress test, using Everest, with FSB upped to 215.

CPU is hovering at 67C, so I'm gunna try upping my FSB another 5 just to see if I can safely hit the 2.8 GHz mark.

One thing I'm curious about are my voltages. Both CPU-Z and Everest show my voltages at about the 1.4V mark. I'm fairly certain my CPU's stock voltage is supposed to be 1.3(something)V. Could this be a factor worth looking into, or is the difference explainable in some way?

For extra coolers, would you just recommend more fans? My case has two fans already, but there's room for more. Any particular brands you'd recommend? How hard are they to install (for someone not too tech-savvy)?

If your Vcore is set on auto then it will be increased from stock.

I'm recommending you purchase a new HSF.

Maybe a V8, I think they're pretty cheap now.

I managed to get my FSB up to 230 (which gets me to right on 3.0 GHz) without anything getting above 70C during my (admittedly short) stress tests. So that's pretty good. The only limiting factor I've hit so far is heat, so that's definitely the problem I want to address.

The V8s you're suggesting Player1 are almost $90AUD, so that's a bit much considering I'm unlikely to be doing anything other than upping the FSB (not voltage). Besides which, one of the common criticisms I've seen of them is that they require the motherboard to be removed in order to install; Maybe a bit ambitious for me, haha.

What would you recommend for a slightly more mid-range cooler? The cooler they used on the Tom's Hardware guide I posted was a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 and they had success with that, and those retail for about $40, which is reasonable. If I could go lower/cheaper for the fairly tame OC'ing that I want to do, then that'd be good, too.

Yeah that xig cooler is pretty good for its price.

Zalman coolers are pretty nice and cheap as well.

How simple is installing one of these things? Keeping in mind I've never touched the inside of a PC before.

Uhh...

If you've got an Intel setup you'll need to remove the board to install most aftermarket coolers.

The exception to that is if they have Pushpins or your board already has a backplate.

It's AMD.

Then you should be good with most coolers that support AM2/AM3 boards.