This is my first run at overclocking, and I am taking it pretty slow. However I reached what I think may be my safe zone. I just wanted to run this by the gurus and take in any advice you may have. If I need to provide more information, please let me know.

My Gear:
XFX 680i nVidia motherboard
Intel Q6600 (G0) with a Xigmatek HDTS-1283
EVGA 8800GT with an Arctic Cooler Accelero S1
OCZ 4MB DDR2 800 RAM

I have a second 8800GT with an Arctic Cooler Accelero S1, however I am currently not in SLI mode as I am waiting for the flexible SLI cable.

Clock Speeds:
Q6600 at 3.30ghz, 1.450V
8800GT at 700mhz gpu, 1000mhz memory speed

I monitored my temperatures while running 3DMark06 (results here) and the results were as follows:
Q6600: idle at 49C, peaked at 62C during GPU tests, peaked at 68 during CPU tests. The individual cores always ran lower than the overal temperatures I have provided.
8800GT: idle at 46C, peaked at 57 during GPU tests.

Now, during the tests, the temperatures are absolute peaks. They generally ran 2-3C lower during all tests, except for the Q6600 during the GPU tests; those were consistent.

Based on this, is there anything that I should tweak a bit more. The system, at this time, appears to be stable. I monitor my temperatures closely at all times. Are there any other things that I should be aware of, or should I just continue on and keep a close eye on everything?

I am fairly certain my GPU is rock solid at 700/1000. When I tried bringing it up to 720/1000, the system locked up. The CPU was running for a long time at 3.0ghz/1.375V about 10C cooler. Am I safe at these temperatures at the current setting?

Thank you in advance.

what CPU cooler you using?

overall pretty good. try to push a few mhz out of your CPU at this vcore as it wont get more then 1 or 2C from now. remember 70C is the max safe limit for temp.

I posted that up top... a Xigmatek HDTS-1283.

oops sorry!im half sleep now.its 3:53am here in UK.

68C load CPU on that thing?something is not right.try reseat it. because that temp on that cooler is VERY HIGH. whats you ambient by the way?

Some 8800gt will go up to 750mhz stable. 700mhz isn't bad though. And 3.3ghz with q6600 on 680i is extremely good. You should be proud. Most people don't get above 2.8ghz with q6600 on that chipset. You should keep an eye on chipset temperature, 680i runs hot.

My chipset temp peaks at 49C under heavy load. As for the 8800GT, I was locking up at 720-750. And it was not temperature related.

8800gt use lower binned g92 chips than 8800gts or 9800gtx. Your luck could be better, but 700mhz isn't exactly bad anyway.

49 degrees load for 680i is strange, even if at stock. How many hours of prime95 did you test for? And 68 degrees for the cpu is high, but if it doesn't exceed 70 at max load, you should be fine.

I did not test with prime95 as of yet. The 68 degrees is high, but that was at peak during the CPU test. During gaming it is around 59C.

You need to test with prime95 for at least 1 hour stable for it to be considered good enough to keep. CPU benchmarks do not produce highest possible heat levels or sustain max load for extended period of time.

ah so now i understand.you didnt prime it you cheeky monkey!LOL

you need to prime it for 24hours if thats what you looking to keep for everyday use.

Well I was playing EVE last night and the system rebooted. Definite stability issue. So I set the CPU to run at 3.2ghz at 1.375V. I then ran Prime95 all night and when I woke up the next morning, everything was still running smoothly and without errors.

Prime95 using in-place-TFT or whatever creates the most heat and come back to tell us. Somethings amiss with your heatsink, did you use AS-5? Did you put a fan on it? It should be much cooler with that massive heatsink.

Prime95 In Place Large FFT s and watch the max temp for about 30 minutes. Or use HWM to watch it for you for 1 hour, better idea.

Your cpu has thermal throttling, as long as its enabled in bios you wont fry your chip, Quads run hot and i dont recommend running them over 3.2Ghz without watercooling.

cheers

even you dont have thermal throttling enable you still wont fry your chip.mogwilson didnt you know that?

i would still use small FFTs that the best to stress the CPU.large FFTs even though it says maxmimun heat output but not as stressful as small FFTs.

personally i prefer evga 750i FTW its soooooo cheap right now at tiger o wel ur $$$...