I'm going to try overclocking for the first time, and while I think I understand the settings after reading the ocia.net and planet3d guides, i'm rather confused about what is the best method of doing it.

my setup:
phenom 9750 X4
Asus M3A (bios 1001)
Sunbeamtech core contact freezer
kingston ddr2 pc2-6400 1 gig X 2 800mhz

Unless I more settings get uncovered, here's the limits of my bios:
FSB value = 200-600
CPU multiplier = 8-11.50 (can get 12.0 if left on auto)
NB multiplier = 4-9
CPU-NB HT link = 200mhz-1.8 ghz (1-9 multiplier, apparently)
Processor voltage = 1.30v max (although if I set any voltage, speedfan/CPU-Z reads a higher voltage...a common issue with asus boards)
Dram voltage = 1.90v-2.25v (apparently, auto sets this to 1.8v)
SB Voltage = 1.25-1.40v (although supposedly for k10 chips, this should be integrated)

After reading various posts with this setup, it's supposedly very easy to get a 3.0 ghz OC simply by raising the FSB to 250. What i'm worried about:

1. voltage adjustments: how much and which?
2. popping the mosfets at higher voltages
3. keeping the NB freq and HT link equal
4. adjusting the ram (i'm primarily concerned with keeping it at 400mhz rather than overclocking it to instability because of the FSB)

So, my plan is:
a. See how much CPU voltage the HSF can handle
b. (keeping voltage constant) raise the FSB to 250, adjusting memory/ht/nb to keep the same level
c. (keeping voltage, FSB constant) adjusting memory/ht/nb voltages to keep them stable

Basically, since i know what target I want (CPU@3.0 ghz, memory/ht/nb at current level) would it be better to start there and go down, rather than start at base and go up?

The Phenom's are a bit diffrent than other AMD CPU's when you goto get a good OC with them. There are some "strange" settings involved. For maximum OC goto and read the DFI motherboard forums.