[eggcream]

Working on putting together a budget computer that I'm going to overclock. I'm looking for at least a 30% increase from the overclocking. I'm just wondering what the basics of overclocking are and what types of hardware are best for it. I know cooling is a big issue when overclocking but what else is a factor. Also wondering what the difficulty of overclocking is considering this will be my first attempt at it. My last question is, is it worth buying a computer bellow your standers to overclock to your standers, or should I just build something that meets my standers at its stock ratings and I could overclock it higher. Thanks for the help everyone.

[gurusan]

There are several factors that contribute to a good overclocking setup:

• Luck
  Some hardware batches are better than others, you can look at the stepping to see if others have had success with that particular batch
• Power delivery
  A sufficient amount of stable and clean power will contribute to a stable overclock. This means motherboards with 8 and 16-phase power are preferred, as are power supplies with low ripple.
• Cooling
  As you overclock to higher frequencies, you will most likely need to add some voltage in order to stabilize the overclock....this will lead to increased temperatures which will require aftermarket cooling.
• Hardware Choice
  Some components are just better for overclocking...for whatever reason

That's about it....it's actually extremely easy and choosing the right parts is not hard. Give us a budget and what you will primarily be using the computer for and we can spec you out a system with top bang/buck ratio.

[veedubfreak]

Personally i look at overclocking as free power. Figure out what you want, then decide if you want to overclock to get there, or start where you want and overclock to get extra down the road.

[eggcream]

Thanks gurusan that's helpful. Question, Is it worth it to buy a system that is not as fast as i need but i can overclock it to a speed that is suitable. Or should i build something that meets my standerds stock and i can just over clock higher.

[gurusan]

In my opinion you should plan on overclocking, that will get you the most for your money.

You can spend literally several times more than a budget overclocked setup and still be completely outpaced by it.

Like I said, if you give us a budget and what you want to do with the computer (gaming...etc) we can spec you out a system that, when overclocked, will beat pretty much any pre-built system (depending on the budget of course).