hey people...

Ive just found out that ive wasted some cash, possibly a fair bit of cash...

A few months ago i dished out £250 for 2gigs of ram (2x1gb sticks) which was Ballistix DDR2 PC2-8000, i thought it would be perfect for my Asus Commando board, which supports DDR2 800 speed....

But, ive just realized that i got a little confused by the PC2-8000 part, i assumed this was just some fancy way of saying this RAM ran at 800mhz, but actually, PC2-8000 means DDR2 1000mhz!, and as far as i know, my Commando motherboard can only support a max of 800mhz RAM (which is aka PC2-6400...

So, ive wasted at least £50 for that extra 200mhz, that i cant even use, in fact, i dont think anyone can yet, ive yet to see a motherboard that support that ram speed....but on the plus, i guess i should get some satisfaction knowing ive probably got the fastest ram on the market >.< (feel free to correct me guys...)

Now, this brings me to why i'm writing this...yes, overclocking...

I could overclock my motherboard...right?. overclocking is something ive kept away from, baaad memories.. (involving alot of smoke, and strong smells...) so i have no idea on how to do it, specially how to do it safely...

I'm not exactly asking for you guys to post a huge step-by-step guide on how to overclock the mobo, (ive still got the commando's manual ) i'd just appreciate it if someone could tell me.....should i do it?, is it worth the risk, and the instability?. or would it be best for me to wait a few months/years for mobo's that support these speeds to come out?.

Of course, if i do decide i'll try it, i'll have to learn a heck of alot more before i start messing around with the bios...(ive already looked in there on the OC features, looks very...confusing with all those unfamiliar words, and i suck at maths...)

Hi Thing.

In my opinion, I will always say no, unless it's necessary to do so. Overclocking as your PC as your probably aware can serious harm your hardware, but at the very least, reduce the life of it.

If you do decide to overclock, consider this, and also consider that even if your CPU for example, can be overclocked, check your temperatures whilst the PC is under stress and compare them to the recommended maximum temperatures first.

Hiya Thingamajig,

Welcome to The site,

I personally am not a big fan of overclocking (seen too many fried systems), BUT, if you have a good idea what you are doing and are willing to risk pushing your system over the edge, you could probably get some awsome performances.

Heat is a major problem with overclocking so be sure that if you do, you keep a wary eye on what the system temps are doing. VGA cards can handle fairly high temps but cpu and memory tend to be less tolerant.

If you do decide to try, let us know how you get on

Make sure you get a good cooler for the CPU especially and plenty of case fans, with good airflow in the case.

If you do go for it check temps in the BIOS for most accuracy, and run stress tests such as Orthos and Prime95 for lots of hours to ensure the overclock is stable.

Marked as answered.