Aye its probably best to wait a bit and get a new Mobo & CPU when you can afford it. as you already have a decent GPU and PSU its probably worth getting a new Case when you upgrade your Mobo & CPU, i personally wont have anything less than a Lian-Li, utterly superb build quality and the attention to detail is amazing it makes putting a Pc together a piece of piss ! a case for life ! http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/contact_us/index1.php
Yea, I think your better off buying a new MB and CPU ( or just a new CPU if your MB can take it ) rather than overclocking. Also, you will be amazed at what price you might get for your old MB and CPU if you sell them on Ebay, to make up the cost of a new set. I think overclocking is only ideal for the short term use, not pro-longed usage. But thats just based on my experience and opinon.
I just overclocked my i7-920 last night, and taking it from stock 2.66GHz to 4Ghz was easier than I expected. Idle temps increased from ~30 to 37, max temps (prime95) went from ~50 to high 70's (Coolit ALC cooler).
I went into the BIOS and changed the base clock (BCLK) from 133MHz to 200Mz and bobs-yer-uncle. Well, that was pretty much it... I tweaked a memory ratio to x8 so the memory is running at its rated speed (1600) otherwise it would have been overoverclocked (and... I set the memory volts to 1.65 volts from the stock 1.5). ***But*** I didn't need to change any cpu voltages and that helped with the temps I expect.
yeah but every cpu is different. with the sockel 1366 i7 cpus they changed the architecture. so if you have another system u cant change your bclk. maybe you have to change your fsb.
All processors vary (even the same make and model) by the amount they can be safely overclocked. It's a careful scientific process to find out the limits, and then a balance of speed, stability and longevity of your CPU. I have oc'd all my processors, including my Q6600 from 2.4Ghz to 3.4Ghz on air. None of my processors have failed subsequently after an overclock, with each of them running for several years (Always work my hardware till I NEED an upgrade. Overclocking increases the value of the CPU in this/my case).