I have an Overclocking question

I had tried to overclock my old rig a couple of months ago and i could never really get a stable cpu overclock,and that was my first time really trying to overclock.

I do know that i left the memory settings at stock,and i am wondering if i was suppose to change those settings at all when i overclock the cpu?

Also the way it was not stable was i could use the pc just fine i could even leave running on idle overnight just fine,but it would fail on a core in prime95 with a small overclock,and would crash in prime 95 at higher overclocks.

i dont overclock too too much, but i can throw my 2 cents in.

 

first off, what cpu do you have? unlocked ones generaly speaking can be ov'ed very well without touching memory settings. (this being the intel processors with 'k' brandings, or the amd black editions.)

the general process is to note your temp, increase your multiplier, check temps, keep going until you bsod / fail to boot. increase voltage, check tems, increase multiplier, and just keep going til you get your desired OC or you get high temps. then just fine tune it back til its stable.

most of the time i use an OC tool inside the os to get the large adjustments, then i fine tune it in the bios.

Ok the system i am overclocking has an intel Core2Quad Q9450,and i remember that it was not even stable at 2.8ghz(stock clock is 2.66ghz)and i did keep an eye on my temps using CPUID HWMonitor,and the most the temps got to was to around 70c during prime 95(before it crashed)during a high overclock,i also did like you said even with the voltage very close to a max safe voltage,my overclocks were not stable.

EDIT: all my overclocking was done in the bios.

I would suggest looking up an overclocking guide for that processor. There are different settings for each CPU/motherboard platform that need to be tweaked or turned off in order to get a stable overclock going. A lot of the time, they tend to be power saving features.