Ok if you do not want to read all this, let me sum it up for you. Cool your computer. Cooling your computer is greatest strongest method of overclocking you will ever do. Now for the non A.D.D. Readers in here.
Ideal range is 80-95 °F. This will be the optimal temperature region. For a short while there, it was common for a processor to boot at 150 °F. That to me that is a scary temperature. But that does seem to be a peice of the past now.
<taken from everest>
Temperatures
Motherboard 29 °C (84 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1 12 °C (54 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2 15 °C (59 °F)
MCP 47 °C (117 °F)
Aux 11 °C (52 °F)
GPU Diode 38 °C (100 °F)
HDT722516DLAT80 31 °C (88 °F)
MAXTOR 6L080L4 23 °C (73 °F)
Cooling Fans
CPU 3013 RPM
Chassis 4116 RPM
The first thing you do to drop your temperature, clear passage from front. Get some zip ties and find a way to tie everything back without creasing anything. The flat cables (if you have them) Known as ribbon cables, do not fold or squish or crease them, the wires inside are pretty fragile.
Find all heatsinks remove the fans and clean out the dust from the heatsinks. Do the same with the fans.
Use canned air when you can, some times a toothpick with a mashed end. what I mean by that is have one end kind of smooshed and frayed to be like a paint brush. you will need the pointy end and the brushy end to get into the tight spots. yes it is important to get in all grooves even the tiny spots. that junk builds up fast if it has some already there to stick to.
air flow needs to be from one end to the other. not some out the back some in the back som in the front some out the side. You would have crazy crap and get nothing accomplished. you have to think about it like water. water/air flow best when there is as little disruption as can be. So one fluid direction is best.
Also you do not want to disrupt the air flowing through the cpu’s heatsink. This one is most important, second most important is the Video Card. If you know how to replace heatpaste, I suggest you knock that out now also.
The sorriest myth is the video card memory heatsinks. If they are stuck on by two sided tape, peal them off and chunk them aside, they are useless. You want as smooth of a metal to metal contact. Foam in between is just retarded and a really sorry joke they pulled on you. Faom tape glue is not a good heat inductive material… sorry. but teh tech world has proven that copper is best. The heat paste people use is to creat a vacuum seal between the metals. Amazing how it all works.. just trust me foam tape is not going to cool anything.
This so far is teh best way hardware wise to make your computer feel like brand new if not slightly better.