[William]

1... Please make every attempt to post your question in the correct category. General Discussion is not the place for technical overclocking questions or hardware discussion. Got a cooling question? You'll get more and better responses in the cooling section.

2... It's extremely helpful if you describe your system's CPU, motherboard, RAM, type of CPU cooler, and other cooling mods. Often you need to tell us the FSB and voltage settings, plus temperatures. It's quite tough to answer a question like "Why won't my computer overclock any higher?" without some additional data to help us figure it out.

3... Please give temp readings. They should include idle and load readings of both the CPU and system. I know that some older boards just report system temp or nothing at all. Give us what you do have.

4... If you are a beginner, chances are good that your question has already been asked and answered numerous times. Use the forum search function to check it out and see if this is the case. Look at the articles on the home page. Half the time, your answer is probably right there.

5... I personally like follow up replies, I think that it's quite an educational tool. For example, you ask a question and get 3 different suggestions of stuff to try. You play around with your computer and are delighted to find out that one of the answers solved your problem. Please go back to the topic and post what worked. Now all those people reading the post will have gained knowledge on what to try if they ever have that problem.

6... Most of us here at overclockers.com help others for the sheer joy of it. We love our hobby and have banded together to share and learn O/C information. We don't expect a "thank you" every time, but the times I do get personally thanked for helping out, it sure makes me feel good and gives me a nice warm and fuzzy feeling inside, plus it makes me feel proud that I assisted someone who truly appreciated my advice.


Thanks to Batboy for writing this excellent guide. None of these are official rules but suggestions for making this a better place.