Considering overclocking for the first time:

[Qel]

Spec:
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel (TR3X6G1600C9)
Sapphire HD 5770 1GB Graphics Card
Corsair HX 650W ATX Modular SLI Compliant Power Supply
Antec P183 Case
+ 2x 1tb hd.

Basically had the above for almost 4 years now at stock and it's obviously beginning to struggle in games to point where I'm considering buying a new system. On that I'm kind of in two minds, buy now or wait for new AMD/Nvidia graphics stuff later in the year/next year.
The other option I guess would be to finally try overclocking. I've never really needed to before so not even looked into it, let alone done it. I mainly play Planetside 2 which is extremely cpu limited and would be wanting to play Rome 2 and BF4 I guess.

So with that in mind, would it be worth overclocking the cpu in this, and assuming I don't trash the thing buy a newer graphics card like a 7870 or 660Ti? and use that for a year or so. Or am I going to be better off just buying a new system?

There are obviously loads of guides on how to overclock this cpu around the web, are there any that you would particularly recommend? I would just be looking for a decent performance boost whilst being stable, not going right to the limit or anything.

Other than that, assuming it's worth doing and relatively easy for a novice, any recommendations on what I should use in terms of cooler, thermal paste and what if any graphics card to go with this + anything else I'd need. All of that assuming the PSU will allow for any of this.

Appreciate any advice/thoughts on this. Thanks.

 

[Qel]

what cpu cooler are you using? you'll be limited with the stock cooler,maybe 3ghz or 3.2ghz at a push but aftermarket cooler you could achieve 3.6ghz-3.8ghz at the least maybe 4ghz+ if your chip is a decent clocker

As I said it's at stock, guess I should have specified stock cooler too. Towards the end of the post I asked for recommendations on a cooler though

 

[Qel]

Think I'll just stick with air, keep it fairly.. simple for a first go assuming it's worth bothering.

 

[Qel]

its worth it,i ran my 920 @4.2ghz for years

also owned a 5770 and yh its a good card but newer cards are much faster,even the 7850 will blow it clean out of the water,plus they overclock easy and run cooler

Yeah I realise that (the g card) just seemed pointless upgrading it without doing anything cpu wise and like I said never overclocked

 

[Qel]

Once overclocked, that cpu will be fine with any modern high end single card. I ran one of my 670's in an i7 920 based setup for a year or so before upgrading to the spec in sig, coped very well with bf3. 4ghz on the i7 920 is achievable with a bit of tweaking, but a good cooler is a must have. Below is a very good guide i used for oc'ing a 920 on a p6t board.

http://www.overclock.net/t/538439/guide-to-overclocking-the-core-i7-920-or-930-to-4-0ghz

Thanks for the link, any particular cooler you'd recommend?

 

[Qel]

What sort of budget can you stretch to for a cooler?

I guess around £50-60.

 

[Qel]

Mmm was looking at that, will have to measure everything. Also regarding PSU if I were to go ahead and overclock the cpu, what would be the upper limit in terms of a graphics card to go with it? Probably won't go for the very best I could just about run, but interested to know.

Thanks for the answers btw.

 

[Qel]

Good to know, thanks.