What limits a cpu overclock first? Temp / Volts / Fsb?

It would be highly dependant on the system.

For people on air it may often be temps. For people on improved cooling it will be volts. Then again, if your motherboard can't take the fsb/htt then you'll hit that limit. There are too many variables to give a definite answer.

For me personally it's volts, my DFI motherboard is good for insane HTTs, Mach II GT means temps are not a problem and it's all down to how many volts I'm prepared to try through the CPU.
 
Tis a viscious circle... start with a stock rig on a stock heatsink... mid to highend CPU...

First barrier you'll come across is temp... buy bigger heatsink... goes faster so u give it more voltage... next barrier you'll come across is temp again.... go watercooling... goes faster on same voltage, give it more volts goes even faster... next barrier is temp again! Go TEC, goes faster on same voltage, even faster with more volts... oh look - temps are too hot for the TECs now... go PhaseChange....

Temperature is always the primary barrier. Once temperature is dealt with, it's all down to voltage and quality of CPU more than anything else. (Assuming a decent mobo from the start)

Even with your MachII GT Kesnel, your barrier will be temps. Up the voltage til the chip will go no faster.... then find a cooling solution that'll drop you another 30 degrees and you'll find there's more in that chip of yours. Once u hit -100 deg C to -120 deg C, that's about as far as you can go, then physics becomes the limiting factor - electron migration etc and there's no way round that...
 
haha kewl, reason i ask is because i recently acquired a vantec tornado, 80mm fan and was thinking of modding my artic freezer 64 pro to accomodate this fan just to run a few benches and see what kind of speeds + temps i get if at all different?
 
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