well with systems always evolving you get to always look for that new little part. i'm studying for my A+ so i can be a PC tech. so yeah overclocking is a dangerous practice you can do it but you have to keep a close watch on you temperature. my motherboard a ASUS A8n-sli deluxe comes with a program to overclock maxing out at 10% over and i keep it there., but i also added fans. i can really relate to not having the money to drop on the new big Video card or CPU. i traded stuff for my machine and i'm happy to play the games i can (which is a lot more than i'd expect) although i had to put my ATI x800 pro back in cause the Nvidia was scetching my game out. my friend jus got a new PC dropped $1900 on it and let me tell you it's a beast. has the same case as that custom job that was posted a few days back , duo core intel 3.0ghz (i think) 8 gigs of ram, Nvidia 8800 GTX. so he's pretty much set. he's my webmaster and gaming partner. i'm trying to get him to play with us. anyway good luck on your quest to upgrade your system. i'd get some cheap RAM and a cheap Video Card you can get a 7000 series Nvida cheap depending on you Expansion slots. later