On overclocking a system

Rightio, well, I have recently come into possession of a shiny new computer with the following specs:

CPU: Q6600
Mobo: ASUS P5N-T DELUXE 780i
RAM: 4 x 1GB Corsair DDR2 TWINX PC6400
PSU: SilverStone 500W DUAL12V Silent PSU
Graphics card: 8800GT 512MB

I have 2 120mm case fans (front and back) and the PSU, graphics card and CPU all have their retail fans/heatsinks.

Now, I've never overclocked before and find it very interesting - I want to get the most out of my system and this is where you guys come in! Basically, I was wondering if anyone could give me any pointers about what programs to use, what the highest speeds can achieve with just the cooling previously explained etc. I'm not really sure where to start so, what should my next course of action be?

you can overclock, but i guess it depends how much - If your using the stock intel HSF, you might not be able to maintain cool temps with higher overclocks, compared to an aftermarket heatsink/fan.

for a rough idea i overclock my q6600 a lil bit, with the stock HSF at 2.7ghz get on average, mid to high 20's *c idle and full loads, somewhere around in the 50's *c. - but i also have a few 80mm case fans taking in cool air and one 120MM taking warm air out, so no doubt they help aswell.

i wouldn't really overclock mine over 3.0ghz without getting a decent heatsink and fan (i want to get one soon).

as for the overclocking it self, im new to it aswell! defo the other guys can give you a better idea, or you can look at the guide on the site.

Oh, guides you say? I'll do some hunting a bit later on.

I'm not even too bothered if it's not OCed much, I just want it for the sake of bein able to say that I did it.

~2.7GHz sounds quite nice though!

yea for day to day use (plus without a better HSF) 2.7/3.0 (FSB at 300/334) is ok for me and totally stable, but im sure u can get higher with the parts u've mentioned there, as long as the cooling is good. and i think it's a good idea to cool the northbridge if your setting the FSB over 333?