Since we're going to be tweaking and tuning various things in our BIOS, it's important to know exactly what you have in your system, and what it is possibly capable of. Some of you may know that you have an Athlon 64 Socket 939, or that you have DDR RAM, but the specifics are very important if you wish to achieve a successful/beneficial overclock.

We will start with identifying your motherboard. The reason I start with this is because the motherboard is the central component when it comes to overclocking. If your motherboard does not provide any overclocking features, then you should close your browser now, and go outside to enjoy the sunshine -- unless, of course, you're curious anyway.

If you bought all of the components for your computer separately, then you are most likely aware of what motherboard you possess. If you bought your computer pre-made, then you may not be as enlightened. In either case, have a look around your computer's documentation for any kind of motherboard manual. The name of the board will be on the cover. If you've thrown away your manuals (bad, BAD!), open up your computer case, grab a flashlight, and have a close look around on the motherboard. Once you find a model number, break out your web browser, point it to Google, and type your model number in. You should find your motherboard's product page within the first two pages.

If the product page is anywhere half-decent, it will mention any overclocking features present on the motherboard. Be on the lookout for anything related to clock adjustments, voltage adjustments, or multiplier adjustments. If you don't find anything, all is not lost. There's a chance that your BIOS still has overclocking options even though they're not mentioned on the product page. Have a look around. You're looking for a screen that is similar to the following:

Anyway, once you've confirmed that your motherboard is, in fact, capable of some overclocking love, you can move on to the identification of other key components. If you have failed to find any overclocking capabilities, you're out of luck, but you're welcome to keep reading in case you're curious.

While you're still under your desk peering around inside your computer, you might as well see whether you can make out any of the printing on the labels on your memory modules. You might need to turn off your computer and actually take one of the modules out in order to read it. Note down any writing you may see on any labels. Most important is the "PC" rating given -- this will most likely be "PC3200", unless you've bought higher-end memory, in which case it might be higher.

At this point, you should turn your computer back on again after re-inserting the memory module. CPU-z is a handy program that will help us identify the rest of the key components in your system. Download it here, and extract the EXE file from the archive.

CPU-z is useful for telling you detailed information about your processor as well as your memory. Start by going to the SPD tab, and picking the slot in which you have a memory module installed. The SPD timings table should lend some insight into what your memory is capable of, as should the "Max Bandwidth" reading. By this point, you should probably have a good idea as to what your memory is capable of.

Go back to the "CPU" tab now. Make a note of the Core Speed, Multiplier, Voltage, and FSB speeds. Generally, the current favourite for overclocking is probably the Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester, which is a 90nm Socket 939 part. Don't feel disappointed if you don't have the said chip -- there is still a good chance that you will manage to get something out of what you have.

This is a screenshot from my work system, but the interface remains the same.