Computer monitoring

I am reading up on all this overclocking info and i was just wondering what some of the programs that i need to make sure that my system is stable. Also i wanted to have a program that can monitor the temperatures and fan speed. I have heard of mobo monitor or whatever its called but i installed it and it said that my cpu temp is -119C. I have also heard of Prime95 but i have not installed it yet.

IF it's posssible, could you provide links to these programs...THANKs

Speedfan is good for monitoring temps, fan speds, voltages, etc. - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

If you wnt to test stability, simply running an intense game is good. - http://www.futuremark.com/download/
Just get the free one, or u can buy one.

Some temp probes are going to be bogus ignore them. If your PC was really 119C it would be smoking. You kind of have to guess and check to figure out which are good or not.

actually it read -119* but that was a typo on m part. So just running a game like FEAR or COD2 would determine if it is stable? IF it wasn't stable what would happen? reboot?

just download 3dmark05 right?

For the most part yes, a game should tell you if it's stable or not.
However, I have played NFSU for many hours, then tried prime95 for 5 minutes and crashed.

There are different tests for different hardwares.
Programs liek super_pi and prime95 are mainly CPU testers (memory testers too, but not majorly)

programs like 3dmark** are mainly video card and memory testers, but mainly heavy on the vid card.

You can look into a free software called "Sisoft Sandra" that has a pecific test for almost all hardware components, down to you NIC. Get the newest free version if you wish.

You can download and install 3DMark and jsut run it, no fancy installs or registering that i can remember.

alright thanks alot