Overclocking is the act of increasing the speed of certain components in a computer other than that specified by the manufacturer. It mainly refers to making your CPU run at a faster rate although it could also refer to making your graphics card or other peripherals run faster. For example if you have a 300MHz PII CPU, you could probably overclock it easily to 350 or even 400MHz. The latest P4 processors also appear to be overclockable through the FSB (front side bus) even though they are advertised as being clock-locked.
So, now that you now what overclocking is, let's see how you can actually overclock your CPU. You can do this using any of the following 3 methods: 1. Through your BIOS, 2. By changing the multiplier settings, 3. By changing the Bus speed!
The formula for processor speed is: frontside bus x multiplier = processor speed.
BIOS: In some BIOS's you are given the option to alter your CPU speed. Using this method, you won't even have to open your computer case. When you first boot your PC enter your BIOS (usually by pressing Del, F1, or F10) and start looking for any option that allows you to change your CPU speed or voltage. If you do find it, then it's as simple as changing the current number to a higher value.
Bus Speed: When increased, it makes the whole system run faster and not only the CPU. Most PC's have a speed of 66MHz or 100MHz. Mainly, it defines the speed that your motherboard and other components run at. To change your bus speed appropriately, see the table below.
Multiplier Settings: Multipliers are located on your motherboard and come in the forms x1, x1.5, x2, x2.5, etc... When the Bus speed is multiplied by any one of these numbers, it results in the final CPU speed. For example, if you have a bus speed of 100 and a multiplier of x4, your CPU speed is 400MHz. Clear? The table below shows how you can change your bus speed/multiplier settings depending on your CPU.
Summary: The best way to overclock your PC is to alter the bus speed and multiplier settings. To do that, look at the table below and you should straight away realize how beautifully it has been put together. For example, if you have a Pentium 166MHz CPU (which is set up on a 66MHz bus speed and a multiplier setting of x2.5) you can see straight away that you only have 1 choice and that is to increase the multiplier setting tox3 to get a net speed of 200MHz!
Other processes to try out:
You must understand that to overclock you MUST buy a heatsink or an additional fan because your motherboard will be producing more heat. Ask your local hardware store for help with fitting these. Also, make sure you download a benchmarking utility to know how much speed you've gained, check out SiSoft Sandra 98 from the Speed Apps section.
Now that you know what you'll need and what your options are, let's take a look at how you can actually speed up your PC:
(1) Take off your PC's lid and play around with your Motherboard's jumpers. Making sure you've got your Motherboard manual in hand, you can see how you should fit your jumpers for each CPU speed. Simply reposition the jumpers for a faster CPU by altering the bus and multiplier setting jumpers. (see table below)
(2) Software. I would recommend you use software since it's easier. Go to h-oda.com and download a program called SoftFSB. Follow the instructions and then overclock your CPU one step at a time (rebooting after each time) to check and see if you've been successful. If Windows crashes for no apparent reason then your processor is probably overheating and you need to undo your last speed jump.
(4) To prevent overheating your CPU, download and try CPUidle from cpuidle.de and Waterfall Pro from rocketdownload.com. Alternatively, you can buy heatsinks/fans for your CPU.
Overclocking Risks: Overclocking comes with many risks, such as overheating, so you should become familiar with all the pros and cons before you attempt it. Additionally, the major chip manufacturers don’t support overclocking, which means overclocking your CPU will void your warranty. Overclocking can also decrease the lifespan of the CPU, cause failure in critical components and may even result in some data corruption. You may also notice an increase in unexplainable crashes and freezes.
You can find many complete step-by-step guides available online that details the actual process of overclocking. If you've decided to take the plunge and overclock your CPU, we recommend you don't start with your only usable system (try using outdated and cheap hardware to practice with) and be sure to find a knowledgeable source and read some of the overclocking information and Web pages listed below in the links section to get you started in the right direction.
Did You Know :
"Multiplier locking forces the CPU to use a multiplier that is preset by the manufacturer. Intel has been quoted as saying they use multiplier locking to prevent unscrupulous retailers from overclocking processors to higher speeds, and selling overclocked systems to consumers for the same, higher price as the faster retail model."
This article described how to overclock your computer to achieve hiegher sppeds. If you are willing to overclock your computer or are having any problem doing so.... put up a post and there will be always someone around to help you.
Overclocking a Pentium or a locked processor, it's not a big issue as long as you can increase the FSB, but, the main issue about increasing the FSB, is that everything has to be compatible, as the FSB increases, not just the processor speed will increase, the RAM speed may increase too, cause the FSB increases the Bus Speed.
So, maybe some of you won't be able to increase the FSB too much, or maybe won't be able to increase it. Or if you increase it, although your CPU might support more, your RAM might not.
The best overclocking speed to increase is 10%.
When overclocking you should frequently check your CPU temperature. If everything is OK, then proceed overclocking a little bit more. Although CPUs supports more than 40°C, it's not recommended to overpass that temperature.
Also, when overclocking the voltage may increase.
Just one more thing, you may have issues, your computer may be unstable, that's a bad overclock, you should decrease a little bit, usually generated by incompatibility of the Bus Speed with the CPU/RAM.
Sometimes you may not even be able to boot up your PC, neither go to the BIOS, you might see only a black screen. That's a bad overclock, and won't work.
If you want to fix that, please read this post "How to Reset your BIOS / CMOS Password".
Note that using Software won't be available. You should remove your CMOS and put it back again.
I'll just warn you that everything you modified from the BIOS will be resetted.
