Overclocking Simplified

Overclocking Simplified	Overclocking Forum - overclock.net


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Date : February 26th 2001

What you should know before Overclocking

Heat the Ultimate Enemy of Over-Clockers

Heat is the main enemy of Processor performance. If the temperature of your processor can be maintained at bellow 0 C a performance increase up to 20% can be expected. When a processor is overclocked it will be running beyond manufacturers expectations and working much harder than normal, thus manufacturers cooling might not be sufficient to sustain the CPU temperature at acceptable levels. It is highly advised to have a proper cooling system be initiated as well as if possible a better cooling system for your processor as well, if you plan to overclock your system. Over heating is the main reason for system hang-ups after Overclocking.

Which Processors to Overclock

Not all processors are suitable for overclocking, Processors like Cyrix are basically overclocked from the start (They use a different system from Intel and AMD to specify processor speed) and they generate a lot of heat even in standard operations making them very unstable if overclocked. Heat is also an issue with old AMD processors such as the K6-2 and the K6-3. The Intel processor range especially when it comes to old processors is the best choice for overclocking because of the relatively low heat generated because of their manufacturing process. Out of the Intel range the Celeron range is considered the best overclockers. Things have changed a bit in the present though with new introduction from AMD like the Duron.

Choosing Your Motherboard: can your Mobo handle the heat?

Though all Motherboards will allow you to manipulate the system Bus-speed the range in which it can be done will differ from Board to Board depending on the controlled hips involved.

For Example

Some Motherboard controller Chipsets	Range
TX	60-75Mhz
LX	66-83Mhz
BX	66-100Mhz and going up to 133 & 150 MHz in newer boards
VIA Apollo	66-133Mhz+

You should first check the Controller chips your Motherboard is based upon before you go on to overclock.

The range of manipulation of the system Bus Speed is also dependent on the version of Bios in use in the Motherboard. Newer Bios updates might enable your Motherboard to reach higher Bus Speeds thus it might be a good idea to check out your Motherboard manufacturers site for a Bios update.

Random Access Memory

Memory Speed is also an issue. Older systems will probably have older memory based on the PC 66 standard, which only supports bus speeds up to 66Mhz, which might make those RAM unstable at higher Bus Speeds. Those overclocking should consider buying faster memory (RAM) based on the PC 100 and PC 133 standards which can operate at a maximum of 100 MHz & 133 MHz System Bus-Speed safely.

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