473,322 Members | 1,403 Online
Bytes | Software Development & Data Engineering Community
Post Job

Home Posts Topics Members FAQ

Join Bytes to post your question to a community of 473,322 software developers and data experts.

Overclocking Guide

Correct Overclocking - The Goals
First and foremost, we want to

* improve overall system performance
* system to be just as stable
* keep our CPU alive!!

The best way to improve system performance is to increase the bus
speed. If you can't do that, either because your motherboard doesn't
support higher bus speeds or your RAM or your PCI devices aren't up to
it, you can change the multiplier instead. Don't expect much gain in
performance, however, if you increase the multiplier but you decrease
the bus speed!!! For example, changing from 166 @ 2.5x66 MHz to 180 @
3x60 MHz will actually decrease your overall performance. The same
rule applies to changing from 133 @ 2x66 to 150 @ 3x50. These types of
changes will not make your system any faster!!

This is some touchy news for 6x86 users, who should really only
overclock their CPUs to a slightly higher speed than the original. The
6x86 only has multiplier options for x2 and x3. Don't let yourself be
told otherwise!! Of course you can try jumpering the board to all of
the different Intel Pentium settings, but it won't make a difference
for the 6x86 CPU.

Overclocking Requirements

Three things are necessary for overclocking:

1. The CPU : HA HA HA !!!

* So far, Intel manufactures the CPUs with the highest quality,
hence the probability of a successful overclocking is highest with
Intel CPUs.
* Check to make sure your Pentium isn't faked. If you can peel off
a black sticker underneath the CPU, it's definitely a re-marked one.
In this case your CPU is most likely already overclocked.

2. The Motherboard

* The quality of the motherboard is crucial for successful
overclocking! Due to the fact that the CPU produces fewer 'clean'
signals in overclocked mode, reflections and other flaws on the bus
can cause the system to crash or hang. The reverse situation is also
true - in overclocked mode the CPU is more sensitive to unstable
signals from the bus and will crash if the motherboard can't deliver
clean signals. Always go for a branded motherboard!
* You will have to decide if you want to go for a higher bus speed
or if you will stick to a maximum of 66 MHz.
* The board should obviously support a wide range of CPU supply
voltages. Minimum are 3.3 and 3.45 V, for STD and VRE voltage. If you
want to use P55C, M2 (the new M1/6x86), or the new K5/K6 CPUs, you
will need support for 'split voltage'. This means that the core of the
CPU requires a lower supply voltage than the I/O ports of the CPU. The
latest boards all support 2.5 up to 2.9 V in 0.1 Volt steps. If the
board offers you an even higher voltage than 3.45 as well, you should
be happy, because this might be the last trick to get your CPU
successfully overclocked.

3. The RAM

* This topic is new, but it is very important indeed. You will
have to consider decent RAM if you want to run your system at bus
speeds of more than 66 MHz. If you want to run an HX board, such as
the Asus P/I-P55T2P4 at 83 MHz bus speed, you will require high-end
EDO. I've experienced myself, that the marking of the RAM is less
important than it's brand. Be careful, however, that you don't get
second-rate chips from the manufacturers being sold in some stores.
These chips still say Siemens, Micron, or whatever on them, but their
quality won't live up to your expectations. In the case of high bus
speeds always go for SDRAM if you can. SDRAM relieves a lot of the
worries of running at 75 or especially 83 MHz, and runs flawlessly in
any case.

4. The Cooling

* I can't proclaim it often enough, the cooling of the CPU is
extremely important ! If you have been able to boot your system with
an overclocked CPU but it crashes within the first minutes, it's most
likely due to insufficient cooling of your processor. Don't think the
average small heat sinks with their small fans designed for a Pentium
are able to do this job properly! Their job is only to keep a normally
clocked CPU cooler in case you have very hot surroundings (e.g. SCSI
or Video cards, which can get very hot as well). They are not designed
to save your overclocked system from crashes due to overheating. This
doesn't mean you always have to have better cooling. If you've got a
new SSS CPU, using the 0.35µm die, it just won't get that hot.
* If your CPU is of the old 0.6µm die size type, however, you will
require decent cooling. To accomplish this, you can use heat sinks,
fans, or both, peltiers, or peltiers with fans. Peltiers are elements
which transport heat using an electrochemical method from one side of
the element to the other, consuming energy. You will still need a heat
sink to dissipate the heat from the non-CPU side of the peltier and
most likely will also require a fan.
* My opinion is that you should go for a heat sink, and most
importantly THINK BIG !! If a big heat sink still can't do the job,
add a fan on top of it. If you achieve this cooling effect, you can be
sure that any crashes which do occur are not a result of overheating.
So how to get a decent heat sink ? Don't even think of finding
anything in a normal computer shop. You'll find professional heat
sinks only in professional shops which sell electronic equipment such
as transistors, resistors, chips, etc. (e.g. Hobby Electronic Stores).
* You can tell how good a heat sink is by looking at the K/W
value. K/W means degree Kelvin per Watt of power dissipation . K/W
tells how hot the heat sink gets per each Watt of heating power of the
device it's meant to cool. If you were able to follow that, you will
understand that the smaller the value, the better the heat sink. If
you can get a heat sink which has a value below 1K/W, you've found a
good one. You'll need to make the surface of the heat sink that will
attach to the top of the CPU match the size of your CPU (maybe the
electronic shop will cut it for you, otherwise you'll have to do some
sawing and grinding). Be careful that this surface stays completely
flat, so that there are no gaps between the heat sink and the CPU
surface. Finally, you only need to affix the heat sink to the CPU
which is best done with some thermal compound (also available in every
electronic shop). You can also use super glue, but it should be
applied very sparingly with just enough to attach the heat sink. Do
realize that you might not be able to remove the CPU from the heat
sink if the super glue is good stuff. If required, attach a good
(powerful + quiet) fan to the top of the heat sink (how, I will leave
this up to your imagination).
* You should also use besides these hardware solutions some
software solutions like Rain , Waterfall or CPU Idle. These utilities
execute halt instruction during the idle priority thread and thus
keeping the CPU cool. I recommend use of Waterfall because of small
footprint, no VXD's, no drain of any system resources and above all
it's free.

More articles about overclocking visit http.www.network.79br.com

Nov 14 '07 #1
0 757

This thread has been closed and replies have been disabled. Please start a new discussion.

Similar topics

21
by: Christian Seberino | last post by:
Linux kernel style guide, Guido's C style guide and (I believe) old K&R style recommends 8 SPACES for indent. I finally got convinced of wisdom of 8 space indentation. Guido also likes 8 space...
3
by: Patrick | last post by:
Hi I am currently learning JS and have heard a lot of good about that book even if it's a reference and better suited for intermediate to experienced users. My local bookstore has both the 3rd...
3
by: mairhtin o'feannag | last post by:
Hello, Since DB2 Cluster Certification Guide is out of print and I cannot seem to get my hands on a copy, is there a publication that would give me a "cookbook" approach to setting up a cluster...
2
by: James W. | last post by:
Hi everyone, I would like to ask you lot if you know of a great place on the internet for a fool proof idiots guide to Normalisation 1st, 2nd, 3rd. I looked at webopedia but that is just as...
6
by: erebus- | last post by:
When learning the C programing languages, i have had and still am having the problem of not being able to find answers to many questions. Is their an overall guide/reference that someone knows?
40
by: Foobarius Frobinium | last post by:
Please review this guide for clarity, accuracy, etc. so I can hopefully compile a very good tutorial on how to use pointers in C, including advanced topics, that is easy to follow and exposes the...
2
by: Foobarius Frobinium | last post by:
http://thelinuxlink.net/~fingolfin/pointer-guide/ I've made a lot of corrections, and put in more new stuff. I have malloc and pointers to struct's and maybe a few more things and I'm done. ...
48
by: Foobarius Frobinium | last post by:
http://thelinuxlink.net/~fingolfin/pointer-guide Tell me what you think...
2
by: Giggle Girl | last post by:
Hello there! I am a User Interface Designer at a company that only makes web apps. I am fluent in HTML, Javascript and Graphics programs. Now we are making a compiled app with VS05 in C#, and I...
3
by: troy.john78 | last post by:
Correct Overclocking - The Goals First and foremost, we want to * improve overall system performance * system to be just as stable * keep our CPU alive!! The best way to improve system...
1
isladogs
by: isladogs | last post by:
The next Access Europe meeting will be on Wednesday 6 Mar 2024 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC) and finishing at about 19:15 (7.15PM). In this month's session, we are pleased to welcome back...
0
by: Vimpel783 | last post by:
Hello! Guys, I found this code on the Internet, but I need to modify it a little. It works well, the problem is this: Data is sent from only one cell, in this case B5, but it is necessary that data...
0
by: ArrayDB | last post by:
The error message I've encountered is; ERROR:root:Error generating model response: exception: access violation writing 0x0000000000005140, which seems to be indicative of an access violation...
1
by: PapaRatzi | last post by:
Hello, I am teaching myself MS Access forms design and Visual Basic. I've created a table to capture a list of Top 30 singles and forms to capture new entries. The final step is a form (unbound)...
1
by: CloudSolutions | last post by:
Introduction: For many beginners and individual users, requiring a credit card and email registration may pose a barrier when starting to use cloud servers. However, some cloud server providers now...
1
by: Defcon1945 | last post by:
I'm trying to learn Python using Pycharm but import shutil doesn't work
0
by: af34tf | last post by:
Hi Guys, I have a domain whose name is BytesLimited.com, and I want to sell it. Does anyone know about platforms that allow me to list my domain in auction for free. Thank you
0
by: Faith0G | last post by:
I am starting a new it consulting business and it's been a while since I setup a new website. Is wordpress still the best web based software for hosting a 5 page website? The webpages will be...
0
isladogs
by: isladogs | last post by:
The next Access Europe User Group meeting will be on Wednesday 3 Apr 2024 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC+1) and finishing by 19:30 (7.30PM). In this session, we are pleased to welcome former...

By using Bytes.com and it's services, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

To disable or enable advertisements and analytics tracking please visit the manage ads & tracking page.