The Ultimate Overclocking Guide
Created by David Pitchforth
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This guide is intended for beginners who want to overclock their processor, but are unsure what to do and where to go for information. I hope this will be useful for all "newbies", and maybe one or two more experienced peeps as well. So without further ado, on with the show.
Basics Of Overclocking
What is overclocking?
In simple terms, when you overclock your processor, you are running it at a faster speed then it's designed for (called clock speed - hence "overclocking"). So for example, if you buy a Duron 700 and get it running at 750mhz, you have overclocked it by 50mhz.
Sounds great, but why would I do it?
People overclock for a few different reasons, but basically to pull extra speed out of their chip. Some do this because their system may be running a little slow, and they can't afford an upgrade, others do it just for the thrill of it (usually people with high-speed PC's, who don't need the extra speed). Some people do it because they can - why pass up on 50-200+mhz for free?
Okay, I see why people do it. Any reason why I shouldn't?
Unless you buy your equipment from a company who guarantee it for overclocking, when you overclock your chip you invalidate all warranties that come with it. So if you accidentally kill your chip, you won’t be able to claim a replacement. There is also a small danger of data corruption, or damage to other peripherals in you PC (such as a graphics card, or memory).
Sounds risky? Is it really worth it?
Totally! If you are sensible when you overclock, these risks are actually very very small. The amount of people who kill their chips is very low, and they were probably idiots who didn't have the first clue about overclocking (let alone a second clue!). By reading this guide you have already stepped ahead of them - you are willing to learn.
Okay, sounds like it's okay then. What kind of speed increase should I expect?
That depends a lot on the system you have. Everything from the motherboard to the hard drive and everything in between contributes to the success of failure of overclocking. Some people get 300-400mhz out of their system, some only get 25mhz. Like a lot of things, you just have to give it a go and see what happens.
Okay, I'm ready, let's do it!
Hang on there partner, before you jump in there with both feet, it always helps to know some background on what you'll actually be doing. Let's move on to the next section.
Processor Speed Basics
But I already know my processor speed, why do I need this lesson?
You may know what your processor speed is, but do you know the specifics behind it? Do you know how the clock speed of your chip is achieved? If you do know, feel free to skip this section.
I don't know, please explain more.
Okay, first of all, you need to know that the clock speed of your processor is made up of two parts - the front side bus (FSB) and the multiplier. I won't go into huge technical detail, but you can imagine the FSB as the speed in which your PC's internals talk to each other. The higher the number, the faster they talk.
And the multiplier?
The multiplier is a figure that you use with the FSB to get the clock speed. If you have a Duron 700, the FSB is 100mhz, and the multiplier is 7. Should you change the multiplier to 7.5, your chip will then be 750 (7.5*100).
Can all chips be overclocked using the multiplier then?
Unfortunately not. Any Intel chip from the PII 350 onwards (including the Celeron) will have been clock-locked (a term used which refers to the locking of the multiplier), and nothing can be done to change this. The AMD Chips are locked as well, but these CAN be unlocked using various methods. I'll explain more later on. Easy so far isn't it?
Sure is, but I've heard something called PCI Dividers, can you explain a bit about them please?
Sure can. While the FSB is the speed at which your components talk to each other, this figure is divided to get the true figure (the PCI Bus Speed). The standard speed of the PCI Bus is 33mhz. The way it (generally) works is like this
Okay, I get it. So, isn't running a PC at 99mhz faster than 100mhz, because the PCI Bus is faster?
You'd think so, but the chances are it won't work like that. If you set the FSB to 99mhz, with the PCI Bus to 50mhz, all of your peripherals are running much faster than they are designed for. It's highly unlikely that they'd work at that speed. However, some motherboards allow you to set the divider manually, so you could then increase the divider, but there is no performance gain in doing that. Most modern motherboards set the divider automatically.
How far should I try to push the FSB then?
Uh-uh, not so fast young bucky, there are still more things to learn before we get into that good stuff.
Voltage Settings
Huh? What good are these?
Well, when you overclock your CPU you are basically asking it to do more work then it is supposed to. As a result it needs more power to run at that higher speed.
Ah, I see. Fairly logical I suppose.
It certainly is young grasshopper, you're catching on. But the secret to this section is knowing how much to increase the voltage settings, and also, what the default settings are.
So if something goes wrong I know what it should be set to?
Exactly!! But you need to know that there are two settings that you may need to change. The Core Voltage (vcore), and the I/O Voltage. The Core Voltage refers to the CPU only, so increasing this setting only sends more power to the CPU. The I/O Voltage gives the power to your additional PCI/AGP Cards, and your Ram.
Okay, so how far should these settings be increased then?
By as little as possible. When your chip is overclocked and it doesn't have enough power, you'll notice that strange things start to happen. These strange things may be registry errors, random reboots, program errors, things like that. At this point, you should increase the Core Voltage by as small an increase as it will allow. If this doesn't correct the problem, increase the vcore again slightly. Continue this process until the problem goes away.
When do I need to increase the I/O Voltage then?
You generally need to do this when you overclock using the FSB as opposed to the multiplier. When you overclock via the multiplier, as mentioned, you are only overclocking the CPU, so that is the only thing that will need more power. When you overclock using the FSB, everything in your system gets a boost, so they may need an increase in power as well. However, you should only need a small increase in I/O Voltage. If your default I/O is 3.3, an increase to 3.5 AT THE MOST will see you right.
Okay then, I'm ready to start now!
Nearly, but not quite, there are still more things you need to know...
Understanding how your system works
Not more things to learn!! Can't I just go ahead and overclock it now?!
Sure, if you want to. But even though you know what overclocking is about, do you know how to actually do it?
Errrm, nope.
Exactly! And that's what this section is about. You need to understand your system, how it works, and how to change things. You know from the above sections that the settings you are interested in are the FSB, the Multiplier (if you have an AMD Tbird or Duron), the vcore, and the I/O Voltage. Now, you need to read your motherboard manual to find out how to alter these settings.
Not more bloody reading!!
Yes more bloody reading!! No-one can expect to go into overclocking with only a smidgen of information. They need to know everything they can know, so that they don't blow themselves or their PC up.
Okay, okay, I get the point. I just thought it was easier than this...
Overclocking IS easy, but only when you know what you're doing. Overclocking is easy to me, but if you're reading this guide, you probably don't know enough to walk away and do it now. So read on.
Right, where can you usually change these settings then?
As I said your mobo manual will tell you, but you will usually change these settings in either the bios, or on the mobo itself by the use of dipswitches or jumpers.
Okay, mobo manual read, I know how to change the settings! More to learn?
Not to learn exactly, but a few points to make here….
Know your hardware
I take it there's more to this section than meets the eye?
Yup! For overclocking purposes, you need to be able to name all of the components in your PC, from makers, to driver version (for graphics card mainly), rated speed (memory and hard drives), basically everything.
And the reason being...
The reason is that the quality of your components can have s serious effect on the success or failure of an overclock (assuming we are overclocking via the FSB, as described above). The type of Ram you have probably plays the biggest part here. Modern Ram will generally run at one of two speeds PC100 (100mhz), or PC133 (133mhz) - this is altered in the Bios, and separate of FSB. If you have 100mhz Ram, and you increase the FSB, you are also increasing the speed of the Ram. Some will accept this increase, some won't.
But make note that higher speed Ram can run at slower speeds. PC133 Ram will run at 100mhz, allowing you to overclock your system easier.
Okay, good quality Ram is important then. Anything else?
Of course, you don't think I'm letting you off that easily do you?
Nope.
Didn't think so. The reason you need to know the rest of your hardware is when you run into problems. If, for example, you run into problems when overclocking, and your gut instinct is telling you there should be no problems, it might be due to one of your components. Maxtor Hard Drives for example, are known to be poor for overclocking.
I see, it could be a poor HDD or something holding me back.
Indeed. It's not worth checking whether everything is good or not if you already have your PC, but if you're building the PC with the intentions of overclocking, this is always something to look out for.
Next!!
Requirements of overclocking
Requirements??
Yes, well, there are a few. The first one is obviously a mobo that supports FSB/Multiplier/Voltage adjustments. If it doesn't, there are ways around it, but they are not as stable.
Assuming your mobo is fine, the only real requirement after that is kick-@ss cooling! Your CPU generates heat at the best of times, but when overclocked your CPU generates even more. Heat is the enemy of the CPU and overclocking. So get rid of that bog-standard fan you may have on your processor, and go buy yourself a top name one, such as GlobalWin or Alpha.
Is that the only fan I need?
Depends on your system. Older PC's don't generate a whole lot of heat, while the new AMD systems generate quite a bit. These will usually require a couple of case fans as well, usually in even numbers (2, 4, etc), with half set to blowing cool air onto the CPU, PCI card area, and the rest to suck air out of the case. This should keep everything nice and cool.
Is there any temperature I should be looking to stay under/around?
I personally recommend that people should stay under 45'c at all times, even when the CPU is under full load. A degree above isn't too bad, but start to stray over 50'c and you're starting to slowly kill your CPU. Just remember my little saying. "keep the CPU cool - keep the CPU longer". Simple, and true.
Okey dokey, anything else?
A final word of warning……
A word of warning
Right, you're almost ready to overclock, so here is a word of warning -
"If you overclock your CPU and/or other components, you will void all warranties relating to that component. I take no responsibility for damaged equipment as a result of following this guide."
Right, that's my @ss covered, but seriously, if things go wrong, you have voided your warranty. Of course, you don't tell the company you killed your chip by overclocking it, but be prepared in case they find out.
Okay, I know my hardware, I know how to change the relevant settings, I understand what I have to do, and I'm prepared for the consequences. Can I please, for the love of God, overclock my chip now?
Yes grasshopper, you may.
What?!?! I was expecting more things to learn!
No, you know enough for your first overclock, but keep it small, don't try for a 100-200mhz increase straight away. Don't try for anything above 50mhz to start with, and then come back here.
What to do next
Woo-hoo!!!!! It worked!!!!!!!!
Congratulations, you've managed your first successful overclock. You can now call yourself an overclocker!
Yay!! Now it's time to see how far I can push this bad boy!!
Hang on there buckaroo, not so fast! This is where that word 'patience' comes in handy. What you should do now, is leave the chip running at this speed for anywhere from a few days to two weeks. This is what's known as the burning-in process, where the chip gets used to the new speed.
What difference does this make?
Well, what this does it allow you to overclock your chip that little bit extra. You can overclock your chip to the max now, but I'd bet that if you did it slowly, in small increments, your top speed would be higher than if you did it all in one go.
I see. So there is no reason to push it any farther now?
You can push it to the max if you like, to see what speeds you can expect to get, but I would then bring it back down to the current overclocked settings and go slowly, as I said.
Okay. But what do I do when I run into problems?
Ah, you've asked the magic question, which brings us on to the final section...
Troubleshooting
So, what should you do in the case of problems? Here is a basic checklist...
This will solve virtually every overclocking problem you have. Of course, the problem could be that you damaged a component in your PC, but this is very rare.
Final thoughts
Overclocking is a great way to give your system a wonderful speed boost, but it's not the only thing you can do to make it run faster. Proper maintenance, tweaking the registry and ini files, and general good practise will also see an increase in speed. But that's another guide…
Hope you had fun!
I sure did!!
What, you're still here?! Go home!!
-Created by David
Pitchforth
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