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Overclocking Guide
Overclocking, once the shadowy mystic domain of the horned rimmed glasses and pocket protector crowd, has moved more into the mainstream today. While in days of old you had to modify hardware, change jumpers, flick dip switches and pray to the computer Gods to get more "juice" out of your system, today's chipset producers and motherboard manufactures often include features in the BIOS designed specifically for easy overclocking and tweaking. With some caution and guidance even a novice can take a 2500+ AMD CPU and overclock it to 3200+ with little danger to one's system.
So why overclock? What's the lure? Well the reasons can vary from person to person. There is the economic side of overclocking a 2500+ AMD for instance currently retails for approximately $130 dollars and a 3200+ retails for in and around $315 dollars; it's not hard to see the value of overclocking. There are also those that just like the hobby aspect of overclocking, if it wasn't their computer they were tweaking it would be their Chevy, Ford or riding mower. Then there are people who like me are drawn to overclocking by both of these mentioned reasons.
Whatever your reason for overclocking or tweaking your system and whether you are a novice or have some experience, there are always going to be questions and what ifs. In this article we'll try to explain some of the basics and the role of the BIOS in overclocking. Also we'll look at some common stumbling blocks people come across when trying to boot up after overclocking and how you can overcome them. For all intense and purpose we'll deal with AMD systems, but most factors will also apply to Intel systems.
First some basic rules before we really get into it:
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Don't overclock unless you accept that you may damage your equipment.
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Always take small steps when increasing voltages, bus speeds and multipliers.
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Never change BIOS settings if you're unsure of the results or what function they perform
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Never assume that you'll get the same speeds as someone else, there can be many reasons why you won't.
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Remember just because it boots and runs for a while doesn't mean your system is safe or completely stable.
We are not responsible if your processor ends up looks like this. Read through the Guide carefully please and know the risks (this processor did not die from overclocking)
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I had my FSB at 187 with my barton 2500 and ran prime for 24 hours.
Then after that I ran 3dmark03, it wouldn't even get through one benchmark until I brought it down to 182 FSB. Sorta wasted 24 hours on a bench I didn't need to do.
I say just use 3dmark just because it's an everything benchmark.
-Ken
Running both prime and 3dmark... talk about an unforgiving benchmark... so much for "inflating" my 3dmark scores ahah.
I'd like max OCed systems run that combo for 24 hours. You're absolutely correct, the videocard does rest during the loading screens in 3dmark... unacceptable!
the biggest advantage of prime95 is that the torture tests check the computed value against precomputed ones so you know if the overclocked processor / memory is slightly off. a few years ago, the people who ran SETI@Home commented that there were rounding errors from people who submitted work units from overclocked processors. it might not be too important if your computer is just used for playing games as a slight misalignment of a polygon or something of that nature isnt show stopping. but if your computer is used for any serious work (like something scientific or maybe art related) the consequences are a little higher
Anyway, yea I used to test very high stress, I'd throw in whatever it takes to try to crash a system during testing, don't want it to go during typing up a 10 page essay! If you run 2 or even 3 progs at once, whatever idle one program slips by, the other program catches it to keep it absolute 100% load, thats my theory, so I like the idea to run more than one stresser for a serious test. Recently I got lazy and just run whatever does a good stress...prime or sandra burn or folding...whatever for a few hours, then back off a bit to insure stability. This has worked well for me too, but doesn't really squeeze out every last mhz, which I'm sure a lot of you like to do;).
Is it possible to OC a 486? I wasn't aware...but I did oc a P2 a few times, I had a P2 Slot 1 233mhz multiplier UNLOCKED!! Yes, intel once didn't lock its multipliers until about the pentium 2 300's. I still have that 233mhz proc:).
-Ken
but as for throughbred,
the craze wil go on.
For those of you who don't know, the loophole is the mobile athlon xp chips. They run perfectly in desktop systems and are still multiplier unlocked. Even better, they have a default voltage of 1.45 volts and have a TON of overclocking headroom! I've heard reports of 2.6ghz on air with only 1.85vcore! Find em at newegg;).
-Ken
I can get mine to 2.4 on air no probs, got the one with good stepping, one of the last non locked ones.
I dont keep it over clocked, nothing really challenges the system even at stock. (yet)
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