How To Overclock A CPU

There are several methods of how to overclock a CPU. You can overclock to get your system faster, without having to sacrifice stability. I will share with you the methods that I like to use.

There are 2 common methods of CPU overclocking. Whatever method you use, the best thing to keep in when while you learn how to overclock a CPU is, patience will get you a better result. Whatever method you use, make sure you have a CPU temp monitor on hand to make sure you keep the temperatures under control.

The first method of CPU overclocking is to buy a CPU that has an unlocked multiplier. If you are new to overclocking I suggest trying this way first, because it has less challenges to deal with. You will only need to change the multiplier on the CPU and it's voltage.

If you want to overclock just using this method, just make sure you buy a CPU that has the multiplier unlocked. For example, the AMD CPU's that are referred to as the black edition have the multiplier unlocked. If you're not sure, just check the description before buying.

TIP! To get the best results when learning how to overclock a CPU, I avoid using overclocking utilities in Windows and only overclock in the BIOS, you will get better results.

The second method of how to overclock a CPU won't require that you get a CPU with an unlocked multiplier. It will require more time and some more research. In this method, you will slow down the clock speed of your RAM and HT Link by lowering the multiplier on them. Then, we change the speed of the front side bus and CPU voltage until we have a stable overclock.

This method sounds much more complicated, and although the principles are all the same, you will need to do some more research to get this to work for you. Before you start, lets get some system specs, then we'll learn how to overclock a CPU.

Finding My System Specs

Step 1 - Find the default speed of your CPU. The easiest way to do this is by getting a small program called CPU-Z. It's a free download, just do a quick search and download yours.
Step 2 - After launching the program, you'll see the name of the CPU currently installed in your system.
Step 3 - Do a search and get the default speed of your CPU. Eg. For an AMD X4 940, we do a seach for X4 940 stock multiplier to find it's 15x200, which means our multiplier is 15 and the front side bus is set at 200MHz.
Step 4 - Do another search, this time for stock voltage. You will need this information later. If you have an unlocked cpu muliplier you can skip steps 6 and 7.
Step 5 - Get a program from your motherboard that will tell you current temperatures. This will usually be on the disk that came with your motherboard. If you can't find it there, check the manufacturer's webite.
Step 6 - On the program CPU-Z there is another speed, HT Link, write this down as well.
Step 7 - Click on the memory tab now in CPU-Z check the number under DRAM frequency. Next select the SPD tab. Find the table that has the same number as the DRAM frequency you just looked up, select the next slowest speed and write down all the RAM timings and their names.

How To Overclock A CPU With An Unlocked Multiplier

Step 1 - Boot into the BIOS and increase your stock CPU multiplier by .5 save changes and reboot the computer.
Step 2 - Assuming Windows has loaded, use a program like Prime 95 to work your CPU at it's maximum for atleast 10 minutes. Monitor the temperature, if you get up to 60 degrees celcius, stop Prime 95 immediately. Reboot the computer and go to a slower setting.
Step 3 - If you ran for 10 minutes and everything stayed cool and nothing crashed, great, let's go faster. Start at Step 1 again.
Step 4 - Did your system stay under 60 degrees celcius but crash? If so add voltage by the smallest increment available to the vcore of the cpu. I generally will go up to .15 volts over the default. Any more is playing with fire. Start again at step 2.

Keep following the above steps until you just can't get it faster while keeping the CPU cool. Once you have got this far, go back and undo the last change you made. Then run a CPU stress test. If your system stays stable you've got a stable overclock and learned how to overclock a cpu. If not, slow the multiplier or add more voltage.

If you still want to go faster, you have a couple of options. Usually they involve you getting the best CPU cooler.

How To Overclock A CPU With No Unlocked Multiplier

Step 1 - Boot into the BIOS, change the speed of HT Link to one step lower than the default.
Step 2 - Change the RAM timings to those we got earlier. Some of you now thinking, wait, we're acually decreasing the speed on HT Link and RAM. You are absouletely correct. But since they are all related to the multiplication of the FSB, we must slow the other elements down, since we are only looking at CPU overclocking. Otherwise, we wouldn't just be CPU overclocking, we would also be overclocking the HT Link, and the RAM. This will not get you any kind of result ignoring these steps.
Step 3 - Increase your stock FSB by 5 save changes and reboot the computer.
Step 4 - Assuming Windows has loaded, use a program like Prime 95 to work your CPU at it's maximum for atleast 10 minutes. Monitor the temperature, if you get up to 60 degrees celcius, stop Prime 95 immediately. Reboot the computer and go to a slower setting.
Step 5 - If you ran for 10 minutes and everything stayed cool and nothing crashed, great, let's go faster. Start at Step 3 again.
Step 6 - Did your system stay under 60 degrees celcius but crash? If so add voltage by the smallest increment available to the vcore of the cpu. I generally will go up to .15 volts over the default. Any more is playing with fire. Start again at step 4.

Keep following the above steps until you just can't get it faster while keeping the CPU cool. Once you have got this far, go back and undo the last change you made. Next run a CPU stress test to make sure you have a good overclock. If your system stays stable you're ready to go. If not, slow the multiplier or add more voltage.

If you still want to go faster, you have a couple of options. Usually they involve you getting the best CPU cooler.

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