How To Overclock
The first step in how to overclock is understanding what
overclocking is. It is the process in which we get the
internal components of a computer to work faster than they were
designed to. Most often the CPU is the first item that is
focused on. Then the video card and RAM come in.
I will warn you, if you don't have the time or patience, this
is not for you. Learning how to overclock will
take
a lot of
time, and a lot of reading. Although it takes a considerable
amount of
time and patience, I find it a fun past time, and the end results are
worth while.
The most common overclocking terms are listed below,
- Vcore
- This is the amount of voltage that is delivered to the processor core
by default. Often this is increased in small increments to
push the CPU
faster. Voltage increases usually add the most amount of
extra heat.
- Mhz or Ghz - This is the clock speed of
measurement of electrical components. It is the current
measurement of
CPU and RAM as well as other computer components.
- FSB - This is the speed in Mhz at which
the motherboard communicates with the CPU.
- CPU Multiplier - Because the speed of a
CPU can only be held for short distances, a motherboards information
needs to run at a slower speed. To get the CPU to run at the
speed we
want, we simply multiply this FSB speed to get the CPU speed.
This is
the multiplier. If your CPU has this locked, the only way to
overclock
is by increasing the FSB.
The general idea behind an overclocking, is to first increase
the multiplier, then the FSB. Once the system becomes
unstable, you add
more voltage. Basically you keep going through this until you
can no
longer get rid of the additional heat you are creating.
If you are interested in learning overclocking, get yourself
- a
good heat sink and fan for your CPU.
- a CPU temp
monitor, preferably the one that
came with your motherboard, I find they are the most accurate.
- hardware that lets you change the clock speeds.
- a program to put your system under full load, I like Prime
95.
- a solid understanding of what overclocking failed
looks like.
- go to CPU
overclocking and start reading and making clock setting
adjustments to your computer today.
- a good power supply, like a quality Ultra power supply,
will make overclocking easier as well, even though it isn't mandatory.
If you've had an error with Prime95, or the
Prime95 worker starting 3 and 6 that just hangs forever or errors, we'll do what we can to get you past it.
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