Like hot-rodders in the 1960s and 1970s, overclockers are a somewhat-new breed of enthusiasts. When an overclocker’s PC just isn’t fast enough, they don’t whine about it or buy a new CPU. Hell no. That would be too easy, and often times, too expensive. Instead, they do what any hot-rodder would do — they tweak what they’ve got and modify it for maximum speed and stability.
This guide is a compilation of my personal favorite CPU overclocking tips. Note that some of these tips can be found elsewhere on the Internet, and other overclockers’ opinions may differ from mine. Also, keep in mind that overclocking is considered by some to be dangerous and risky. This guide was written to help you, the average Joe Overclocker, reach new speeds (with stability) on your CPU overclocking adventure.
Also note that this article is not for total newbies. You’ve got to have at least a CPU and motherboard combination that allows overclocking and you need to have some overclocking experience and knowledge.
For more information on how to overclock a CPU, go to the How To Overclock a CPU article. With all that said, let’s get started…
Cautions and Warnings: Is Overclocking Dangerous?
Several times you’ve probably heard people say that CPU overclocking is dangerous. Usually it seems like newbies, PC retailers, and CPU manufacturers say these things. Is overclocking really dangerous? Well, yes and no. And keep in mind, it’s “dangerous” for your CPU; not for you, personally. If you truly know what you’re doing, it really isn’t that dangerous. But even an experienced overclocker can kill a CPU if they aren’t careful or overlook certain things like voltage. For the average PC user, overclocking is more dangerous. The safety precautions that an overclocking veteran would take may be overlooked by a newbie. So, when Intel (for example) declares that overclocking is risky and can be dangerous, they are usually saying so for all the newbies out there that are new or unfamiliar to overclocking. It’s simply for liability. If Intel encouraged or even supported overclocking, there would be plenty more Celeron keychains and Pentium II paperweights available.
What’s the Problem?
Now that I’ve addressed a few issues, let’s get into the gist of things. Since you are in fact reading this guide, I’m guessing you are looking for a solution to an overclocking problem you’re having. You can’t get into Windows? Your PC flashes up random BSODs (Blue Screens of Death)? Your PC can’t get past the BIOS? Your PC doesn’t turn on when you overclock? Your PC freezes after about an hour of running? Phew. No problem…
There are way too many possible overclocking problems to cover in one article (or even five or ten articles), so I’m simply going to try to help you solve the some of the most common problems. Once you’ve decided on the problem, read on into the guide for tips on that specific issue.
Your operating system (Windows, usually) crashes after a period of time (several minutes or more), without running any extremely intensive programs:
If you didn’t run any intensive programs, this is most likely a heat issue. Consider lowering the voltage (unless it means sacrificing stability) or better cooling. Read on…
Your operating system crashes immediately after a certain intensive program is run:
If a single game or program crashes your PC immediately after it has been launched, this is usually a sign of a few possible problems. The issue is most likely the CPU itself, but it could be the memory. The CPU is overclocked beyond its limit with the supplied voltage, or the CPU simply cannot go that fast (eek!). Try increasing the voltage as long as it’s in the “safe” range. Generally a CPU can withstand a .2 or .3 volt increase (over default) for long periods of time. I generally don’t recommend going higher than .3 over the default voltage.
If you’re sure it’s not the CPU, check to see the speed rating of the RAM in your system. 10 ns SDRAM (PC66) should be good up to around 100 MHz FSB. 8 ns SDRAM (most PC100) should be good up to around 125 MHz FSB. 7 ns SDRAM or faster should be good beyond 133 MHz FSB. Anything beyond those values could result in problems from the memory. Another thing to try would be to set the CAS latency in the BIOS setup to 3 instead of 2 (CAS latency determines how much time the computer allows the RAM to recover between ‘column’ access). This could solve the problem.
Your PC doesn’t even turn on (maybe it turns on, but the monitor doesn’t receive a signal) once it’s been overclocked, or it can’t get past the BIOS:
This is one of the most frustrating problems for newbies, because they seem to think their PC is toast when it won’t respond to the keyboard or it won’t even display video. But hey, we all learn the hard way when it comes to these sorts of problems. To recover the original clock speed, you’ll need to do one of the following: 1) Find the jumper on your motherboard that resets the CMOS configuration, 2) Find the key on the keyboard that resets the clock speed, or 3) Re-jumper the CPU for a more stable speed on the motherboard or slocket. If you need to find the key or the jumper that resets the clock speed (usually for software CPU configuration), consult the manual. This is different on just about every motherboard.
Now that you know how to fix the problem by returning to default values, you probably want to know how to make the old value stable, right? Well, if it doesn’t even receive a video signal, it could be either the CPU is not getting enough voltage (remember, .2 or .3 volts over the default is about the maximum I recommend), or the memory may not be up to it. Make sure your memory can handle such a high FSB speed on another PC if possible. Heat probably isn’t an issue at this point since this is immediately after you start the PC.
Original Article: Here
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