venerdì 8 aprile 2011

Overclocking guide: Part 1

What is Overclocking?
Overclocking is the process of making various components of your computer run at faster speeds than they do when you first buy them, and were designed to run. For instance, if you buy a Core 2 Duo E4300 processor working at 1.8 GHz, and you want it to run faster, you could overclock the processor to make it run at 3.0 GHz.

Disclaimer:
WARNING: Overclocking wears down the hardware and the life-expectancy of the entire computer will be lowered if you overclock. This guide is merely for those who accept the possible outcomes of this overclocking guide and overclocking in general.

Why would you want to overclock? Well, the most obvious reason is that you can get more out of a computer than what you paid for. You can buy a relatively cheap processor and overclock it to run at the speed of a much more expensive processor. If you're willing to put in the time and effort, overclocking can save you a bunch of money in the future or, in some cases, can give you a faster processor than you could possibly buy from a store 

The Dangers of Overclocking
 The first and most common danger is heat. When you make a component of your computer do more work than it used to, it's going to generate more heat. If you don't have sufficient cooling, your system can and will overheat. By itself, overheating cannot kill your computer, though. The only way that you will kill your computer by overheating is if you repeatedly try to run the system at temperatures higher than recommended. Pentium 4s run MUCH hotter than any other CPU for example, so you should always check what the normal operating temperature is for your particular processor.

Don't get overly worried about overheating issues, though. You will see signs before your system gets fried. Random crashes are the most common sign. Overheating is also easily prevented with the use of thermal sensors which can tell you how hot your system is running. If you see a temperature that you think is too high, either run the system at a lower speed or get some better cooling.

The other "danger" of overclocking is that it can reduce the lifespan of your components. When you run more voltage through a component, it's lifespan decreases. A small boost won't have much of an affect, but if you plan on using a large overclock, you will want to be aware of the decrease in lifespan. This is not usually an issue, however, since anybody that is overclocking likely will not be using the same components for more than 4-5 years, and it is unlikely that any of your components will fail before 4-5 years regardless of how much voltage you run through it. Most processors are designed to last for up to 10 years, so losing a few of those years is usually worth the increase in performance in the mind of an overclocker.

The Basics
Let's have a quick look at some of the terms that will be used a lot in this guide:
Multiplier - a technical explanation here
Front side bus (FSB) - a technical explanation 
here
Northbridge - a technical explanation 
here
Southbridge - a technical explanation 
here
BIOS - a technical explanation 
here

When you buy a processor, or CPU, you will see it's operating speed. For instance, a Pentium 4 3.2GHz CPU runs at 3.2GHz, or 3200 MHz. This is a measurement of how many clock cycles the processor goes through in one second. A clock cycle is a period of time in which a processor can carry out a given amount of instructions. So, logically, the more clock cycles a processor can execute in one second, the faster it can process information and the faster your system will run. One MHz is one million clock cycles per second, so a 3.2GHz processor can go through 3,200,000,000, or 3 billion two hundred million clock cycles in every second.

The goal of overclocking is to raise the GHz rating of your processor so that it can go through more clock cycles every second. The formula for the speed of your processor if this:

FSB (in MHz) x Multiplier=Speed in MHz.

So, in short, (FSB) 200MHz x (Multiplier) 10= 2000MHz CPU speed, or 2.0GHz.


Let’s look at this table of Core 2 Duo CPUs:


CPU
FSB/quad-pumped (MHz)
Multiplier
Speed (MHz)
E4300
200/800
9
1800
E4400
200/800
10
2000
E4500
200/800
11
2200
E6300
266/1066
7
1860
E6320
266/1066
7
1860
E6400
266/1066
9
2130
E6420
266/1066
9
2130
E6540
333/1333
7
2330
E6550
333/1333
7
2330
E6600
266/1066
9
2400
E6700
266/1066
10
2660
E6750
333/1333
9
2660
E6850
333/1333
9
3000
Q6600
266/1066
9
2400
Q6700
266/1066
10
2600

So, if we were to overclock the FSB with a $99
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300, we could do the following progress:
CPU
FSB (MHz)
Multiplier
Speed (MHz)
E4300
200 (stock speed)
9
1800
E4300
233
9
2097
E4300
266
9
2394
E4300
300
9
2700
E4300
315
9
2835
E4300
333
9
2997
E4300
345
9
3105

 -“OK, that’s fantastic, but how do I overclock??”

See you on part 2 of the guide!

34 commenti:

  1. didn't overclock yet .. needn't that but this guide is nice

    RispondiElimina
  2. I used to overclock when I used my 2.4 GHz cpu, but now with 3GHz quad I don't bother, there's no need.

    RispondiElimina
  3. ah great, I was just thinking of overclocking my cpu.. I have the E6300 which is pretty good for overclocking

    RispondiElimina
  4. great post, looking forward to part two!

    RispondiElimina
  5. Great guide, can't wait for part 2.

    RispondiElimina
  6. I love my Sandy Bridge i5; easy as pie overclocking and still runs cool :D

    RispondiElimina
  7. Now this is something I wont be doing my new computer :P

    RispondiElimina
  8. Thanks for sharing, I need to OC my PC.

    RispondiElimina
  9. thank you was very useful for me! :D

    RispondiElimina
  10. my hardware is all overclocked, hope it will not crash and burn, i have two left hands
    lawl

    RispondiElimina
  11. very informative, but i wouldn't try it on my PC though.

    RispondiElimina
  12. I saw a guide on overclocking when I was much younger, I thought oh cool, faster stuff and overclocked everything as much as I could. Comp didn't last long after that >.>

    RispondiElimina
  13. Very useful stuff, thanks for posting. + I am follower number 100, congratulations!

    RispondiElimina
  14. Awesome guide. I've never had the courage to overclock for fear of breaking something.

    RispondiElimina
  15. Great post! I hope you keep up this excellent blogging! :)

    RispondiElimina
  16. I tried to overclock my computer today and it works :D

    RispondiElimina
  17. i have been wanting to know how to do this.

    RispondiElimina
  18. Learned about overclocking a while ago; in my opinion, most computer users now-a-days do not need overclocking for simple everyday tasks. For gaming and squeezing out those extra frames, I think it can be quite useful!

    Great post, thanks for sharing!

    RispondiElimina
  19. I don't think i should over clock a laptop aye?

    RispondiElimina
  20. I've killed several computers using overclocking.

    Even if you know what you're doing, without extensive cooling it can be precarious.

    Great post as usual mate

    RispondiElimina
  21. I never bothered oc'ing. I might have to try it now though

    RispondiElimina