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Page 3 of 3 Bumping Up The Clock Speed
Now that you've nailed the problems, tweaked the voltage, and dealt with the heat, you probably want to overclock your CPU a bit higher. Instead of using the typical jumpers or the BIOS' CPU clock speed software, consider SoftFSB. SoftFSB is a nifty little program that allows you to change the clock speed of your CPU (on-the-fly) from within Windows. This has obvious benefits... and it can often times lead to higher clock speeds than you thought possible before. Download SoftFSB here. Check to see if your motherboard is supported before you start playing around with this program, as it can alter some pretty serious stuff. Once you're sure it supports your system, run the program and choose your motherboard from the drop-down list. Hit "Get FSB". Now it should show all the supported FSB speeds. Change the speed of the FSB to the desired clock. Click "Set FSB" and the new speed should be set. You should probably test stability before deciding on a good speed.
Remember: On most new CPUs, you can't change the multiplier. All overclocking must be done in the FSB (front side bus).
To test to see if you've hit the limits of your L2 cache, try disabling the L2 cache in the BIOS setup and setting the clock speed to something that was previously unstable. If the option works and the CPU is stable at the new speed, there is a good chance that your L2 cache is too hot or it's not able to reach the speed you're striving to hit. This is often the limitation on older Pentium II systems.
Choosing a "Good" Speed & Testing Stability
There's no doubt that a higher clock speed is better than a lower clock speed. But you must not sacrifice stability to reach that clock speed, or the PC will become basically useless. There are various ways to test the stability of a system at a given clock speed, but in my opinion, the best method is to use the CPU Stability Test. This program simply rules for testing stability. Crank the priority all the way up and run this program overnight. If the system crashes, you've got a problem. Burn in? Or Burn out?
If you're an overclocking vet, you've probably heard of this process called "burning in", or perhaps you've even burned in a CPU yourself. But does it do anything?
Some may disagree with me here, but I have yet to see a benefit from burning in a CPU. So what is burning in? Well, my understanding of the process is:
1) Find the highest rock solid speed for the CPU.
2) Set the voltage slightly higher than needed.
3) Run the system as you normally would (at this solid speed) for a given period of time (usually a few days to a week).
4) Try to set the CPU at a higher speed.
Some people claim to gain several MHz using this method. Give it a shot if you're interested... it can't hurt, can it?
Slockets and CPU SoftMenu II or III
If you're using a slocket (for an FC-PGA based Celeron II), there are a couple tricks you can do with the voltage and FSB settings to achieve better performance and stability.
If you want to set the voltage to what is on the slocket, set the SoftMenu settings to use Auto or Default for voltage. This allows you to use 1.8 volts or higher on the slocket itself, regardless of what the BIOS supports. This is especially useful on older Abit motherboards where the voltage can only be set up to 1.7 volts for the Celermine CPUs.
For stability at 100 MHz or higher, set the slocket to 100 MHz FSB, even if you're planning on setting it differently within the BIOS setup. This seems to make the CPU more stable, at higher speeds (at least, on the Abit Slocket !!! it does).
Pushing the Limits of AGP and PCI Clock
How does overclocking or adjusting the FSB effect other components, such as video cards, sound cards, and hard drives? Greatly. Make sure if you're running at 100 MHz FSB, you try to set the PCI clock to 1/3. For anything significantly higher, try to set the PCI clock to 1/4 (if available). If the PCI bus clock reaches about 43 MHz or higher (remember, 33 MHz default), it could possibly fry the contents of your hard drive (the data, that is). Also it could make items such as sound cards and network cards not function properly.
On the same note, AGP clock shouldn't be set much higher than 66 MHz (default). If you set the bus speed to 100 or higher, set the multiplier to 2/3 or lower (if available). Higher AGP clocks will not help performance, but can harm stability, and possibly kill an AGP card over long periods of time.
Conclusion
With a little bit of work and tweaking, your CPU can be running at amazing speeds. And remember, folks, the brag factor goes up with every MHz. If you have questions or you need help, consult the Tweak3D Forums.
(please note - this is an archived article which may be outdated information or broken links)
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