Overclocking

[Black Swann]

I have a stupid question here... is overclocking really worth it?

I have a Celeron 500 with 320MB SDRAM on a MiniATX Motherboard (Packard Bell). I wouldn't think you could do it with a Celeron, could you?


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Confucious, he say, "Don't use cannon to kill mosquito.. use a nuke instead.."

[Reid]

The Celeron is one of the easier CPUs to overclock, but a Packard Bell motherboard might limit or even prevent increasing the clock or adjusting the CPU core voltage. I never bothered with overclocking; it just did not seem to be worth the trouble and risks of damaging components, and the possibility of decreasing stability.

Any search engine should come up with a lot of links if wish to research your options.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[iisbob]

Swan you've asked the million dollar question. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I have friends who wouldn't touch a PC without " revving " it up! Persoanlly, i tried it for awhile( the celeron is the BEST OC!-cheap and plentiful, and they'll let you get insane specs! ) However, on that note i must warn you that you can seriously bugger your PC!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif I've fried a couple of cpu's and mobos-not to mention some vid cards and other periphals!
I've come to the same conclusion as Reid that OC on todays system is not really necessary or desirable-ther's nno need to squeeze an extra 1-3 hz out of an already speedy 1GHz chip( as cheap as componets have goten it is better just to buy a new cpu, + you get the warrenty http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif )

If you wish to experiment on some old systems; that's fine-OC'ing will teach you some things about the PC and how it functions as a unit. BUT-i don't recommend you try this on your normal PC or one that you use a lot!

Thsi si a site that a friend of mine swears by; extremeoverclocking.com (http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/) you might also try Tom's hardware guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/) for some good info on the subject.

Good luck! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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iisbob
"Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run."

[Paleo Pete]

Don't forget the PC Guide's article Overclocking, the Dissenting Opinion (http://www.pcguide.com/opt/oc/index.htm).

Also check mjc's post in PC World Upgrading? (http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000144.html) It actually concerns swapping to a faster CPU, but could also be useful in deciding whether or not to overclock, since after a certain point, the human senses can't discern between different small speed increases, only sensitive instruments or benchmarking programs would tell the story. Your eyes can't distinguish the small fraction of a second that may be all the performance gain you get, while your wallet will certainly feel the effects if the attempt goes AWOL and turns your motherboard, CPU, memory or video card into a paperweight...

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[kenja]

I described my (brief) experience with overclocking a 500MHz Celeron in this thread (http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000164.html).

[Corrections: "Intel has locked the Celeron's memory bus at 66MHz" isn't true, I've got a VIA chipset motherboard that allows the RAM to run -/+33MHz of the FSB (Front Side Bus) clock.

Intel has locked the clock frequency multiplier for the processor, but not the FSB. My (Tekram) motherboard also allows manual selection of the FSB/PCI ratio; by that I mean 66MHz/33MHz, 100MHz/33, 133MHz/33.]

I haven't gotten around to seeing if my 366MHz Celeron will run at 555MHz, nor if my 600MHz Celeron would run at 909MHz (like sleddog's).

I won't be doing any more overclocking that includes the PCI bus, but I've got a couple of Durons that might get the multiplier for the processor clock "unlocked" by tracing over a couple of small components on the underside of the chip. I don't think I will, though, mainly because I have an aversion to high-CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) fans (especially 7000rpm ones).


[This message has been edited by kenja (edited 07-17-2001).]

[Black Swann]

Cheers guys

I was thinking that it may not be worth it. Another easy one for your opinions: Would upgrading to an 600MHz from a 500MHz make any difference performance wise? Another 600,000,000 cycles per second can't be that much, can it? Or am I wrong and just tell me to shut up... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

One more thing... overclocking RAM???? Is it possible with SDRAM?

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Confucious, he say, "Don't use cannon to kill mosquito.. use a nuke instead.."

[mjc]

Going from 500MHz to 600MHz probably isn't worth it...a 20% increase, not much and probably not very noticeable. Now if you were going from 500MHz to 1+Ghz then you might notice something.

As to overclocking RAM...yes it can be done but that is the easiest way to make your system unstable that I know of...and esy to do too...take a stick of PC66 and put it in a 100MHz fsb machine....the RAM is overclocked but you would be very lucky if it booted and didn't have a whole host of memory errors.

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mjc
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Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.