How to Overclock CPU

CPU overclocking can be fun and at the same time dangerous to your computer system. Here are a few tips to get you pointed in the right direction and possibly help you out of messy situations while attempting to CPU over clocking.

1.First of all you need to familiarize yourself with the motherboard that you will be working with. Some motherboards have jumper or switch blocks on the board that you manually have to adjust, while others you can change the desired settings in the system software called the BIOS or CMOS.

2.Make sure you know the factory rated value of the CPU that you will be working with. If you have a 300Mhz CPU and try to run it up to 900Mhz it will more than likely not work. Keep that in mind, the highest overclock that I have seen that worked without errors was a 150Mhz jump. This of course was without using specialized cooling devices. The CPU in question was a Celeron 300A that was running at 450Mhz. I have heard of higher reports, but this is the most stable one that I have actually witnessed.

3.Remember that as you increase the processor speed, the processor will require more voltage to operate at that speed. If your CPU runs at 1.65v for the 300Mhz speed then to attempt to get it to run at a higher MHz don’t be surprised if you have to bump the voltage to 2.2v to get it to run at 450Mhz. This is not a solid number; I just used 2.2v to give you an idea that the voltage will have to be bumped.

4.When you actually start to overclock it is best to write down the switch/jumper/software settings of your motherboard in a working state before you even start trying to overclock. After you have this information written down and in a safe place, then the fun can begin.

5.It is best to start out your CPU Overclocking project buy slowly moving the processor speed up in half clockings, you do not want to immediately jump to the highest speed your motherboard supports. So if you have a 300MHZ CPU, then the first step would be to take it to 350MHZ, do not touch the voltage at this point, and see what happens. If the system comes to life then let it continue to boot and see if the system generates any errors. If no errors are generated, then you have successfully overclocked your system by 50MHZ… a step in the right direction. If the system will not come to life, or your system is generating errors while trying to boot your operating system, there are 2 options. Either put your system back at the settings that you originally wrote down… or bump the voltage up by a factor of .1, so if you were originally at 1.8 volts than you would want to bump it up to 1.9, and see what happens, same as before, if the system comes to life, then wait for it to boot and watch for any errors. If it will still not come to life after an initial .1 volt bump on a mere 50MHZ overclock then I would say that your motherboard / CPU one or the other is not going to be able to support the overclock, and put it back into its original configuration.

6.If you were able to get the 50MHZ overclock to work, then you are on your way. Just keep using that pattern, bump up the speed, followed by error check and voltage bump. Keep this process up until you find a speed that just flat out will not work. After you find this speed that just will not work, drop the MHz down 2 levels. For example if you have a Celeron 300A and you have gotten it to overclock, but it stops responding at 600MHZ then drop it back down to 500Mhz remember to check the voltages and let it run.

We use the QuakeII crusher demo to test newly overclocked systems. Also remember, that as you crank up the speed of your CPU it is going to get HOT, so there is a limit as to where you will HAVE to stop so the CPU does not get too hot. Its your own judgement how far you want to try to push your CPU, and no one affiliated with this article is responsible if you toast your CPU.

That’s about it, that is about as general as you can get on the steps to CPU overclocking. If you are unsure, or have no money to buy replacement parts then I would not recommend trying this. Do remember that there is a limit on the amount of voltage that and given CPU can handle. If you go past that limit or if you overclock CPU too muchthen what happens, you will undoubtedly bake your CPU, and if that happens, it would be good for a necklace or Christmas Tree Ornament, but not much else. Hope this helps some of the new overclocker community out there.