Overview

The general performance of the computer can be significantly increased by setting overclocked modes for some of its subsystems that will impose an increase in their operating speed. One of these subsystems is the processor, which plays the leading role in processing data and managing the other subsystems of the computer. By raising the processor operating frequency and/or the frontside bus frequency (which determines the processor operating frequency), you will be able to considerably improve the overall computer performance. The other subsystems, such as the video adapters and storage subsystem, often undergo a similar process. This method of increasing the operating speed is called “overclocking”. This is the widely used and generally accepted term, used in computer-related literature and on the Internet. You should note that along with increasing the frequency you must often also increase the voltage to those components subject to overclocking.

In no case can the authors be held responsible for any damage resulting from an attempt to overclock any computer subsystem. Any overclocking is done at your own risk.

The main idea of setting overclocked modes for certain components and subsystems is to increase the computer's performance without serious financial invest-ments into its upgrade.

In most cases, to switch the computer subsystems to overclocking mode, it is suffi-cient to change a few settings on the motherboard. Usually, this comes down to changing the position of a few jumpers or switches. Sometimes, however, you must replace or add a few elements. This is especially true for the elements intended to guarantee effective and reliable cooling of the system.

Not so long ago, overclocking meant no more than raising the clock frequency of the processor. For example, XT computers based on i8088 processors rated to run at 4.7 MHz, could be overclocked to run at the frequencies from 6 to 12 MHz. I80386 processors rated at 33 MHz could be overclocked to 40 MHz. This ability to be overclocked was often already included in the computer design by the manufacturers. Although they didn't usually advertise this, it was not unusual to find a Normal/Turbo button on the front panel of the system unit, which would switch the computer to run at a higher clock frequency.

Now, many users of computers based on Pentium, Pentium II, or Pentium III processors from Intel, or similar processors from other companies, have the opportunity to increase not only the internal clock frequency of the processor at which data is processed, but also the frequency of the processor system bus. The frequency of this bus determines the external frequency of the processor. Note that in technical literature, this bus is often referred to as the host bus, FSB (Front Side Bus), CPU Bus, or SB (System Bus). Raising the frequency of this bus can appreciably improve the computer performance, since this speeds up data exchange with the memory, the video adapter, the hard drive, etc.