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In the Forums... |
Posted: January 26, 2000 Written by: Keith "Farrel" McClellan Effect of Non-Standard Bus Speeds Non-standard bus speeds can have a variety of effects on various types of computer hardware. Hard drives can miswrite data, CD writers can create even more coasters than usual, CD-ROM drives can refuse to function, RAM can refuse to work properly, etc., etc., etc. Some of these problems can be fixed by adding some rudimentary cooling, but many of them are simple limitations of the hardware which will limit a system's overclockability. Keep an eye out for these things because they can cause serious problems with a system. Most of these problems occur when using bus speeds that exceed the PCI bus frequency. PCI is intended to run at 33 MHz. If you set it to ove 40 MHz or so (using 83, 124, or 133+ MHz bus), there is a fair chance your hard drive will lose everything. See page 3 of the Hard Drive Tweak Guide for more information. Alternate Overclocking Methods There are, of course, other ways to overclock your system. Most notably, SoftFSB allows for overclocking your processor from within Windows without restarting. This is an impressive feat, but it isn't always as stable as changing the settings using the hardware. When you decide to use SoftFSB to overclock your computer, take the following precautions: - Save before attempting anything - Progressively overclock the system - go up one speed step at a time to make sure you don't inadvertently damage the processor. - Run the stability tests to make sure the overclock was completely successful. Download SoftFSB here. Conclusion Well, there you go - you've got the low down on how to overclock a computer. If you are still not satisfied with the speed of your system, check out some of our other guides on how to overclock your video card or tweak your system. And as always, I'm available to answer any questions or receive any comments you may have. Want to view this guide on one huge, printer friendly page? Click here! |
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