Overclocking: Celeron At 3 GHz
This is how it might look - a 3 GHz-Celeron. But, unfortunately, this picture is just photomontage.
This is certainly the most important piece of news to come out of our tests: yes, the new Celeron once more comes up with the goods that users have expected ever since the appearance of the first Celeron: up-to-the-minute technology, a good price, and the capacity for overclocking until the cooler fins are red-hot. We managed to run our test model with no difficulty at 2.66 and even 3 GHz - even without having to use a particularly efficient cooler.
But because Intel locks the multiplier in the factory (in this case limiting it to x20), overclocking is only possible by increasing the FSB clock speed. As the Celeron operates at 400 MHz you really can't resist the temptation to run it at 533 MHz. Practically all the new chipsets can operate both PCI and AGP at this system speed within the specifications (33 or 66 MHz). Operation successful! In practice, no problems are to be expected; we assume that any 2 GHz Celeron can be operated at 2.66 GHz without a second thought - provided that there is adequate cooling. There can, of course, be no guarantee of this, so you'll just have to try it out.
We only achieved the leap to 3 GHz by further increasing the system speed to 600 MHz (150 MHz quad-pumped). In fact, no problems arose, but this sort of increase is not to be recommended for long-term operation. Our benchmark section below explains exactly what sort of performance you can expect from a Celeron of this type.
