Overclocking Guide

Correct Overclocking - The Goals

First and foremost, we want to improve overall system performance. Also, we want the system to be just as stable as it was before it was overclocked. Finally, we want to keep our CPU alive.

As you may have learned from my bus speed guide, the best way to improve system performance is to increase the bus speed. If you can't do that, either because your motherboard doesn't support higher bus speeds or your RAM or your PCI devices aren't up to it, you can change the multiplier instead. Don't expect much gain in performance, however, if you increase the multiplier but you decrease the bus speed!!! For example, changing from 166 @ 2.5x66 MHz to 180 @ 3x60 MHz will actually decrease your overall performance. The same rule applies to changing from 133 @ 2x66 to 150 @ 3x50. These types of changes will not make your system any faster!!

This is some touchy news for 6x86 users, who should really only overclock their CPUs to a slightly higher speed than the original. The 6x86 only has multiplier options for x2 and x3. Don't let yourself be told otherwise!! Of course you can try jumpering the board to all of the different Intel Pentium settings, but it won't make a difference for the 6x86 CPU.