I've never done any overclocking before, but i have played with hadware as in fitting thing, chainging, removing, etc...
Anyway, as i am planning on upgrading in the near future and do plan to tinker with overclocking i wanted to get a few things straight...
For one, what are all these "multiplier settings" i see mentioned everywhere.. i figure they are changed in the though.
Also, RAM timings, i see number like 2-3-2-2 mentioned or whatever, what are these all about, etc.
Anything of interest or anything i should know, basically what this thread is for.


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CPU speed is derived from the multiplier x FSB. So an AthlonXP2600+ runs at 2.08ghz and is 166 x 12.5 (FSB 166 is without DDR so is effectively 333mhz). To o/c it you can either alter the FSB or the multiplier, both of which depend mostly on your mobo. Raising the FSB often makes other things run out of spec like your PCI, AGP and RAM so is not ideal. Alterring the multiplier is the most useful way and you can even set it lower in order to run with a faster FSB. Using the XP2600+ example above you could lower the multiplier and use 10.5 x 200 = 2.10ghz providing your mobo and RAM can run at that speed (400FSB inc DDR).
To alter the multiplier your mobo needs to support it either through the BIOS or on the mobo in the form of dips or switches. Even if your mobo does support multiplier adjustment (aka frequency adjustment) you need a CPU which is unlocked (allowing the mobo to dictate the multiplier). You can hw mod the CPU but ALL TbredB and Barton based CPUs are unlocked and great o/c'ers. You will often find complications arising due to the 5th FID bit on the CPU. The 5th FID bit is needed for multipliers over 12.5x and few mobos can understand this. If your CPU is above this it may appear locked otherwise you will most likely find 12.5x the maximum you can select.
As for RAM timings (2-2-2-5 etc) the lower the number the less latency there is (waiting for your RAM to refresh) and hence the 'faster' it runs. The diffs between the slowest (highest eg 2.5-3-3-7) timings and the fastest (lowest eg 2.0-2-2-5) timings is actually around 1% so not worth forking out silly amounts of money for. You may wish to make the latency higher in order to run the RAM at a faster physical speed, eg PC2700 CL2.0 may run happily as PC3000 CL2.5 or even PC3200 CL2.5.
A lot depends upon the component in question. Many of the low end of a partic family can easily run as fast as the higher members of the same family, the technology is much more capable but the chip manu's clock them down to fill a market segment or to ensure high yields. Practically all ...
