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Crank up your PC for maximum performance boost
AS the chipset technology at the Silicon Valley blasts into new dimensions, it’s difficult to keep up with the growing PC technology with a tight budget. However, one can certainly make his existing hardware run for its money by simply feeding it with some extra power just like an athlete requires extra nutritions to take an edge over others.
After about six months of exploiting the capabilities of my PC, I’ve finally been able to make my PC stand out from the rest without having to spend much. No need to go for the expensive P4 3.0+ GHz processors when you can salvage similar performance from a P4 2.5GHz and save some money too.
Before you embark on the journey, you need to understand various terminologies regarding your PC which are responsible for letting you achieve a performance gain.
Motherboard
Quality Mobo’s from companies, such as ASUS, Intel, GigaByte, MSI, ABIT, etc. are more suited for achieving maximum performance boost and greater stability. Some of the most crucial component inside your motherboard are:
Over-clocking: Forceful increments to the reference or base frequencies (working frequency) of the components like processors and chipsets is termed as over-clocking.
Front-side bus: FSB is the speed at which data is transmitted through the processor, RAM, PCI/AGP and various parts of the motherboard.
Binary In/Output system: BIOS is a special program permanently fed into the motherboard (EEPROM) for advanced options of configurations, Passwords, Power, Over-clocking and much more.
Jumpers: Ever noticed tiny pins on your motherboard? Jumpers are blue coloured small rectangular pin-caps which come in handy during emergency purposes for ex removing of system passwords, advanced options for BIOS and resetting default Mobo configurations etc.
Northbridge controller: A major chipset present on every motherboard accompanied by a small heat sink/Fan holds the potentials of the FSB, Processor, PCI and AGP interface.
Southbridge controller: Located on the far side of the motherboard holds the potentials of the IDE Bus master and data transfer to/from I/O devices.
IDE bus master: A process which eliminates the interruption of the CPU when transferring Data from/to the I/O devices directly to the RAM, hence saving precious cycles of you processor. This requires your HD to have a support for bus master and special IDE drivers which are generally provided with the Mobo’s CD.
Hardware Monitoring: Almost every latest motherboard comes equipped with a Hardware Monitoring a chip which monitors the temps and voltages of the Mobo and the processor. This monitoring is very important for users as it can help you determine the best compromise between max overclocking and a stable system.
Most of our concentrations will be on how to increment the FSB under controlled aggression and tackling with some Mobo jumpers. Incrementing the FSB can seriously pump up your PC’s performance, meanwhile voiding the warranty of the components. Before going further, I must add that the Mobo manual may play a vital role; I’ve seen so many people not bothering to confirm the all the package contents including the manuals.
Every Mobo is accompanied by its detailed manual (explaining various jumper settings) and support CD(s) (IDE bus master) and other accessories. Incase you don’t have it then download it from the manufacturers page and if you don’t even know the manufacturer of your board than don’t waste your time and stop reading immediately.
Besides the Mobo, it is very important to choose an appropriate processor for good over-clock and maximum stability. You don’t have to buy the expensive P4 2.5+ GHz Proc when you can achieve a similar performance with a pumped up 1.8 Ghz processor. No time for details, all you need to know is that the Intel P4 1.8A and 2.0A are best suited for value users, earlier P4’s (1.2-1.4) based on Willamette Core are poor over-clockers.
Only the newer Northwood Core P4’s starting from 1.5+ Ghz are more suited for OC because of lower Voltage consumption and improved transistor size (0.13 m). If you already have a 1.5-1.6-1.7-GHz P4’s they will work fine too.
The most important factor is the heat, lesser heat better performance. Most commonly used P4’s have an FSB of 400-533MHz, the new and more expensive models already have their FSB’s pumped up to 800+MHz.
As a reference I’ll use my own PC to illustrate the great potentials of the motherboard and the processor. My system is powered by Intel P4 1500GHz 478 (Northwood Core) processor connected to ASUS P4 S333-M (Sis 645, 400 FSB) motherboard with 256MB 2.5 T Kingston Ram, and extreme modified Leadtek Winfast A250LE TD MyViVo.
The first thing to do is to familiarize your BIOS configurations with your hardware. Start your computer and use the F2-Del keys or other allotted keys to enter your Mobo BIOS. Carefully search for the BIOS and look for the following options:
FSB/PCI frequency: For a P4 and Mobo Rated 400 FSB, we’ll try to increase this number up to a magical 500+ MHz enabling Rapid speed burst. Firstly, choose manual option so you can define your own FSB. On default it will be set on 100/33. The FSB is in the form of a Quad, 100x4=400 FSB while 33 is the PCI Bus speed. Try setting the FSB to 416 MHz meaning setting the option to 104. Save the changes and reboot.
Identify your new processor speed. Set the user password so you can prevent completion of the boot-up process and identify the changes. Run computer for a while under stressful environments like 3D games and experience the new speed while keep monitoring the CPU temps. An FSB of 416 pushed my processor speed from 1500 to 1560MHz. I increased the FSB to [133/33(533) FSB or 2.0GHz], however, beyond this point I often experience system hang-ups resulting from over heating.
CPU Freq Multiple: Do you know how your CPU speed is identified? By multiplication of FSB and CPU Freq Multiple. For my system this option is set to “15x” on default where “X” is the FSB. 15x100=1500MHz. Hence for a 1.8- 2.0GHz proc, the multiple is set to 18x and 20x, respectively, for a 400 FSB rating.
For better reliability, its more feasible to increase the CPU multiple than to increase the FSB because this way you’ll only pile pressure on the CPU while prevent any extra load on PCI/AGP Buses and other Mobo components. However, Intel has so far locked this option of changing the frequency multiple from the BIOS to prevent users for achieving undue advantage.
No doubt an overclocked 1.8 GHz P4 proc can easily outperform the stock 2.2GHz proc. It’s due to the same fact Intel has locked the CPU Multiple to prevent users achieving better performances and leaving their expensive models in the dust. Even though this option may be available for advanced users and require the motherboard to be set on Jumper-free Mode.
If supported, your Mobo manual must have details on how to achieving this special mode and its troubleshooting. I can’t help you here as every motherboard has its own settings and designs.
Voltage changes (Risky+optional): You’ll have to feed your Proc with more power if you are to achieve better OC. You must at least have a 350Watts power supply, anything less can create severe problems. Only the slightly expensive motherboards allow voltage modification. It’s a very risky process but does help in snatching a bit more performance.
Newer P4’s utilize about 1.3-1.5 V power; older P4’s utilize about 1.7-1.8 V power. Even the slightest increase in voltages can create severe heat problems and may lead to permanent damage. Most of you may not have an option of voltage modifications in the BIOS and those who do have it, please don’t play this option; you’ll need to increment the voltage just a little bit. + 0.02-0.5 V max. Skipping this option won’t hurt much.
RAM CAS timings & ratios: The time which the RAM takes to complete its cycle is the CAS timing. Value rams have a CAS Timing 2.5 T or greater, more expensive rams have the timing set to 2 T on default. Let’s say, you have a Kingston DDR Value Ram, then the chances are that you can run it faster by forcing it to run at a superior timing.
However, keep in mind: too much of a good thing, there is every chance that you set an abnormal timing or change the memory ratios and allow your mobo sounding warning alarms after having your PC restarted. If such a thing occurs you have to remove the mobo battery to reset default configurations (Manual). Carefully adjust a superior CAS timing if possible for a quick boost. If the PC crashes after some time, reset the memory timings immediately and consider upgrading to more costly Ram module.
Never play with the BIOS options, increment the FSB slowly and try to find the best compromise between OC and CPU- mobo temperatures (<55 C, <40 C) for a room temp of 33C. It takes time but once the sweet spot is achieved you can keep your settings and enjoy the sheer pace.
Heat ups and preventions
Heat is the worst enemy of a PC. It is heat which is the major cause of hang-ups and burned components. Over-clocking produces more heat, creating a potential danger to the components, even without OC your P4’s run hot. In my first article I mentioned the temperature limit of a max 60 C. It is thus a must to have hardware monitoring in your Mobo otherwise you just can’t use a thermometer to read CPU temperature, can you?
Generally, with the stock Intel cooling solution and at an average room temperature of 30C, a P4 runs at 40C when idle, but when subjected to stress the temperature can go up to as high as 60C. But our goal is to prevent temperature reaching 60C; anything less than 50C is good for long life.
If you suspect your idle CPU temperature to be higher than 40C, consider re-application of the heat sink with a standard thermal compound or buying a new fan for the heat sinks.
The best way to disperse heat from the processor is to using the largest heat sink (Al or Cu) you can afford and a quality fan which can operate at high RPM’s.
The default heat sink fan solution which you get in your CPU package isn’t the most beautiful or the most proper. But it does its job quietly however when subjected to OC it doesn’t stand that tall then. So if you aren’t satisfied of what you have then there are a lot of third-party companies namely Coolmasters, Zalman, Akasa, etc. providing superior cooling techniques. Water cooling units though expensive but aren’t an exception; they can cool down almost any thing and is the best choice for extreme OC. Any extra cooling units will cost relatively more. But such investments pay off nicely just like I’ve done. UK-based price of such coolers start from an affordable 15 pounds up to a massive 150 pounds for water and electric cooling.
Air flow
This is what you can do with out spending too much cash. Air flow is very important for your PC and without sufficient airflow your internal PC environment bears hell and adds to the OC hazards. Before having a 4-way cooling fan solution installed (Blow in-out) I used to keep my casing open but it would then allow piles of dust and moisture inside which can again cause problems. So it’s better keeping your casing closed and have at least two 80mm, 2500+ RPM fans, blowing air inside and outside. You can even modify your casings by cutting square holes to add more cooling fans like I’ve done, but caution is advised not to placing a fan which would interfere with the working of the CPU/AGP fans. If you think your system is running fine without proper air flow, think again its just surviving; a lot of you guys might have experienced the harsh environmental air inside our Cyber Café’s not having a cooling setup, eyes hurt and you feel difficulty in breathing but than you’ll have to do your important work you say hmm? I would even recommend opening all the back side slot covers to increase the Air flow.
Thermal compounds
These are High Density, Viscous and non setting liquids usually composed of Silicon materials and rarely Silver materials and are highly essential during the application of Heat sinks. A thin layer of such liquids is used b/w a Processor and the Heat sink to eliminate any Micro Air gaps (depressions) present on every surface. Thermal conductivities of such compounds are superb and are rarely found in Pakistan. The U.S based company Artic Silver produces the most efficient thermal compounds in the world. These are also referred to as Thermal grease or Thermal poop. For permanent bonding of Small Heat sinks we use Thermal Adhesive Compounds. I haven’t seen any imports of such components in Pakistan, but the non standard TC’s are available in our country. Retailers don’t use Thermal compounds because of the cost, they simply press the heat sink to touch the processor and that’s it. It’s due to the excellent design of the Heat sinks that it gets to fit accurately on the proc otherwise…... Intel’s Heat sink solution is called ZIF (Zero insertion force) meaning the Heat sink assembly doesn’t require the massive force of the arm to plug it in. But where ever I go I see people manhandle such delicate items.
Its only after running stressful applications that one may really feel performance boost. As mentioned before in my 17th jan article, dedicated softwares like PC Mark 02 (9 Mb), 3DMark 01(40 Mb), 3D Mark 03(176 Mb) and Sis Sandra soft 03 will help in identifying any performance gain. The Sis Sandra soft 03 will also compare various PC’s with yours and recommend future upgrades.
One final word
The above mentioned techniques are not at all for people having a faint heart. The author as a pro reviewer constantly monitors his PC and tweaks it for optimal performance and does not recommend following such technique unless you understand the risks involved.
Before revealing my secrets, you must know that the following procedures aren’t recommended at all and that they may lead to instability of the system, reduce its life span and can cause permanent physical damage to the components. I shall therefore be not liable for any damage occurred to your PC. Attempting any of such procedures will void the product warranty automatically.
The writer
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