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| Overclocking is the act of increasing the speed of certain components in a computer other than that specified by the manufacturer. It mainly refers to making your CPU run at a faster rate although it could also refer to making your graphics card or other peripherals run faster. For example if you have a 300MHz PII CPU, you could probably overclock it easily to 350 or even 400MHz. The latest P4 processors also appear to be overclockable through the FSB (front side bus) even though they are advertised as being clock-locked. So, now that you now what overclocking is, let's see how you can actually overclock your CPU. You can do this using any of the following 3 methods: 1. Through your BIOS, 2. By changing the multiplier settings, 3. By changing theBus speed! BIOS: In some BIOS's you are given the option to alter your CPU speed. Using this method, you won't even have to open your computer case. When you first boot your PC enter your BIOS (usually by pressing Del, F1, or F10) and start looking for any option that allows you to change your CPU speed or voltage. If you do find it, then it's as simple as changing the current number to a higher value. Bus Speed: When increased, it makes the whole system run faster and not only the CPU. Most PC's have a speed of 66MHz or 100MHz. Mainly, it defines the speed that your motherboard and other components run at. To change your bus speed appropriately, see the table below. Multiplier Settings: Multipliers are located on your motherboard and come in the forms x1, x1.5, x2, x2.5, etc... When the Bus speed is multiplied by any one of these numbers, it results in the final CPU speed. For example, if you have a bus speed of 100 and a multiplier of x4, your CPU speed is 400MHz. Clear? The table below shows how you can change your bus speed/multiplier settings depending on your CPU. Summary: The best way to overclock your PC is to alter the bus speed and multiplier settings. To do that, look at the table below and you should straight away realize how beautifully it has been put together. For example, if you have a Pentium 166MHz CPU (which is set up on a 66MHz bus speed and a multiplier setting of x2.5) you can see straight away that you only have 1 choice and that is to increase the multiplier setting tox3 to get a net speed of 200MHz!Other processes to try out: You must understand that to overclock you MUST buy a heatsink or an additional fan because your motherboard will be producing more heat. Ask your local hardware store for help with fitting these. Also, make sure you download a benchmarking utility to know how much speed you've gained, check out SiSoft Sandra 98 from the Speed Apps section. Now that you know what you'll need and what your options are, let's take a look at how you can actually speed up your PC: (1) Take off your PC's lid and play around with your Motherboard's jumpers. Making sure you've got your Motherboard manual in hand, you can see how you should fit your jumpers for each CPU speed. Simply reposition the jumpers for a faster CPU by altering the bus and multiplier setting jumpers. (see table below) (2) Software. I would recommend you use software since it's easier. Go to h-oda.com and download a program called SoftFSB. Follow the instructions and then overclock your CPU one step at a time (rebooting after each time) to check and see if you've been successful. If Windows crashes for no apparent reason then your processor is probably overheating and you need to undo your last speed jump. (4) To prevent overheating your CPU, download and try CPUidle from cpuidle.de and Waterfall Pro fromrocketdownload.com. Alternatively, you can buy heatsinks/fans for your CPU. To help you choose the speed you want to overclock your machine to, consult this table. Bus Speed in MHz is listed down the left and multiplier settings across the top. Figures in bold represent the most common settings.
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A graphics processing unit or GPU (also occasionally called visual processing unit or VPU) is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. Modern GPUs are very efficient at manipulating computer graphics, and their highly parallel structure makes them more effective than general-purpose CPUs for algorithms where processing of large blocks of data is done in parallel. In a personal computer, a GPU can be present on a video card, or it can be on the motherboard, or in certain CPUs, on the CPU die. More than 90% of new desktop and notebook computers have integrated GPUs, which are usually far less powerful than those on a dedicated video card.
