If you're been meddling with computers for some time, you will no doubt have heard of the term CPU overclocking. CPU overclocking is the process where the computer enthusiast brings the CPU to an operating speed beyond its normal speed. There is a whole industry out there around CPU overclocking and this article is designed to give you some insight into this world. You should know that most manufacturers don't recommend that you overclock their processors. Overclocking does have its risks - so you need to be careful.

1. The Basics of CPU Overclocking

What is CPU overclocking? Well, CPU overclocking nothing but the process of changing the settings on your PC hardware to make it operate at a speed beyond the recommended. Many parts of a computer can be overclocked - but in this article we look at CPU overclocking.

The concept behind CPU overclocking is that processors are designed to run at different speeds - not just one fixed speed. You can use the BIOS to vary the speed at which the CPU runs to achieve the overclocking effect.

Why do I say the BIOS? Well, it is the motherboard (with all its complicated jumpers) that control the speed of the CPU, and you can meddle with those jumpers using your motherboard BIOS.
 

2. How Do You Do It?

CPU overclocking is actually very easy to do. There are two main ways to do it:

Overclocking The CPU Speed
Since we know that the CPU speed is controlled by motherboard jumpers, all we need to do is change a jumper settings on the board and 'trick' it to think there's a faster processor here. An example - if you have a Pentium-200 CPU, all you do is change the BIOS so it thinks you have a 233MHz Pentium.

Overclocking the System Bus
Another way to achieve overclocking is to overclock the system bus. Motherboards are usually designed to run at specific speeds with certain multipliers.

This 'multiplier' is defined as the number of times faster the processor speed is than the system bus. An example - if we have a Pentium 150 operating with a 60MHz bus speed, therefore it has a 2.5x multiplier. You can play with the bus speed setting together with the CPU speed to achieve different levels of overclocking.
 

3. Is It Worth It?

CPU overclocking can indeed increase your PC's performance. However, you need to be aware that many overclocked systems give gains are not even noticeable by the user. If you want to make a huge difference in performance, you need to overclock a substantial amount - and this leads to the risks which we layout in the next section.
 

4. The Risks

What are the risks involved with CPU overclocking? Well, a number of things can happen if you overclock incorrectly. For one thing, your PC may may work but crash intermittently. It can also 'hang' and lock up, lose data on the hard drive, or even burn up (and I mean fry) your CPU.

What some people do is to install lots of cooling fans and also CPU temperature gagues to monitor the overclocking. If it gets too hot, they add more fans or bring down the overclocking a little.

So always remember, you may compromise your system if you overclock. Think carefully before you do it.
 

Conclusion

Here's my advice about CPU overclocking. It's an interesting little project, but you certainly don't want to do it on your important PC. If you really want speed, just get a better processor. You may spend a bit more, but you save yourself a lot of potential headaches. Good luck!