Overclocking
...ink/fan on your CPU necessary, but proper case cooling is just as important. Think on it for a second, if the ambient air in your case is hot, the fan on your CPU is just going to be blowing hot air onto your heatsink, which is already hot enough as it is. Get some fans in that case. Usually, an 80mm rear exhaust fan and a couple 80mm intake fans are enough (including the power supply fans). Some people prefer to use bigger fans if their case can support them because they can push a lot of air without having as many in their case, decreasing the noise of your computer. An aluminum case is also a nice thing to have because it disperses heat a lot better than steel. Also, round ATA and floppy cables versus the standard ribbon cables will help airflow in the case. As far as extra cooling for an OCed video card, it usually isn't that important since it won't go very high, anyway. And for RAM, some companies will include a "heatspreader" for their modules. If your memory doesn't have any, you can always buy some if you wish. For the chipset, however, I would recommend upgrading the stock cooling to at least a better heatsink. Some people choose to even use a fan as well, but that�?s usually unnecessary. Case fan placement is also important, but not something to concern yourself about too much. Some people like to have a case with a "blowhole" in the top - that is, a case with a fan that blows air out a hole in the top. But some people theorize that this disturbs the natural airflow of the traditional "front intake-rear outtake" system. I don't think it really matters. As long as you have air reaching all of your vital components. A lot of cases, now, come with side fans on the door as well that blow fresh air directly onto the video card or CPU which can be extremely helpful. Just remember that the more fans you have, the noisier your case will be. It's good to look at the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) flow versus the noise in dBa (decibels) of the fans. Bigger fans generally have better flow/noise ratio. Cooler Master makes fans with great flow/noise ratios, too. Sometimes, even air cooling isn't enough for some people and they resort to liquid cooling. Yeah, liquid. In your computer. Sounds frightening at first, but if done properly, it cools your components even better than air does, and it's a lot quieter. Basically, how it works is a pump pulls water out of a reservoir and pushes it through surgical tubing to a radiator with a large fan mounted on it that blows through it. The now-cooler water then passes through more tubing to a cooling block on the CPU that transfers heat from the chip to the water. It may then run to other components like the graphics chip, hard drives, or motherboard chipset before being dumped back into the reservoir. Not enough for you? Some people actually use special liquid nitrogen kits... The key to efficient cooling is knowing your system temperatures! One way to keep an eye on your temperatures is to use a piece of hardware like the Digitaldoc5 that will keep tabs on multiple parts of your system and display the readings on an LCD screen. These pieces of hardware usually take up one 5.25"? or 3.5"? bay and are very handy when you're playing games or don�?t have easy access to the desktop. The other way is to use software. This is probably the most efficient during the process of OCing. You can easily keep an eye on temperatures, fan speeds, hardware information, etc, etc. But a combination of both is probably the best. Finally, overclocking When people talk about OCing, they generally discuss three different components: The CPU, video card, and RAM (memory). The greatest speed increase is derived from overclocking the CPU, while the video card and memory will supply only minimal increases (hardcore OCers will usually tweak all of these components to maximize system performance, thus satisfying their own strange and disturbing lusts). There are many ways you can overclock system components. The most basic and probably the most effective way is to do it manually in the BIOS. The BIOS is reached by pressing F1 or whatever key the system asks you to push during bootup. By pressing this key, you gain access to many vital system hardware configurations. ***WARNING*** CHANGING SETTINGS IN THE BIOS CAN BE DANGEROUS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. But of course if you find out what you're doing, you have little to worry about. Another way people OC is by using software. There are a lot of good programs out there that help in the process by providing an easily-accessible interface on the desktop. But software OCing is generally reserved for video cards, while BIOS OCing is best used for the CPU and memory. Some motherboards also come with physically accessible "jumpers" that, while convenient, are generally not a reliable or practical way of OCing. OCing the CPU There are two ways to overclock the CPU. By adjusting the 1) FSB and the 1) multiplier. With these two variables, you can create different combinations of speed increases which are best determined by the configuration of other system components. What I mean is that to maximize your overall system speeds and keep them efficient, you need to understand what components you have in your computer and the specifics of those parts. Don't let this scare you away because there aren't that many to keep track of. This is why it's much easier to OC on a computer you've built. (This concept is discussed further down) The speed rating of a CPU is determined by two factors afore mentioned. The front side bus and the multiplier. If the CPU comes with a FSB clocked at 133mhz and a multiplier of 10, the end result is 1330mhz (133mhz * 10 = 1330mhz). To get the Gigahertz (Ghz) rating, divide this number by 1000. 1330 / 1000 = 1.330, or 1.33 Ghz (1.33 billion clock cycles per second!). This speed is what is used to identify different chips on the market. By changing either the FSB or multiplier, you change this speed rating. Most chips come with these settings locked so that they are inaccessible to the end-user (you). There are tricks to unlock these variables (usually physical modifications to the chip, itself). Most are easy to unlock, though. I know that most of the AMD Athlon XP series' CPUs are unlocked as soon as they are placed into an nForce2-based motherboard. OCing the Memory The memory (RAM) speed is a little less complicated to manipulate. There are a couple ways to OC memory, but the only one I'm concerned about right now is by changing the FSB in the BIOS, much like changing the CPU FSB. You can also change the CAS latency among other things, but that gets complex and I don't understand how to do that, yet. OCing the Video Card The best way I've found to do this is with software. And like mentioned before, adjusting the memory card's timings are only going to produce minimal changes when compared with the CPU's flexibility in overclocking. Most good programs will allow you to change both the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) timings as well as the card's memory timings. Video cards can be thought of as little computers in and of themselves. They have a main microprocessor (the GPU) as well as their own supply of onboard memory. Tips for increasing variables When increasing the FSB, it's best to do so in small increments (5mhz or so) to find the most reliable and safe setting. After every increment, test the system with some benchmarking and system tests to make sure that the computer is still stable (links below to some tools), then you may move to the next increment. As soon as the system shows signs of instability, a few things could be the matter: Insufficient voltage Increasing the voltage supplied to a component may help stabilize it. Sometimes, however, it doesn't work and that could mean that you've hit the wall - you've reached the maximum potential for that chip. To increase the voltage, do so in the BIOS in 0.025v or 0.05v increments. REMEMBER: Increasing the voltage will create more heat! Proper cooling is necessary as discussed above. Also, a good quality power supply will help ensure good, clean, stable power. If you want to do any significant amount of OCing, it will be necessary to increase the voltage. With most new motherboards, you will have access to the CPU, memory, and IO voltage. The IO voltage is for the PCI and AGP ports. You�?ll probably want to avoid changing the IO voltage until absolutely necessary (discussed below). Unlocked AGP and/or PCI ports The variables that most limit overclocking potential are AGP and PCI ports that aren't locked. Those ports are only meant to be run at a fraction of the FSB speed. And when increasing the FSB, the whole system will speed up. If the AGP or PCI slots are not properly locked (forced to stay at their normal running speed), their communication with the motherboard will speed up too much for the components in them to handle. They will make the system unstable and won�?t let Windows boot up. Most top-of-the-line manufacturers will put locks on the AGP and/or PCI slots, but few come with both locked. You can lock them in the BIOS by setting ratios to the FSB speed and AGP/PCI ports. The AGP should be locked at 66mhz, while the PCI should be locked at 33mhz (or as close as possible). Look for guides on repuatable sites that will help you find out how to do this. NOTE: You can increase the voltage to the PCI and AGP components to make them more stable if need be. But the first thing you should try is to keep these ratios as close as possible to the original. Only then should you have to increase the voltage if you can no longer keep it there. Unsupportive Memory Your memory can be the cause of your woes. There are a few types of memory that will be able to handle the strain you put on your system. And there are lots that won't. Among those that are proven time and time again by many reviewers and home users is Corsair Xtreme XMS DDR memory. Though there are other less expensive brands that would probably be sufficient, like certain Mushkin and Kingston models. The Motherboard Won't Support It Sometimes, motherboards can't support the extra speed you're asking them to handle. This will cause instability in the system and the only solution is to get a ne...