On 23 Mar 98 at 10:57, Mark Roberge wrote:

> You find the manual for the motherboard(mbd) and look for the jumpers that
> show you the clock speed, usually 50, 60 or 66 Mhz.

  Fine so far.

> Then you find where on the mbd. you have the multiplier. This can
> be 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 times the clock speed. So if you have a 133 MHz
> processor then your clock speed will be 66 MHz and the  multiplier
> will be set at 2 times clock speed.

  You'll only find a 1x multiplier on boards designed to support the
P60 and/or P66, which I believe used Socket 4.  Socket 5 motherboards
typically support 1.5x and 2.0x settings (one jumper), spanning the
range from P75 to P133.
  Socket 7 boards normally offer two jumpers (4 possible settings):
1.5x, 2.0x, 2.5x, 3.0x.  233 MHz CPUs re-interpret the 1.5x jumper
configuration as 3.6x.  [I haven't heard what 266s do, but there's an
obvious precedent....]

> Now if you have a Cyrix don't bother it won't work.

  The Cyrix "M1" (non-MMX) works only at a 2x multiplier, and
achieves different performance levels by adjusting the bus speed.
Note that these CPUs are named by their "PR" ratings, and not by the
clock speed they expect to run at.  The PR200+, for instance, calls
for 75 MHz bus and 2.0x multiplier.
  2.5x and 3.0x multipliers seem to work find on the MMX-capable
Cyrix CPUs.

  I can't tell what you're claiming "won't work" on a Cyrix.

> Most processor will work at a slight boost of 10%.

  "Overclocking" is running components at higher than their rated
speed, either by increasing bus speed or multiplier.  Note that some
recent Intel CPUs ignore over-range multipliers, and many
motherboards don't provide bus speeds over 66MHz.

> Finally the processor will run hotter, which means that it will die
> sooner.

  Do not attempt to overclock without a decent heatsink and fan.
Manufacturers may not honour warranty claims if they discover that
the system has been overclocked.

> And you may get more errors than you do now. Is it worth
> it? NO! If you want something faster buy a faster processor! You
> are asking for trouble. You have been warned.

  Overclocking is not for the faint of heart, or for mission-critical
servers.  But you may have a reason to regard performance as the
absolute priority, and overclocking may get you there on a budget.

David G