October 19, 2009

Now that you have the tools you need and are at least slightly familiar with what they do, we can take a closer look at where you will work your overclocking magic: your motherboard’s BIOS. The “Basic Input/Output System” of your computer is the permanent (well, sort-of*) set of instructions that your computer relies on to do anything, regardless of the hardware you plug in, the software you install, or even the operating system you are running.

(*It is possible to replace or upgrade your BIOS by a process called flashing. However, if done incorrectly you can easily render your computer inoperable, so it is highly recommended that a professional perform this procedure. In general, flashing your BIOS is not required, however, it can sometimes be necessary if your motherboard’s manufacturer releases an updated version that fixes a problem or provides improved hardware support.)

As you may have surmised, the BIOS comes pre-configured on your motherboard, and you probably weren’t even aware of it until you started learning about overclocking. It isn’t designed to require frequent interaction. However, it is what controls many of the hardware settings you are interested in for overclocking, and so you will be spending a significant amount of time there from now on.

To get into your BIOS, you will need to reboot your computer. As it is booting back up, there will be a key to press that will open it up. Usually there will be a message on the screen indicating something along the lines of “Press DEL to enter Setup.” This is what you want. If you time it just right, you only have to hit the key once, but I usually have to hit it a couple of times to get it to register and start loading the BIOS, which is usually indicated by a message along the lines of “Entering Setup.” As every motherboard and BIOS is slightly different, you’ll have to figure out what key you need to press. It may be Delete, or it may be an F-something Function key.

Once you have entered setup, you should see a screen something like this. Like I mentioned, every motherboard is a bit different, but they follow the same principles. What you are looking for are the advanced setup options for your CPU that allow you to set the Clock Speed or Ratio. There are a lot of other settings you can tweak in here, and messing with them has the potential to cause your computer to crash, or even cause physical damage to your CPU or motherboard. For now, tab through the different sections in your BIOS and get familiar with what is there and where everything is. If you don’t see any settings you can change for your CPU, then chances are your motherboard will not support overclocking. This will be the case for older motherboards, and any that are OEM, or original equipment that came with a store-bought PC such as a Gateway or Dell. Also, if you’re trying to overclock your laptop, chances are it won’t support it.

Next time we will have a look at the key settings you will be changing, and what they each do, as well as an overview of the process. Until then, another thing that would greatly improve your understanding and ability is to read the manual that came with your motherboard. Generally, most newer motherboards have excellent overclocking support, and the manual will tell you what each of the settings do. Understanding this will help you know how the instructions given here translate you your particular motherboard and BIOS.

(Image courtesy of Thomas Soderstrom at Tom’s Hardware.)