October 5, 2009

Continuing our series on overclocking, today we have a quick rundown of the software utilities you’ll need to be familiar with. Before you even start messing around with anything in your BIOS, you will want to make sure you have these tools ready to go.

First of all, you’ll want to download Core Temp here.

Get the latest version (as of this posting 0.99.5) in either 32-bit or 64-bit depending on your setup. This simple tool is vital to making sure you don’t toast your processor, and also provides some other key information such as voltage and processor frequency. It will look like the screenshot on the right when run, and provides separate temperature information for each of your cores if you have a multi-core processor.

(BONUS TIP: If you have one core that is significantly (i.e. more than a few degrees) hotter than the rest all the time, you probably didn’t put your thermal compound and/or heatsink/fan on correctly. Remove both and try again, being sure to seat your cooler properly.)

Secondly, grab CPU-Z from our friends at CPUID.

This handy tool provides more in-depth information than Core Temp, and also lets you check such other vitals as your memory speeds and settings. It is also available in both x86 and x64 flavors, and looks like this:


While you’re visiting cpuid.com, grab HWMonitor as well.

This provides much more in-depth information about all of your systems operating temperatures and voltages, including min and max values for as long as the program is running. This is vital for when you are stress testing your processor and want to see the maximum temperature reached, not just the current temp. It also provides temperatures for your video cards and hard drives which can help you determine if you have adequate ventilation in your case. HWMonitor looks like this:


Finally, head on over to mersenne.org to download Prime95.

No, you’re not going to be calculation Mersenne Prime Numbers (although you can if you want). Instead, you’ll be using the “Torture Test” capabilities of this program to stress your overclocked CPU and ensure stability at acceptable operating temperatures. The most recent version (v25.9, March 2009) looks like the screenshot to the left when run. On the website, just skip down to Step 3 and grab the utility, and make sure you get the 64-bit version off to the right if you’re running an x64 system.

Well, that’s it for now! Download these tools and have them easily accessible, and you’ll be ready to start tweaking your BIOS settings and sending your CPU into warp! As part of the continuation of this series, we’ll cover these tools and how to use them in more detail later.

(Images courtesy of MyPCReborn.com.)