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.)

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.)

Foremost among these innovations is the elimination of the front-side bus and the integration of the memory controller on-board. This allows for bandwidth rates up to 38.4 GB/s using three channels at 1600 MHz, compared to 12.8 GB/s on a Core 2 with a 1600 MHz FSB. These chips also boast improved performance when handling multi-threaded applications, using such technologies as Intel's TurboBoost and Hyper-Threading.

Is it worth trading in your Core 2 Quad for the latest processors? Probably not. However, the advances made with these chips are impressive enough that they are probably worth the extra money when it comes time to upgrade again.

The folks over at Tom's Hardware have an excellent in-depth review and analysis (with benchmarks) for the Core i5 and i7 brands. Read it here. And TechReport.com breaks the new tech down quite well for those of us without Doctorates in Electrical Engineering. Here.

Here are Intel's official pages:
Core i7
Core i5

And you can always count on Newegg for all of your shopping needs.

(Image courtesy of Intel.)