23 replies to this topic

[Akooma]

I have an EE processor.

This chip is expensive because the microprocessor is condensed on the die to make room for the large cache (2 megabytes).

We've reached the point in computer technology where ram is the bottleneck in the processing speed. Therefore the strategy has been to increase performance by pre-fetching data from the ram and store it in the L2 or L3 cache until ready to be processed.

In general, the larger the cache the quicker you can process.

In the near future processor speeds will be sliced in half and be 4 times as powerful. Multi-Core processors are scheduled to make their debut this year and I am definately going to be the first "kid" on the block to get one!

[@n@rchist]

I want one! How many thousand?

[HUMANITE]

Another thing that alot of people miss out on is memory clock speeds also, if you plan on overclocking any CPU you better have the memory to handle the increase in speeds as well. Lady Sapphire is right most chips should not be overclocked, because most of the chips that come off of the press cannot reach the higher speeds, some can though thats why some chips have a tlerance for higher clock speeds than other with the same factory settings. If you are unsure of what speed your chip can reach increase the FSB in 5 mhz increments, that way if something goes wrong you can bring the speeds back down, and remember when you do hit the roof and your system boots into the windows logon screen but hangs after that, you know you have to bring it back down, and maybe increase voltage, BUT BE CAREFULL. Now about the memory if you plan on increasing speed to your CPU you might want to have memory that matches the FSB speed of CPU, i.e. 400 mhz clock CPU, 400 mhz memory clock, just match all clock for clock. Also you need to make sure you have the correct voltage going to CPU and memory. BUT BE CAREFUL WHEN DOING THIS!!! You can easily fry your chip, board , and memory if you do not plan this correctly. The last part of the equation that you have to is great cooling, meaning water cooling, or Phase-change,you might be able to get by with just a cheap heat sink, but its only a matter of time before you fry something, dont get cheap now do it right the first time. If you plan on doing serious overclocking I suggest you start looking into building your own watercooled box first, make sure you have a decent radiator, chip cooler, and so on. There are some real nice water cooled kits on the market right now that can get the job done so you can run at low temps, but everyone wants to turn up the speed eventually so build your watercooled system from the ground up, parts can be found easily if you look in the right places. When your ready to move to serious overclocking I suggest phase-chage so that you can get the CPU down to below 0, check out This site for more info on the subject of phase-chage tech, hit the forums section up. One last thing, I think someone had already mentioned that you cant do too much overclocking with hp, comcrap, and dell, thats true in some aspects, I think the most that can be done is FSB increase on some of the higher end boxes out there, not any of the 1000 dollar and below boxes. Just remember learn as much as possible before undertaking such a extreme project.. Oh yeah I'm not legally responsible for any hardware failure that happens to YOUR box with the above statements .. Good luck.

[Why Two Kay]