Tweaking Optimizing Windows.pdf - GEGeek

having a hard time but the core can still handle more speed so how to we get a clearer electrical signal? Increase the voltage
supplied to the core of the CPU. Voltage is one of the most important features that will determine a successful overclock. When you
increase the voltage you also increase the amount of heat that the CPU produces and more cooling is again required. When the CPU
is made they are given a default core voltage. Slot A AMD Athlon Classics work on a 1.6v core. Socket A and Slot A AMD Athlon
Thunderbirds use a 1.7v core. AMD Duron CPU work on a 1.5 or 1.6v core. When changing the voltage to help your overclock you
must use common sense and know when enough is enough.
AMD Athlon 2 in PGA or Socket A form is a little different with overclocking as it requires no Goldfinger Device. Overclocking on the
Athlon 2 in Socket A has 4 aditional Pins in its Grid Array that when certain voltage signals are sent to the CPU it sets itself to the
appropriate multiplier. Unlike Intel CPU’s where the CPU tells the motherboard what multiplier to use in a 1 way direction
(Information is sent to the board only) AMD Athlon 2 Socket A sends information to the motherboard but also allows information to
be sent to the CPU to change its multiplier. With these added features the AMD Athlons are a lot easier to overclock than Intel CPU's
as Intel CPU’s require you to set the Front Side Bus higher than recommended and as many people know when you overclock the
FSB you also overclock the PCI, ISA, AGP and Memory bus. So in order to get the maximum out of your Pentium 3 or Celeron
system first you have to get the right CPU, then make sure your memory can handle the excess speeds. Then you have to make
sure that your PCI cards can handle the overclocked bus speeds. Then you have the AGP Overclock dilemma. Will your card be able
to stand the increased AGP speed. Most cards now a days have been built to handle the increased speeds but not everything can be
guaranteed. When you add all this up if only 1 of these can’t handle the increased speeds then your overclocking potential is
reduced greatly. Say for an example trying to overclock your CPU from 100MHz to 124Mhz FSB. Sure you say my CPU can handle it
I placed a bigger heatsink onto it. There is plenty of air getting to it. But then you find out your AGP card can’t handle the increased
speeds. So now you are left with wondering what is the limiting factor, is it the Video Card or the CPU. With overclocking of the AMD
Athlon and Athlon 2 there is no more worry about the perferables. Since all that is being changed is the CPU’s multiplier only the
CPU is being overclocked beyond limits, therefore you will know if it freezes its not one of the perferables is the CPU itself.
For the Socket A Athlon 2 users overclocking is more easy, you have the L2 cache on the CPU Die meaning no cache control needed
and AMD have added 4 extra pins that as stated before when given certain signals allow the CPU multiplier to be set, meaning all
you need to buy is an Socket A motherboard that states it has multiplier adjustments.
Case cooling is also something that should not be overlooked because with air cooling your heatsink will be drawing in the air from
inside the case and if your case temp is 30deg then your CPU is already doomed. ASUS has a habit of putting the case temp sensor
too close to the CPU and Chipset Heatsink so this doesn’t give and accurate temp, anywhere from 26deg to 40 deg on the ASUS
K7V or K7M are well within overclocking specs but the cooler the case the more likely you are to overclock. If you are planning to
overclock you have probably been told to get a good sized Midi Tower or Full Tower... I prefer full tower as the saying goes, “If
there is more space inside it takes longer to heat up the air inside”. So full towers with at least a good 250w or 300w are well
advised. A good Full tower case will have a area at the front of the case for a 80MM 12v DC Fan, this one is used to draw air into
the case, some really good ones have 2 at the front for more intake. At the back there should be at least a slot for a 60mm or
80mm case fan. This is used to draw the hot air from the heatsink out of the case. On most Full Towers above the power supply
here should be another slot for another 80mm case fan to draw any hot air generated by the CD Drivers and/or Hard Disk Drives.
This is good air cooling, Slot Coolers are another idea, if you have a spare PCI or ISA slot you can put a Slot cooler into it.
Preferably underneath the AGP Display card.
Changing the multiplier on amd chips
Right now, the most practical way to overclock your ThunderBird (officially the "Athlon with performance enhancing cache memory")
or Duron you must have a motherboard that supports multiplier adjustment and you must be sure the L1 bridges are closed. While
many chips ship with their L1 bridges intact, some do not and you will have to do that yourself. The most effective way to close
these bridges is to use find solder or conductive ink, however a pencil will work adequately. Simply draw a line between the
disconnected parts of each bridge. Be sure it is VERY thick since graphite is not a great conductor you need to ensure an adaquate
connection.
A 0.5mm or smaller mechanical pencil with soft lead (BB or 2B hardness) is recommended. At first it was thought that this method
might not be a long term solution, however many users have reported no problems after 6 months of use so it should not cause any
serious problems. If you are worried about the graphite rubbing off and wanting to find a more permanent method, a conductive
pen or "rear window defogger kit" pen will lay down a more permanent, metallic line between the two bridge points. You will have to
disassemble the pen and use a needle since the bridges themselves are much too small for the tip of the pen to connect.
Be careful that you don't short the bridges by connecting one set to another. After looking over the schematic for the bridge layout,
I can say with some confidence that shorting the bridges will not damage the CPU but they will produce undesired multiplier
settings, leaving you unable to properly set the multiplier and causing system instability.
FSB and multiplier combinations
You can also use the FSB to increase the speed, however, the VIA KT133 chipset which is the most common Socket A chipset to
date (the AMD760 is brand new) cannot often run higher than 110MHz-115MHz. These increases are relatively small but they can
help you to hit your maximum speed. For example, my Duron 700 is not quite stable at 10x100Mhz. I know it will work just fine at
9.5x100MHz but I think the 10x100 setting is RIGHT on the edge of stability. I can keep this 9.5x multiplier and increase the FSB
speed to 104MHz to get a total CPU speed of 989MHz. In my case, my chip is 100% stable at 989MHz. But don't stop there!!
Increasing the FSB provides a greater performance benefit than increasing the multiplier since it increases the speed of the rest of
the system as well. My Duron 700 runs great at about 990MHz, so why don't I use the 9x multiplier but increase the FSB to
110MHz? This yields about a 2% performance increase over the old 104MHz FSB. Sometimes it can be even more substantial.
Keep your eye out for the AMD760 chipset. This chipset introduced official support for the 133MHz (266DDR) FSB for the Athlon. It
also introduces DDR memory. This 133MHz FSB is a great tool for overclockers. Remember talking about my Duron 700? What if
you don't want to open up the box and mess with the multiplier settings? The AMD760 will allow you to get into FSB overclocking,
just like you can with Intel chipsets. Leaving the multiplier of the Duron 700 at 7.0x and increasing the FSB to 133MHz will result in
the Duron running 933MHz. It is likely that this 933MHz setting would actually be faster than our 989MHz setting because it is using
a 31MHz faster FSB speed. It will also decrease heat production and strain on your CPU.
As you can see- the Athlon offers lots of options. With DDR memory offering a 10%-20% improvement in speed over PC133
SDRAM, keep your eyes open for lots of demand in their first few months. For your information: DDR memory continue to use the