How to Improve Chances for a Successful Overclock
Extra Cooling
The number one problem with most overclocks is that the processor is generating
too much heat and that is what is causing the processor to be unstable. That is
why extra cooling with larger heatsinks, more fans, and better airflow is always
vital. Since increasing the voltage of processors greatly increases chances in
overclocking, and increasing voltage creates more heat, therefore cooling the
processor creates higher chances for overclocking. The best way to start off is
by getting a larger heatsink for the processor. Alpha’s heatsinks have always
been known to produce high quality coolers. Adding more fans inside the case
will help keep everything cool and will greatly improve chances of overclocking.
Manufacturing Process
As newer products come out, more and more heat will be generated because of the
higher speed that these products achieve. And to counteract the evils of heat,
manufacturers shift manufacturing processes to a smaller micron die size. The
smaller sizes of dies create much less heat, hence allowing faster and more
advanced designs. The original Pentium II processors were running on a .35
micron die, the following Pentium II, Celeron, and first generation Pentium III
processors all ran on a .25 die and all the newest Celeron and Pentium III
processors run on a .18 micron die. The smaller the die, the less heat it
produces, but the successful production of such hardware declines because using
smaller dies means that they are more fragile than their larger brothers.
When shifting processes, many processors, such as the .25
and .18 micron Pentium IIIs can withstand much different speeds. Is the case
with a Pentium III 600MHz and a Pentium III Coppermine 600E. They are both
running at the same speed, but the 600E is running the .18 micron. Hence, it
will be releasing far less heat than the older 600MHz one. So, more
overclocking will be available, despite the younger stepping of the newer 600E.
Stepping and Binning
As processors get older and more mature, so do their cores and ability to
withstand higher clock speeds. After several processor revisions, processors
tend to get more stable, produce less heat, and have higher clockspeeds. The
problem is that not everyone on the market wants the top of the line processor,
so with the new steppings, manufacturers tend to mark that new processor with
newer process and sell it at the slower speed because that is the hotter selling
processor, even if it isn’t the fastest processor or most expensive. Hence, the
newer, slower processors that are released after the newer processors have been
released creates better chances for higher overclocking since they have been
binned as a lower class processor.
The rule of nature is that once a new processor is
released that processor takes the highest price that the previous processor that
was fastest held and the same relationship continues down the line with each
processor being bumped down. When the newest processor is released, the new
stepping is given to the slower processors, therefore the processor will have a
better theoretical speed it can reach. This is why older versions of the same
processor will not overclock as well as the newest processor. A Pentium II
300MHz produced in August 1998 will not overclock as well as the a Pentium II
300MHz produced in January 1999. Intel has been known to produce processors
that can run much faster than the factor setting, why do they do this? Because
not everyone wants the fastest processor, so they mark all their products at a
speed that is in high demand and deliver them, this is why so many of the
Celeron 300A processors could overclock to 450MHz so easily, they had the new
stepping behind them that allowed them to reach these speeds.
Cache Limitations and Speed
Remember that any older processors such as the Pentium II and
first generation Pentium III all have cache that is external, off the die of the
processor. Because the cache is not directly on the processor, they are
limited in how much they can overclock because separate SRAM chips must be used,
so as processor speeds increase, so do the abilities of the SRAM chips. These
chips are extremely expensive and not very expendable. These chips also tend to
dissipate a lot of heat. As a result, the cache is not run at full speed of the
processor like on-die cache processors as the newer Pentium IIIs or the
Celerons. So the limitations of those older processors are also because of
cache, so there are two limiting factors of older processors. This is one
reason why the price of newer Pentium III processors are higher than older
Pentium IIIs, the on-die chips are much more complex and difficult to design.
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