The Book of Overclocking—Tweak Your PC to Unleash Its Power Scott Wainner Robert Richmond Copyright © 2003 No Starch Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 – 06 05 04 03 Trademarked names are used throughout this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we are using the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Publisher: William Pollock Editorial Director: Karol Jurado Cover and Interior Design: Octopod Studios Composition: 1106 Design, LLC Developmental Editor: Heather Bennett Proofreader: Robyn Brode Indexer: Broccoli Information Management Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Publishers Group West, 1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; phone: 800-788-3123; fax: 510-658-1834. Distributed to the book trade in Canada by Jacqueline Gross & Associates, Inc., One Atlantic Avenue, Suite 105, Toronto, Ontario M6K 3E7 Canada; phone: 416-531- 6737; fax 416-531-4259. For information on translations or book distributors outside the United States and Canada, please see our distributors list in the back of this book or contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly: No Starch Press, Inc. 555 De Haro Street, Suite 250, San Francisco, CA 94107 phone: 415-863-9900; fax: 415-863-9950; [email protected]; http://www.nostarch.com The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor No Starch Press, Inc. shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Wainner, Scott. The book of overclocking : tweak your PC to unleash its power / Scott Wainner and Robert Richmond. p. cm. Includes index. 1-886411-76-X 1. Microcomputers–Upgrading. 2. Computer organization. 3. High performance computing. I. Richmond, Robert, 1980-II. Title. TK7887 .W85 2003 621.39'16–dc21 Dedication For Bill Turney, Phyllis, and Robyn. —S.W. To Doreen, for believing in me. —R.R. About the Authors Scott Wainner founded SysOpt.com, one of the first PC hardware enthusiast sites, and ran it for seven years until in late 2001 he launched TechIMO.com, a knowledge- sharing community of PC hardware enthusiasts, gamers, and web developers. Wainner's opinions on overclocking have been cited by PC World, CNN, the Toronto Star, Entrepreneur Magazine, and countless hardware web sites. Robert Richmond's background experience in IT-related journalism extends to many well-recognized publications, such as SysOpt.com, SharkyExtreme, HardwareCentral, Romulus2, EarthWeb, and as a hardware editor for TechIMO.com. Robert holds Associate of Science degrees in Mathematics, Computer Sciences, and Scientific Application Development. Robert offers a rather untraditional approach to computers, as he is often more interested in "why" a device works rather than "how" it works. Chapter 1: What The Computer Industry Does Not Want You to Know Overview Everyone understands the potential for increased productivity or enhanced entertainment afforded through computers, but most users often view the technologies and hardware driving the phenomenal demand for desktop computers as "behind the scenes" components. Indeed, computers are often regarded as mysterious or even troublesome devices. A significant number of computer users do not understand the workings of a computer system's internal hardware beyond the minimal basics. This lack of knowledge is often a byproduct of the computer industry itself. Technology follows a consistent evolutionary path, with the arrival of new architectures and platforms every 6 to 12 months. The backlash of this process is the users’ inherent belief that systems are outdated as soon as they are purchased. This neverending cycle fuels the computer technology industry, thus leading to ever increasing costs associated with upgrades, or even complete system replacement. The upgrade cycle forces computer users into a price-concentric upgrade path based on what the industry wants the user to believe, thus leading to the increased demand for upgrades or system purchases. This model does not benefit the end user, as hardware costs are increasing at an exponential rate for those hoping to keep pace with the public relations hype generated by the industry. (The impact of the current industry model is not meant to be negative or malicious toward the end user; it is simply the marketing approach being adopted in nearly all industries these days.) In order to sustain their business models, many corporations within the computer industry often prey upon the fact that the vast majority of end users have limited hardware knowledge. The Book of Overclocking dispels the myths surrounding the politics of the technology business and fully equips you with a cost-effective alternative to upgrading by extending the life of your current hardware while increasing your satisfaction with your existing PC's level of performance. Why purchase expensive upgrades when increasing your current PC processor's clock speed could be the key to realizing your desired level of performance? Current Industry Players Many computing enthusiasts choose not to conform to the tech industry's upgrade path propaganda by implementing overclocking techniques. Overclocking is the process of increasing the speed or clock frequencies of devices, such as processors, beyond their factory defaults. Our primary concern in this book is with extending the processor (CPU) clock speed and examining the intricate relation it has with the computer system's other components. The procedures involved with the overclocking process can vary according to different system architectures, but the basic concepts remain essentially the same. We'll focus on desktop personal computing, with the IBM compatible being the dominant market player. The term IBM compatible has undergone a radical departure from the early days of desktop computing, but the fundamental concepts behind the technology remain essentially the same. The entire range of desktop systems once designated under the blanket umbrella of IBM compatibility can now be referenced to the base architecture being utilized, in this case, "x86," a derivative of the naming process applied to system architectures from the original 8086 in the early 1980s through the release of the 80486 nearly a decade later. While different manufacturers and developers have adopted various naming strategies to increase market differentiation, all current so-called IBM-compatible desktop platforms remain nothing more than extensions to the x86 core processor architecture. The market has witnessed the rise and fall of a variety of processor manufacturers over the years. The three remaining x86 market players are Intel Corporation, Advanced Micro Designs (AMD), and VIA Technologies, and their major product offerings are listed in Table 1-1. Table 1-1: Major Processor Manufacturers and Product Offerings Manufacturer Architecture MHz Rating Intel Corporation Pentium 60 – 200 MHz Pentium MMX 133 – 233 MHz Pentium Pro 150 – 200 MHz Pentium II 233 – 450 MHz Celeron 233 – 333 MHz Celeron A 300 – 533 MHz Pentium III Katmai 450 – 600 MHz Pentium III 500 – 1133 MHz Coppermine Celeron II 533 – 1100 MHz Pentium III Tualatin 1100+ MHz Celeron Hybrid 1200+ MHz Pentium 4 Willamette 1300 – 2000 MHz Pentium 4 Northwood 1600 – 3000+ MHz Pentium Xeon All Pentium Ranges Advanced Micro Designs K5 75 – 117 MHz K6 166 – 300 MHz K6-2 266 – 550 MHz K6-3 350 – 450 MHz K6-2/3+ 450 – 550 MHz Athlon K7 500 – 700 MHz Athlon K75 550 – 1000 MHz Athlon Thunderbird 600 – 1400 MHz Table 1-1: Major Processor Manufacturers and Product Offerings Manufacturer Architecture MHz Rating Athlon Duron 600 – 950 MHz Athlon 4/MP 1200 – 1400+ MHz Athlon Duron Morgan 1000+ MHz Athlon XP 1333+ MHz VIA Technologies/Cyrix/National 686 M1 80 – 150 MHz Semiconductor 686MX M2 133 – 300 MHz Cyrix III 350 – 450 MHz VIA C3 533 – 933+ MHz Intel remains the dominant player across all ranges of the desktop computing marketplace, and has retained its significant market share ever since the first implementation of its 8086 processor within IBM's earliest x86 desktop computing systems. The architectures driving competition from other manufacturers are extensions to technologies pioneered by Intel over the past 30 years. The Pentium 4 represents Intel's current flagship platform. The Pentium 4 platform is based on a radical departure from its earlier P6 architectures, though binary compatibility is maintained with nearly all 32-bit x86 programming code. The older P6 core technology is still represented through Intel's active support and manufacturing of the Pentium III and Celeron microprocessors. AMD has rapidly gained market share over the past decade due to its superb architectural designs and dedication to cost efficiency. This increased competition is a welcome addition to the computer markets, as AMD can effectively influence the pricing strategies across the entire microprocessor market, thus leading to decreases in end-user pricing due to increased competition for Intel's product offerings. AMD's core business model is based around the Athlon series microprocessor, which has undergone a multitude of revisions since its first inception just a few years ago. The Athlon remains the most efficient x86 architecture currently available in terms of raw per-MHz performance, regardless of the marketing hype and paranoia generated by competing manufacturers. The current AthlonXP, AMD's flagship product series, represents a pinnacle of x86 computing not even conceptualized just a decade ago.