Overclocking my CPU

[Guy]

I have a Intel Q6600 @2.4GHz on a MSI P43-C51 motherboard. The motherboard has switches on it to change the speed of the FSB, as shown here, although I will probably use the option to enter the speed manually in the BIOS.

 

Am I correct in saying that the speed of the cpu is directly proportional to the speed of the FSB? My fsb is running at '266', megahertz i presume. This is the minimum, max is 800 (as said in my bios). When increasing the theoretical speed of the FSB, the theoretical speed of the CPU goes up, which makes sense (as shown by my bios, when changing the speed of the fsb without saving&exiting).

 

Does the speed of the FSB have to be a 'special' number, or can it be whatever integer I like? I could for example set it to 270, 271 or 274 or any other number between 266-800 MHz and they would all be fine?

For the CPU voltage, my CPU has an option to keep it at automatic. My motherboard/bios has overclocking ability integrated & doesn't need to be unlocked. Should I just keep it at automatic? Or change it to manual?

 

Cheers :)

Sorry for my tech-related noob-ness ;)

[Nadril]

Are you overclocking for a reason? Unless you're trying to squeeze out every ounce of performance to get a certain game to run smoothly it's just not worth the trouble. A lot of different CPU's you overclock differently, usually you do it through the BIOS. Like I said though I wouldn't bother as you won't get that much of a boost and there is always the possibility of lowering the life span of your CPU / destroying it.

[Guest jrhairychest]

Are you overclocking for a reason? Unless you're trying to squeeze out every ounce of performance to get a certain game to run smoothly it's just not worth the trouble. A lot of different CPU's you overclock differently, usually you do it through the BIOS. Like I said though I wouldn't bother as you won't get that much of a boost and there is always the possibility of lowering the life span of your CPU / destroying it.

 

Spot on answer. Overclocking can actually be pretty useless if other components create a drag factor. Slower hdd's and cheap memory being the main culprits so you could end up with a potentially faster processor being idle a lot of the time so you may not notice any real benefit.

 

You've also got additional issue of possibly voiding your warranty on your comp/cpu.

[Guy]

Computer is custom made and CPU is out of warranty. I'm trying to squeeze a little more performance from my game Nadril.

I defiantly don't want to be breaking my CPU, but I'm not planning on raising it by much. If it doesn't make any difference I'll just restore it back to the original 2.4GHz CPU/266MHz FSB.

Is what I'm saying right though (original post)?

[OldJoe]

Had mine on 500+ mhz overclock for 2&½ years, tho i'm interested in a six core next year. Still works fine. (altho these with a proper mobo can reach 3-3.2.)

 

How much is "not rasising it by much"?

[jasignhagj]

FSB isn't the only setting you need to change. I can't recall the others right now, but there are a few settings in the bios that need to be adjusted.

[Guy]

Not by much means around to ~2.7GHz if its stable.

[Laura]

Yeah, a Q6600 will easily reach that.