To overclock or not to overclock the Athlon

[vesther]

I've heard that "Overclocking" is becoming very popular in the computer world nowadays. I'm just curious about this "Overclocking on a Socket A Athlon" because I don't want to overclock my Athlon for any reason. Is there a way (if you have a 1.33GHz 266FSB Athlon Revision C Processor) to avoid/negate Overclocking the 1.33GHz 266FSB Athlon Processor (That is, to keep the 1.33GHz Athlon Processor running at 1.33 and staying at 1.33)? If it's possible to avoid overclocking the Athlon Processor, what do I need to do in order to negate Socket A Athlon Overclocking? I am desperate because I will NOT attempt to overclock my Athlon Processor whatsoever. I need some advice on how to negate overclocking the Athlon. Thanks.

[Dputiger]

Why?

I ask because you seem so very adamant on the idea of NOT overclocking.

However, the answer to your question is, overclocks do not simply 'occur.' They aren't accidents.

And, you'd always know--you're machine would say it was running at more than 1.33 Ghz.

[RLG]

I think the best thing would be to send the chip back to AMD and have them laser cut the L1 bridges.

[Hellmund]

Get a motherboard that auto-detects everything, that'll remove the capability alogether. Don't understand your reasoning but other than that you have to separate the L1 bridges on the cpu to stop multiplier adjustment. You can't stop the motherboard being able to adjust the FSB.

[newbie~wan]

So is oc'ing dependent mainly on your motherboard then? I just recently (week ago) learned of oc'ing and have been following the posts of this forum. Everybody talks about changing the fsb and the multiplier, but where do you do this?
My current motherboard just tells me my cpu speed but I dont see anything about fsb or multipliers. It's a celeron 500 in a HP pavillion so dont know mobo maker. Is it sometimes impossible to overclock depending on your BIOS, mobo, cpu, etc?
Total newb here, any advice appreciated.

[This message has been edited by newbie~wan (edited 08-07-2001).]

[RLG]

Hellmund:

Best way to avoid overclocking is to CUT those pesky bridges!!

Bit too dry?

RLG

[This message has been edited by RLG (edited 08-07-2001).]

[thekingofpain]

Simple---buy a P4 instead...

[Hellmund]

RLG: I said "separate" those L1 bridges, that means the same as "cutting" them http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Dputiger]

Oh please. Buy a P4?

<barf>

[thekingofpain]

Yep---that would surely keep him from having a high performance system that he seems afraid of...

[vesther]

I'd rather have an AMD Athlon T-Bird-based system rather than a P4 system because P4's are more expensive and slower than AMD-based systems. That is why I had to ask this question. A High-End P4 Chip in a Retail Box might cost as much as $1000 USD so therefore, I request that you do not encourage me to get a Pentium 4 Chip because I have no intentions of getting any more Intel-based systems.

Should I just leave the AMD T-Bird Chip as it is (The AMD Default) for the best results? Because I don't want to alternate the chip's design without sending the chip for an authorized redesign from AMD.

[RLG]

Sigh

[Dputiger]

Now I understand your concern--you do not wish to void the warranty.

Here's the good news:

You can optimize your BIOS WITHOUT overclocking the chip at all.

Here are the settings to stay away from.

CPU VOLTAGE: (Leave set to default).
FSB Speed (Leave set to 133)
CPU MULTIPLIER: (Leave set to Default).

That's it. You can tweak the rest of the BIOS settings to your heart's content.

One other thing. Some motherboards may say "AUTO" instead of Default. Same thing.