ON THE DISC
Whatever your PC, there are dozensof ways to make it go faster. But adding more RAM costs
money, replacing your processor is expensive, and re-installing windows is a laborious task
that's only effective for a few months at best.
Overclocking your processor - the engine of your PC - is the most direct and no-nonsense
way to get more speed for free, and remarkably few people realise that processors badged as
600MHz can often run just as well at 700MHz or even 800MHz.
There are several reasons for this.
During the manufacturing process, thousands of processors are etched on to one big wafer
before being separated with a diamond saw and, because of the way they're made, quite often
not all of them run at the same speed. So faced with a slab of chips, nine out of ten
of which run reliably at 800MHz, the manufacturer might decide simply to clock the lot at
a safe 700MHz on behalf of the one in ten that can't cut it.
Secondly, some suggests that manufacturers deliberately underclock processors to prop up
the higher end of the market with lower spec processors. Whatever the truth, the chances
are that the processor in your PC can probably be made to work faster.
To get started , there are three figures you need to know : your processor's current
clock speed, your motherboard's bus speed and the current clock multiplier. You
probably know some of these already but to make sure, it's best to install the diagnostic
tool WCPUID, which you can find on the internet. If you bought your computer fairly
recently, your motherboard is probably humming along with a front side bus (FSB) speed
of 100MHz. So supposing your computer is clocked at, say, 500MHz, your clock multiplier
is 5x. The relevant equation is FSB x clock multiplier = processor clock speed.

GETTING UP TO SPEED
To change how fast your processor runs, you need to fiddle at least part of this equation,
and because many of the latest Intel processors come with their clock multipliers locked,
we're concetrating on diddling the FSB speed. The easiest way of changing it, is through
your PC's BIOS menu. During the boot process, hit [F1] when prompted and have a look under
your processor settings to see if there's an option to change your FSB speed.
If there is, you're in luck. If not, you have to refer to your motherboard manual to find
out exactly which jumper settings you need to fiddle with. Alternatively, you could use the
freeware utility SoftFSB - it's downloadable from www.tweakfiles.com - which enables you
to change your FSB speed from within Windows without rebooting.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES
Now you know how to change it, what do you change it to? You can find your FSB speed
on our special overclocking table. Slide your finger along until you come to your clock
multiplier. To overclock your processor, simply go one step up. If you have a Pentium 600
running on a 100MHz bus, increase the bus to 112MHz and you have a Pentium 672.
If you reboot and your PC runs reliably without crashing for a good half hour,congratulations.
If you experience hangs or crashes, there is a number of things you can do. Processors get
hot, and overclocking makes them get hotter. Much hotter. Your best bet is to install extra
cooling in the form of extra fans. Going faster than this is certainly possible, but
it depends on several different factors such as your brand of processor, your motherboard,
the stability of your RAM and graphics card at the higher FSB speed, and Jupiter's position
in Gemini.

WARNING
Overclocking you PC can damage your CPU. Be sure to keep your CPU as cool as possible.
AMD have budget fans - 011 678 3222 or call CMA - 082 330 2000 for the Thermaltake range.

THE OVERCLOCKING REFERENCE TABLE
How do you push your PC without blowing a gasket? Just find your BUS speed and read across
to your current clock speed. The number above is what you get by bumping the BUS up a level.

Warning overclocking your PC can damage your CPU.Be sure to keep you CPU as cool as possible,if possible use Thermal take Fans (011 6783222)