Intel acceleration program. Overclocking the processor through BIOS and special programs

The desire for your computer to run at high speeds is familiar to every user. Some need it for a comfortable pastime in games, and others - for work, so that several applications can be successfully opened at once.

With a professional approach to overclocking a computer, its performance can rise to a tenth or even to a fifth of a whole.

It is worth knowing that overclocking a processor does not always have a significant effect. If the RAM occupies 1GB, then increasing it by one more unit will give the desired result, and if you have a powerful computer, then the processor gain may be imperceptible.

In any case, you can only find out whether your actions with the processor worked by experiment.

A warning!

However, don't get too carried away with CPU throttling. This could damage it. Here are a few steps to help it stay in good working order:

• Study this topic. Special literature or forums with sites will help you with this, which will tell you what to do. It's also worth looking at the specs of your processor. It may turn out that he is not able to squeeze out high speeds.
• If you increase, then only the frequency of the processor. It is not worth adjusting the power supply to the core by changing the voltage.
• Divide the increase in purity into several stages, each one at 100 MHz.
• Test the system for stability and temperature after each lifting step. The temperature should be monitored constantly while you are working with the processor. When the maximum purity limit is exceeded, the computer will reset it to its initial characteristics. The higher the frequency, the higher the temperature. If it is lowered, then a breakdown of the CPU crystal may occur, and then it will have to be replaced.
• If the user nevertheless decided to change the voltage, then this should be done carefully and carefully monitor the characteristics of the computer. Usually, this figure is increased in small steps of 0.05 - 0.10 V. However, exceeding the threshold of 0.30 V can lead to equipment damage.
• Since the CPU is a fragile thing, it is worth stopping any attempts to strengthen it after the first malfunctions. It is necessary to leave it at the frequency at which it worked successfully, and not to repeat attempts to improve it. There are times when the frequency of the processor has increased and it works successfully, but it is always warm and does not have time to cool down. In this case, it is worth changing the cooling system.
• The only thing that shouldn't be overclocked is laptops. Their cooling system is not designed to improve performance. But if you nevertheless decide to do this, then it is worth changing the cooling equipment to a more powerful one.

Device monitoring programs

• CPU-Z

- A common utility that will show the user voltage, frequency and other indicators that characterize the performance of the computer

• Prime95

Open source benchmarking software. Tests the computer for stress when the frequency is increased. Capable of performing lengthy checks to obtain large amounts of data

• LinX

Similar to the program above. One of the differences is the support for the Russian language. It completely loads the processor and tests it. The user may feel that their device is frozen

• CoreTemp

Another free program. Shows the temperature of the crystal in the processor in real time. In addition, it often shows the FSB bus along with a multiplier.

The first item on the choice of programs for a successful overclocking of the system has been completed.

The list includes applications for benchmarking, stress testing, information about the temperature of the crystal.

Before starting work, it is worth checking your computer for stress using basic programs. They will calculate the initial characteristics and help in detecting various problems.

The next step is to check and study the characteristics related to the motherboard and processor. The data and potential of these both may be different, so it is worth checking them out.

Also, special attention should be paid to the multiplier. If it is closed for modification, then you will not be able to overclock your processor.

To start it, you need to in the first seconds when you turn on the computer, when the POST screen appears, hold down one of the following keys: F10, F2, F12, Esc - different computers, the buttons for opening this application differ from each other.

It is through this basic program that the overclocking process of the device will be carried out.

There are old and new BIOSes. They differ little from each other in terms of production, but they may have a different interface.

These programs are divided into two types:

• AMI or Phoenix AWARD

The first tab is called Advanced, it can also be called JumperFree Condiguration or AT Overclock.

The second is called Frequency, Voltage Control, it can also be called as follows: overclock.

After performing these manipulations, open the advanced mode and select the following AI Tweaker or, if the first is not there, then Extreme tweaker.

As a result of the actions taken, a window will appear in which it will be necessary to increase the frequency.

First of all, you need to reduce the speed of the memory bus. Following these instructions will help you avoid memory errors. It bears the name Memory multiplier or Frequency DDR... It is worth setting the minimum value that will be indicated there.

Then the fundamental frequency should be increased by a tenth of a hundred. This value is approximately 100 MHz.

It hides under one more name - the FSB bus. Its speed is the inner core of your processor.

Basically, it is equal to a value of 100 MHz or more, which is multiplied by a certain factor indicated in the status information.

That is, if the initial power is 200 MHz, and the multiplier is 10, then the frequency of the computer will be 2 GHz.

Most computers can handle a 10% boost easily, so the frequency will now be 2.2 GHz.

However, in case of problems with stability or temperature, it is worth stopping all attempts and reducing the settings to the default option.

A temperature of 85 degrees will be critical for any computer, and its processor will break down.

If successful, continue to upgrade. The stress test should be run after each increase in frequency.

Increasing processor power through multipliers

This option applies if your multiplier readings are unlocked. This is an easier option to configure.

The basic frequency setting must be reset first. Canceling it will help you to better tune the frequency.

When using a low base frequency with a large multiplier, the stability of the operation is increased. A high frequency and a small multiplier gives excellent performance. In this case, you should look for such a value at which stability and performance will be equally strong.

After resetting the default settings, you should start raising the multiplier. It is worth doing this in small increments of half a unit. The multiplier itself is hidden under the name CPU Ratio or CPU Multiplier.

After rising, run the temperature and stress test process.

Then start increasing the multiplier again until the first stability problems begin. If this is not enough for you, then you can start increasing the tension.

Increasing it will make it possible to increase the multipliers by a few more points.

And the next short article will help the reader how to increase stress.

Increasing the voltage to power the core

The voltage can be increased using the normal adjustment. Entitled CPU Voltage or VCore hidden is our stress indicator.

If you nevertheless decide to go on increasing it, then this should be done as carefully as possible.

If the voltage is randomly increased, then it can go beyond safe limits. And this will ultimately damage not only the processor, but also the motherboard.

It is worth increasing in steps equal to 0.025 or any other minimum value.

However, do not exceed the 0.3V limit.

This can end badly for the components of your apparatus.

You should also do a stress test after each lift.

With the last overclocking, you left the system in an unstable value, so after raising it, it will start to come to its senses.

If the system has already gained stability, then the temperature should be monitored. It must not be high.

If the system continues to be unstable, then you need to reduce the multiplier or base clock purity.

Your system will eventually stabilize. After that, you can go to raise the multiplier or frequency.

In this business, you are pursuing one single goal - to achieve stable operation and high performance with minimal voltage consumption.

Repeat all this work until you reach the maximum temperature or voltage. As a result, you will come to this conclusion: you will no longer be able to increase productivity. This will be the limit of the components of your processor that you cannot go beyond. Only if you change the components, for example, the motherboard.

Today we will talk about overclocking Intel processors and take a closer look at the program with which it will be easiest to do this. But, in the beginning, we will find out what overclocking is (from the English overclocking) of a processor, why it is needed at all, and what consequences of overclocking await us in the future. Overclocking people are called overlockers.

All overlockers are conventionally divided into three categories

1. The first type is beginner and economical overlockers. In order to save money, they want to get maximum productivity while spending as little money as possible. At the same time, the assembly of a computer comes from not the most expensive components, which may be deliberately outdated. In general, they buy what they have enough money for. Naturally, the performance of such a computer system is far from the desired level. Therefore, the owners of such technology and begin to overclock the processor in order to at least slightly increase the speed of their PC.
2. The second type includes the so-called experienced overlockers. Their goal is to get maximum performance and enjoyment from the overclocking process itself, without spending extra money. Experienced overlockers, even at the stage of buying not the cheapest equipment, try to choose it with the expectation of a further upgrade. They are thoughtful in the choice of each component of their future computer. If a motherboard, then it should have ample opportunities to support various components, if a processor, then necessarily with the built-in overclocking capability, etc. As a result, very often such systems after overclocking have at least comparable performance with top-end computers operating in nominal mode. But often such performance is not vital, and the overlocker just likes to enjoy a job well done.
3. The third type of overlockers is extreme overclockers. For them, the goal of overclocking is the highest possible performance by any means and regardless of price. They are in constant search of older models, the most powerful components, reaching extreme low temperatures, etc. The main thing for them is to end up with a system with parameters unattainable to most PC users.

Of course, such a division is conditional and there are no clear boundaries between overlockers. Beginners eventually move into a group of experienced, experienced, if they have the desire and opportunities, they become extremals. But, one way or another, they all started somewhere at some point, and any serious business is preceded by theoretical training. So we’ll start with a little bit of processor overclocking theory.

Collecting system information

Before you start overclocking your processor, you need to have an idea of ​​what you are dealing with. First you need to start studying your system. Identify all of the components, read your motherboard manual, use diagnostic and information utilities, perform performance testing, note the maximum and minimum temperatures under various system loads, etc. After overclocking the processor, you can compare the data obtained with the indicators that the system had before the processor frequency was increased. In addition, with the help of preliminary tests, you can make sure that the system operates stably at the rated frequency and voltage.

Required programs

Both before and during overclocking, you will need special programs and utilities. Again, they are conventionally divided into several categories: programs for diagnostics, monitoring, overclocking, checking the stability of the system and utilities for measuring performance.

In real life, the clear lines between these categories are very blurred. Using diagnostic programs, you can measure performance, and utilities designed for monitoring can overclock the processor. It's just that each program has a main direction for which it suits optimally and several auxiliary non-core functions.

Information and diagnostic software is designed primarily to determine the configuration of your system. The most powerful and functional of these are Lavalys Everest and SiSoftware Sandra.

But these packages are not limited to just defining the system configuration. These software systems are capable of monitoring, measuring performance, and testing the stability of the computer. However, the use of such programs for all directions at once is not always justified, especially since they are distributed for a fee, and only a part of the possibilities are available in free packages. Such cumbersome programs can be replaced by less well-known, but no less effective utilities. For example, the CPU-Z utility is very popular among overlockers, which can report information about both the processor itself and the motherboard and RAM. To carry out detailed control and manage memory timings, you can use a small program MemSet.

To overclock the processor, the best option would be to use the BIOS. But, unfortunately, computer manufacturers do not always provide such an opportunity. In this case, you can use the universal utility SetFSB, which we will look at in more detail later. In addition, you should always familiarize yourself with the contents of the CD-ROM that comes with the motherboard. Manufacturers often supply their own programs with drivers that can overclock the processor from Windows.

You should always remember one important truth: none of the existing programs for overclocking processors can give you a 100% guarantee. But the chances will increase significantly if you use several different utilities for overclocking, monitoring and testing. The OCCT or S&M utilities will help to check the stability of the system.

Not a single hundred special programs have been written to measure system performance. Such utilities test either the system as a whole or its components separately. An example of a simple yet functional program is NovaBench.

Processor overclocking basics

Overclocking is the forced operation of the processor at frequencies exceeding the nominal frequency. The reasons why overclocking is generally feasible can be different. This may be due to a large margin of safety laid down by the manufacturer in the processor architecture or some kind of marketing ploy. This is not so important, the main thing is to skillfully use the provided opportunities.

Despite the huge variety of computer components inside the PC, everything is largely standardized. This is due to the need to synchronize components from different manufacturers. The starting point is the system bus frequency –FSB. At the same time, various buses on the motherboard (channels), which connect different components of the board, have a data transfer frequency lower than the FSB. Therefore, when specifying their nominal frequencies, dividers are used. But since modern processors have a noticeably higher frequency, then in order for it to work at its nominal frequency, multipliers are used.

Let's give an example. The Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 processor operates at a bus frequency of 266 MHz. Its multiplier is x7. The multiplication of the FSB frequency by this multiplier will give the final processor frequency of 1.86 GHz. Therefore, to overclock the processor, either increase the FSB frequency or the multiplier.

Older models of modern processors are characterized by free multipliers. But such processors have a high cost, which can be an order of magnitude higher than that of the lower-end processors of the family. Therefore, the purchase of such processors is not entirely rational, since by overclocking it is possible to achieve the performance of younger processors comparable to that of their older brothers.

Therefore, overclocking any processor is usually an increase in the FSB frequency. If we take the overclocking of an intel core 2 duo processor as an example, then with an increase in the bus frequency to 400 MHz, the processor frequency can increase to 2.8 GHz. If we increase the FSB to 500, then the processor frequency will already be 3.5 GHz. This information is basic and knowing it already, you can go to the BIOS and start increasing the FSB frequency, thereby overclocking your processor. But still, before starting overclocking, some preparatory work should be done, which we will consider below.

Preparatory stage

Before you start overclocking the processor, you have to take a couple of three mandatory steps. The first step is to go to the website of your motherboard manufacturer and check if there is a more recent BIOS version available. There are many cases when completely unsuccessful motherboards, after updating the BIOS, acquired a second, literally, second life. In addition, a version update can not only fix the errors found, but also introduce new parameters and capabilities into the motherboard's BIOS. You can find out which BIOS version you are currently using during the start of the motherboard. If the information appears for a very short period of time and you do not have time to read it, then press the Pause key on your keyboard. The BIOS version can also sometimes be seen using diagnostic information utilities. Of course, not in all cases the new BIOS version is better suited for overclocking than the old one, but the new version at least eliminates the errors of the earlier versions.

Nuances of overclocking Intel Core processors

A characteristic feature of all processors with the Core microarchitecture is high performance. Since they lend themselves well to overclocking, we will pay special attention to them.

In addition to a large number of advantages, Core processors also have a number of disadvantages inherent only to them, which still complicate the overclocking process. These processors have their own feature - the so-called FSB Wall. This concept describes the maximum bus clock speed at which this processor can operate. By decreasing the multiplier to x6, you can find out at what maximum bus frequency your instance can operate.

By the way, a processor with a nominal bus frequency of 200 MHz is almost never overclocked to a frequency exceeding 400 MHz FSB. This factor should be taken into account when choosing a Core series processor. Why pay for an older processor when it is much cheaper and easier to overclock a younger processor? It should be remembered that low-end CPUs with a nominal x8 multiplier will most likely have a limitation due to the FSB Wall, and therefore the frequency after overclocking will not be able to go above 3.2 GHz. Therefore, in order not to limit yourself in advance in the maximum possible frequency, when buying, pay attention to processors that have a multiplier of x9.

Processors with a nominal bus frequency of 266 or 333 MHz are also selected as the lowest ones and having a multiplier of x7. But here, in addition to the notorious FSB Wall, overclocking can be complicated in addition by the capabilities of the motherboard and RAM. Such processors should also be chosen with a multiplier of x8 and higher. However, a new danger awaits overlockers here too - FSB Strap.

FSB Strap, a parameter that characterizes not the processor itself, but the chipset and motherboard. This is the switching frequency of the chipset operating modes. For example, after overclocking the processor, the performance of systems built on the Gigabyte motherboard and Intel P965 Express chipset immediately drops. But the motherboard from the manufacturer Asus, built on the same chipset, shows high performance even at 400 MHz. When testing an Asus Striker Extreme motherboard with an NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI chipset, performance dropped during the transition from 420 MHz FSB to 425 MHz.

Overclocking the processor using the SetFSB program

Now that the theoretical part is over, we can start overclocking the Intel processor. Let's take the very popular and efficient SetFSB program as an example.

After starting the utility, a similar window should appear on your screen.

At the very beginning, you choose the PLL chip. You can see which chip you have installed either visually on the motherboard or using special utilities. It may happen that your chip is not on the list, then you will have to look for other utilities that support your chip type as well. As a last resort, you can contact the author of this utility and ask to add the chip you need to the program. But this procedure will take a lot of time and it is not a fact that the developer will generally respond to your request.

After you have selected your chip, click the Get FSB button.

The window will display various frequency values, including the frequency at which the processor is currently operating. The current frequency is highlighted in the Current CPU Frequency window. In our case, this is 1198.2 MHz.

We will overclock the processor by increasing the system bus frequency. To increase the named frequency, you need to move the slider located in the center of the window to the right. Tabs and sliders that are next to each other are best left as they are to avoid unforeseen problems. If you want to increase the frequency adjustment range, check the box to the left of the Ultra label, as shown in the previous figure.

Now move the slider to the right a little. As a result, the frequency should increase by 10-15 MHz.

For the changes you made to take effect, you must click the SetFSB button.

If after you clicked the SetFSB button, the computer freezes or shuts down, do not be alarmed. It just means that you have either specified the wrong PLL, or have overestimated the frequency a lot. After rebooting, everything will be back to normal and you can make changes. If you did everything correctly, then the value of the processor clock frequency will increase. We look at the picture below.

In order to make sure that your computer is stable after overclocking, you will need to test it using the utility. We chose Preime95.

After launching the utility, click on the Just Stress Testing button, as shown in the picture above. After that, the following window should appear on the screen of your PC:

Select the third item and click OK. This should start testing your system.

If desired, simultaneously with the Preime95 utility, you can run the HWMonitor utility, which will monitor the temperature of your processor, as well as other components during the test.

Prime95 has the ability to generate a heavy load on the computer's processor. The test will be passed successfully if the processor runs stably for at least fifteen minutes and does not freeze. After successfully completing the test, you can try to increase the processor frequency even more and run the system test again.

If you want to interrupt the test earlier, you can do this using the menu, as shown in the figure below.

By increasing the frequency and immediately checking the stability of the system using Prime95, you can achieve the maximum frequency of the processor, at which it will work steadily for a long period of time under maximum loads. After all the overclocking manipulations and determining the optimal frequency, you need to add the SetFSB program to startup. Otherwise, all your changes will be lost after the first restart of the PC.

The first step is to create a bat script. For which you need a regular standard Notepad, in which you need to make approximately the following entry:

c: \ Program Files (x86) \ SetFSB 2.2.129.95 \ setfsb.exe -w15 -s668 -cg

c: \ Program Files (x86) \ SetFSB 2.2.129.95 \ setfsb.exe - your path to the SetFSB utility on your computer. Naturally, it may differ from user to user.

w15 - with this parameter you set the required delay before starting SetFSB. The time is indicated in seconds.

s668 is an entry indicating the overclocking setting. This parameter is very important. In the figure, in our case, this is the number 668 (the first number to the right of the slider, which is located in the green field)

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