Overclocking an OEM Computer

SpywareShooterSpywareShooter 127.0.0.1
edited July 2005 in Hardware
I'm definately not going to OC this thing, since it's already running at almost frying temperature, but this weekend I'm going to try to find a free computer to do some experimenting with. Anything I find is old crap that nobody wants, so they just dump it. Also it's free, and came from the garbage anyways so who really cares if I cook the processor?

Chances are that anything I find is going to be an old AMD K series (I believe that's what they're called... they were around in the Win95 era) or an older Pentium or Celeron, most likely not over 500MHz. I know that most computer manufacturers block the part of the BIOS that allows you to overclock, but I read somewhere, but don't remember where, that you can open up the case and with a screwdriver and a few other tools you can overclock it somehow. I'm sure someone here has heard of this and tried it. Can anyone tell me how to do it or at least point me to the guide that says how?

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    really old computers used jumpers instead of the BIOS to set the clock multiplier and the FSB. If you find a motherboard with a huge confusing array of pins and jumpers, then chances are you can overclock it with jumpers. However, OEMs would remove the pins so that people couldn't mess with the clock rate. So you'd have to connect them with solder or something :-/

    It would be a lot of effort for a minimal reward, but I gotta admire the hacker spirit :D
  • SpywareShooterSpywareShooter 127.0.0.1
    edited July 2005
    I don't care about the reward being small, I may be able to use it in the future on better computers. Do you know of a guide on how to do it? That is if it does have the pins. I don't want to mess with soldering and that crap.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    If it has pins, you'll have to figure out exactly what motherboard you're working with and then try to find a manual for that motherboard. Even if its, say, an HP computer, the motherboard is probably an Asus or something, etc.

    Identify the board and we'll go from there. Finding those old manuals is a nightmare sometimes.
  • SpywareShooterSpywareShooter 127.0.0.1
    edited July 2005
    OK when I find a computer on Saturday I'll tell you.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2005
    AMDs still use the K series. They are on the K8 now, being the 64-bit cpus. The Duron to Athlon series was the K7.
  • SpywareShooterSpywareShooter 127.0.0.1
    edited July 2005
    I think it was a K4 that I found last time.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2005
    I dont even know what that would be. A K6 was like a P2, a K5 a P1 I guess so.....a K4 a 386 type CPU?
  • SpywareShooterSpywareShooter 127.0.0.1
    edited July 2005
    It was 333MHz...
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2005
    A K6 then. I wasnt really around at that time. Maybe a K6-2.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    If it was 333, that's a K6-2
  • KometeKomete Member
    edited July 2005
    I pull out my trusty good ol drill and make keychains out of those old cpu's.. Good stuff.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited July 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    really old computers used jumpers instead of the BIOS to set the clock multiplier and the FSB. If you find a motherboard with a huge confusing array of pins and jumpers, then chances are you can overclock it with jumpers. However, OEMs would remove the pins so that people couldn't mess with the clock rate. So you'd have to connect them with solder or something :-/

    It would be a lot of effort for a minimal reward, but I gotta admire the hacker spirit :D


    just wondering, but why did they use jumpers(I know that you'd have to solder them, but still its possible) instead of just being able to do it in the bios menu?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    Perhaps bios sizes were too small to allow that sort of programming, or the circuitry to control those settings via software hadn't been invented yet. I'm not sure.
  • JonseyJonsey Microsoft Corporation
    edited July 2005
    Amount of effort to put that control in the BIOS.

    With jumpered connections, whatever set of wires the current flowed through, that was what speed the clocks (or whatever) ran at. No thinking, no checking, but most importantly, no extra logic needed in the BIOS.

    Now we've got so much computing power coming out our ears (average users don't touch their 2.0GHz boxen, they just watch windows cruft up, and think they need something faster, instead of new habits) that we can afford to slap some more logic in the BIOS. Take my A8N-SLI Premium, it'll attempt to one-up AMD's Cool-n-not-that-helpful technology, by pushing more power on the buses, and speeding up the clock when there's lots of CPU demand. I don't think I'll ever use that feature, but it's a sign they've got spare logic to burn on these BIOSes. : )

    Any corrections are always appreciated, but to the best of my knowledge, I'm telling the truth : )
Sign In or Register to comment.