Overclocking the Athlon 64 - Page 19

Unlike many guides on overclocking, my primary goal for this article was not to simply tell you how to overclock (although I did that too!), that bit is fairly easy. I wanted to get across the various aspects of your system which can affect overclocking, and why certain settings do what they do.

There are far too many people these days who overclock without really knowing what they're doing, blindly following some else's recommendations without fully understanding what is happening to their system. I wanted this article to help you understand what you're changing and why, rather than just giving you a set of numbers to try.

This is by no means a comprehensive article covering everything to do with overclocking the Athlon 64, such as advanced methods of cooling, and physically modifying your motherboard to get better results - these things are beyond the scope this particular article.

I do hope that I've provided enough background information for you to better understand what the various settings actually change, whether overclocking is a new subject to you, or whether you've done it before, but weren't sure that you'd got everything you could out of your system.

You should now be able to apply your overclocking skills in a variety of situations, with different Athlon 64 CPUs and various types of memory. You may also find that diagnosing what's wrong with a certain overclock on either your own, or someone else's system, might now seem easier as well.

Just remember to take things slowly (the components will still be there tomorrow, so there's no rush!), keep testing (stability is not something you can compromise), and write down your settings and results at every stage.

If you have any questions about this article don't hesitate to contact me, or check out the question archive for other people's overclocking questions.

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Article Navigation:

• Introduction
  • What is Overclocking?
  • The Dangers of Overclocking
  • Overclocking basics
• The Differences in the A64 Platform
  • Athlon 64 Multipliers
  • Athlon 64 and the missing FSB..
• RAM and what it has to do with Overclocking
  • Memory dividers
  • Timing is everything...
• Voltage and how it affects Overclocking
• Cooling and Other Hardware Considerations
  • TIM the enchanter
  • The Sometimes Overlooked Hardware
• Let's start Overclocking!
  • Tools of the trade
  • Overclocking the CPU - Part 1
  • Overclocking the CPU - Part 2
  • Overclocking the Memory
  • Putting it all together
• Conclusion
• Overclocking 'Crib Sheet'