To overclock CPU speed essentially means to tweak it in such a manner that it runs faster than the speed at which it was originally rated at by the manufacturer. Using the technique, a processor that is rated at 2.0GHz for instance, could be overclocked to run at 2.2GHz speeds. The goal of overclocking is to enhance overall system performance by boosting processor speed. Overclocking is a technique that can be applied not just to the CPU but also to the motherboards and the memory on a computer in order to squeeze extra performance out of the system at little extra cost.
While the concept of overclocking is relatively simple enough to understand, accomplishing the task can take some effort and a relatively good understanding of the inner-workings of a computer. A processor's speed depends on its internal clock as well as the speed of the computer's main memory and Frontside Bus (FSB). The FSB is the data bus which connects the CPU to the main memory. The speed of the FSB is directly tied to the speed of the main memory. In turn the CPU's speed is directly linked to the speed of the FSB. In other words, the faster the FSB gets, the faster the processor will run.
Most modern microprocessors do not allow their internal clocks to be directly overclocked. So the most common approach to overclock CPU speed is to bump up the speed of the FSB via the system's motherboard controls. Speeding up the FSB frequency overclocks both the CPU and the memory at the same time. The settings are usually changed via the system's BIOS page.
If done properly, overclocking can yield significant performance benefits. But there are several issues that need to be kept in mind before embarking on any effort to overclock CPUs. For instance, the stability of the motherboard and its capacity to handle tweaks can have a huge impact on CPU overclocking. The motherboard's BIOS options determine how much overclocking the processor and memory can support. If the BIOS supports only limited overclocking options, the results of any CPU or memory overclocking will also be limited at best.
Overclocking can also raise CPU temperatures and cause it to become unstable. Proper care has to be taken to ensure that the CPU has an adequate heat-sink for dissipating any extra heat generated by overclocking. Increasing FSB speed by a specific amount will also cause the memory to speed up by the same amount. But most of the memory technologies that ship on consumer systems are not designed for big speed boosts and may become unstable if overclocked too much. Therefore care needs to be taken to ensure that memory speeds remain slower relative to FSB speeds when doing CPU overclocking.
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