Overclocking For Dummies
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Overclocking For Dummies
One of my pet machines (on which I'm typing now!) is an elderly Gateway 350Mhz Intel Pentium 2 running Win 98SE with 198Mb ram.
It's used for little more than general browsing, email etc which it does reasonably well.
However, it dislikes doing more than one thing at a time, for example streaming internet radio stutters when opening a programme file.
I'm guessing its running out of grunt too early, and so I wonder if it would be beneficial to try overclocking to get a little more horsepower out of it. If so, have any Ppruners successfully done it, and how?
It's used for little more than general browsing, email etc which it does reasonably well.
However, it dislikes doing more than one thing at a time, for example streaming internet radio stutters when opening a programme file.
I'm guessing its running out of grunt too early, and so I wonder if it would be beneficial to try overclocking to get a little more horsepower out of it. If so, have any Ppruners successfully done it, and how?
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Potential probs -Power supplies ! (no pun intended), overclocking may also over stress some of the system components - Heat disapation probs - Can the chip & Machine BIOS support overclocking - No Doubt Mod Saab Dastard (Anagram of somthing Odd ?) - PPRUNE MOD (Read GOD) will spot this and dispense some words of Wisdom better than I -Be patient let the old Gal/Guy strut its stuff as per manufacture - Its still working - Please note are you operating behind a router the operating system may be a bit long in the tooth - I'm an offender now going on the streight & level . beware BOTS .Can you add more RAM ? 
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Overclocking is a way to squeeze a bit more performance out of a machine, with the risk of killing it quite quickly. It doesn't change a tortoise into a hare. If the machine isn't up to the job, overclocking won't solve that.
That machine sounds very old by current standards - you could pick up something significantly more powerful for not-a-lot, I would think.
That machine sounds very old by current standards - you could pick up something significantly more powerful for not-a-lot, I would think.
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Others are correct, overclocking won't make a tangible difference to your computer.
If you look at your Gateway manual you may find that your particular computer was actually designed to take a range of CPUs at different pricing points. Since you mention 350MHz, it's probably a Slot 1 motherboard with the CPU sitting on a little riser card. CPUs in that family were rated at 350, 400 and 450MHz. A used 450MHz CPU would be almost free now, and a very simple swap. It would give you about 25% more bang.
You need to find the maximum "clock multiplier" supported by your motherboard: this will be a setting starting at 3.0 and going to at least 4.5 in your case. Look at the biggest number: If 6.0, then 600MHz is the fastest you can go.
You can probably use Pentium III CPUs on Slot 1 cards: they're electrically compatible. You'd want a CPU that is no faster than the largest clock multiplier, and which operates at 100MHz front side bus (that's your existing memory speed). Off-hand, that would be 350, 400, 450 MHz as a Pentium II, then 450, 500, not 533, 550, some 600 MHz Pentium III. You can't use a "B" CPU: 533B, 600B. There are some none-B 600 MHz CPUs.
A little bit more RAM might also help, but there's no need to go beyond 256MB or 512MB. It may not be cost-effective: old RAM is in great demand. It will cost more than the CPU.
Well, that's way more than you probably needed to know. If it were my system and I needed it to work, I'd leave it as-is unless I came across a 350MHz PII Slot 1 part. If I didn't need it to survive the experiment, I'd pop in any Slot 1 CPU other than 533B or 600B, and see what happened for 10 seconds. Slot 1 is very robust.
If you look at your Gateway manual you may find that your particular computer was actually designed to take a range of CPUs at different pricing points. Since you mention 350MHz, it's probably a Slot 1 motherboard with the CPU sitting on a little riser card. CPUs in that family were rated at 350, 400 and 450MHz. A used 450MHz CPU would be almost free now, and a very simple swap. It would give you about 25% more bang.
You need to find the maximum "clock multiplier" supported by your motherboard: this will be a setting starting at 3.0 and going to at least 4.5 in your case. Look at the biggest number: If 6.0, then 600MHz is the fastest you can go.
You can probably use Pentium III CPUs on Slot 1 cards: they're electrically compatible. You'd want a CPU that is no faster than the largest clock multiplier, and which operates at 100MHz front side bus (that's your existing memory speed). Off-hand, that would be 350, 400, 450 MHz as a Pentium II, then 450, 500, not 533, 550, some 600 MHz Pentium III. You can't use a "B" CPU: 533B, 600B. There are some none-B 600 MHz CPUs.
A little bit more RAM might also help, but there's no need to go beyond 256MB or 512MB. It may not be cost-effective: old RAM is in great demand. It will cost more than the CPU.
Well, that's way more than you probably needed to know. If it were my system and I needed it to work, I'd leave it as-is unless I came across a 350MHz PII Slot 1 part. If I didn't need it to survive the experiment, I'd pop in any Slot 1 CPU other than 533B or 600B, and see what happened for 10 seconds. Slot 1 is very robust.
