Core 2 Duo Overclocking on the 680i

Make your CPU run up to 50% faster.

by Bennett Ring, IGN AU

Australia, November 26, 2006 - What would you say if we told you there was a way to get your new Intel Core 2 Duo to run at speeds up to 50% faster than its current speed? And what if we told you that it would cost you the grand total of nil squared to make this happen? Sounds like a good deal, eh? Welcome to the world of overclocking.

Overclocking simply refers to the process of taking a piece of hardware and making it run faster than its default speed. Once the domain of Risk-playing, pocket protector-wearing nerds, overclocking is simpler than ever before thanks to the intuitive overclocking interfaces found on today's hardware. Overclocking can apply to the CPU, video card and memory of your PC, but recently it's the area of CPU overclocking that's getting all the love. This is thanks to Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, which are proving to be more than willing to flex their overclocking muscles. For example, our newly purchased e6600 CPU, which runs at a default speed of 2.2GHz, is currently pounding through Medieval Total War 2 at a speed of 3.4GHz - all thanks to a few BIOS tweaks. It's not even possible to buy a chip this fast yet! Our AU$450 CPU is now outperforming the AU$1600 Extreme Edition X6800, and all it cost us was a few hours of tweaking.

There are several fundamental rules of overclocking, which you'll need to keep in mind before your journey begins.

1.) Overclocking results vary from system to system. Just because somebody else got a 40% overclock with a certain piece of hardware does not mean you'll get the exact same result; it could be better, or much worse. However, overclocking results do tend to average around the same region, so you've at least got a rough idea of where to aim.

2.) When based on the same architecture, low end hardware tends to overclock better than high end hardware. A low speed Core 2 Duo chip will, relatively speaking, reach a better overclock than a high speed Core 2 Duo.

3.) You can damage your hardware when overclocking, specifically if you increase the voltage too high. Giving your hardware a slight voltage boost is usually necessary, but push too far and you'll soon have a lovely puddle of melted silicon in your case instead of a CPU. As a result, overclock at your own risk, and be aware that you will probably void the warranty if you do so. We can not be held responsible if you follow our guide and things start smoking.

4.) Increased cooling can help. Due to the increased frequency and voltage used when overclocking, components tend to get warmer. A custom cooling solution, ranging from a high end heatsink/fan (HSF) combination through to a water cooling kit, is highly recommended. Extreme overclockers rely on extravagant cooling solutions such as phase change systems, and even dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Crazy kids.

5.) It will take time to find the ideal setting for your system. Overclocking is not suitable for impatient ADHD kids. It's possible to cause data corruption in your Operating System, so make sure you back everything up to a separate disk before your experiment begins.

6.) Hardware designed with overclocking in mind will generally perform better than generic, budget hardware. 'Nuff said.

7.) If things go so terribly wrong that you can't boot up your PC, you can always clear the CMOS (the motherboard's onboard memory) to reset everything back to default speeds. Your motherboard manual will show you where the clear CMOS jumper is. However, by doing so you'll clear all BIOS settings back to default, so you should always write down your various BIOS settings before commencing your overclock.

Keep those rules in mind and you'll be armed with the basics. Now, let's get into the nitty gritty of overclocking the Intel Core 2 Duo processor.