Question: I recently read an article that said that a company had done something to the clock time on certain computers that made them perform as if they operated at a higher clock speed.  Something about advancing the clock as I recall. Can a person change the clock speed and if so, will that make a difference to performance?  If this will enhance performance, how do you do this?
--L.C.

Answer: You're talking about chip overclocking. That's when you set a chip on a motherboard to run at a higher speed than it's officially designed for. 

Clock speed on a processor chip is the speed rating it's been given. For example, a Pentium II 400MHz CPU has a chip clockspeed of 400 MHz.

The manufacturing of chips is imprecise. Sometimes a chip passes some quality control tests but not all. The chip manufacturer will rate it as a slower chip even though there's a potential to run it faster.

 Many computer owners who try overclocking have reported their Pentium II 233-MHz to 333 MHz, their Pentium II 266-MHz to 350 MHz, and their Pentium II 300-MHz to 375 MHz.

Clearly this is an enticing process. Get more processing speed out of a slower chip for no additional cost.

So how does it work? First, let me point out that overclocking has nothing to do with the clock in the computer that keeps time. It's all about processor speed. Two variables determine the speed at which a processor runs: The frontside (or system) bus speed and the clock multiplier. The system bus is the electronic pathways through which data travels around the computer's motherboard. The clock multiplier is controlled by the motherboard.

A nifty trick: If you multiply the FSB (frontside bus) speed by the clock multiplier you get the CPU speed. For instance, a 350-MHz Pentium II runs at a default FSB speed of 100 MHz with a clock multiplier of 3.5 (3.5 x 100 =350). 

By manipulating the clock multiplier and the FSB speed through either BIOS settings or jumpers on the motherboard you can modify the CPU's clock speed.

This process is full of pitfalls. No two processors overclocked in the same manner will produce the same results. Overclocking a chip will void a chip's warranty. The procedure forces a chip to function at a level not recommended by the manufacturer and can result is data errors, chip damage and excessive heat. There have been reports of people destroying their chips through overclocking. 

That said there are a variety of Web pages on the Internet that offer tips, tricks as well as procedures on how to achieve successful overclocking.

Intel claims that it has built in mechanisms into its chips to deter overclocking. The company says this is to stop illicit computer resellers who use overclocking to boost a systems performance with components faked to look like they are faster than they are. Despite this, overclocking continues to be popular with computer hobbyists and many people successfully overclock their computers without incident.

If you want to read more on the issues around overclocking and find out how to do it, see System Optimization's Overclocking Guide at http://www.sysopt.com/overc.html as well as Tom's Hardware Guide at http://www5.tomshardware.com/guides/overclocking/index.html.

If this column still doesn't fully help you with your tech problems or answer questions that you may have, you should see our Emergency Help page for personalized help.