Ultimate Core i7 Overclocking Guide

Brink · Apr 4, 2009

Ultimate Core i7 Overclocking Guide -- We Push Nehalem to its Limits

Here’s everything you need to know about overclocking Intel’s new CPU
Overclocking can kill your CPU. It can corrupt your OS, melt your motherboard, and cause you to lose a month’s work or more. Despite those dire orange-alert warnings, however, overclocking has moved on from the Nerd’s Only Club to become practically a mainstream hobby in the last few years.
So why overclock if the risks are so great? For some folks, it’s about bragging rights. Like drag-strip racers who burn up an engine just to set a quarter-mile record, there’s a small community who will overclock a CPU to the brink of destruction just to run a benchmark and take a screen shot of the result.
The bulk of overclockers, however, are more concerned with the cost dividends. If you can take a $300 CPU and make it as fast or faster than one that costs $1,000, the money you save can go toward other components in your system. For these folks, it’s like getting a free high-end videocard.
Whether you’re a cheapskate or a drag racer, you’ll find that Intel’s new Core i7 CPU is unlike any previous Intel CPU, and overclocking this beast requires more tinkering than you might expect. Follow along as we explore what it takes to push this chip hard.

A Brave New World -- The crumbling of the front-side-bus wall means a wholesale change in how you overclock Intel’s top parts

Veteran Intel overclockers know that little about the process changed since the beginning. Like the basics of flying (stick, rudder, ball), all you had to worry about with an Intel processor was the front-side bus, clock multiplier, and core voltage.
Not so with Core i7. With Intel retiring the front-side bus, you’ll need to brush up on your overclocking skills and concepts if you want to get the highest-performing overclock out of the Godzilla of CPUs.

Read more at: Ultimate Core i7 Overclocking Guide -- We Push Nehalem to its Limits | Maximum PC

Ultimate Core i7 Overclocking Guide

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