Should I overclock a 400 mhz processor?

[Pegasus04]

Hi, everyone, I have a question (as always):

I work in my father's cybercafe (kind of) and we have a bunch of old pcs which people mainly uses to login into Msn Messenger. One of them has a aprox 400 mhz processor, and after fiddling with the bios (multiplication factor, etc.) I took it to 800 mhz.

So, here comes the question: What are the chances that it might blow up without changing the cooler or doing anything else? Should I lower it a little, should I take it back to 400 mhz? I need it to work as fast as possible, but if it blows up I will have to find a job in the piers.

Thanks for reading, hope you can help!

Matias (greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina)

 

[Stanty]

you say its a 400MHz, what proccesor is it, AMD, Pentium.

Im guessing a pentium, and they tend to heat up pretty damn quick so id suggest some extra cooling even if you only slightly overclock it......

but remember is it worth the risk of frying it?

 

[Pegasus04]

Pentium, I suppose

I guess Pentium, too, didn't looked. It has been working for 6 hours today without showing overheating signs, but the old bios does't have a temp meter...I suppose I should turn it back to 400 mhz, what the hell.

Anyway, do you know any temp meter software, and where can i download it?

Thanks a lot!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

I guess Pentium, too, didn't looked. It has been working for 6 hours today without showing overheating signs, but the old bios does't have a temp meter...I suppose I should turn it back to 400 mhz, what the hell.

Anyway, do you know any temp meter software, and where can i download it?

Thanks a lot!

You can download mother board monitor 5(mbm5) from www.majorgeeks.com

Regards Howard

 

[Pegasus04]

Thanks!

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[raj2450]

to pegasus04 re. overclocking

Hi pegasus04,
I`m new to the FORUMS, howevwer I have some experience in these matters.
First of all, it is doubtful that you actually overclocked your 400Mhz processor to 800Mhz. The main barrier to overclocking is the ability of the processor transistors to switch fast enough to maintain higher frequency, once it does, then overheating is the next problem as transistors heat is directly proportional the the switching speed. Normally, processors can be overclocked 10 to 20percent without too many problems, instability and heat to name a few. When overclocking, it is essential to make sure of the following: Thermal paste used on the heat sink, and a dust free and well operating fan and heat sink. If the bearings are bad on the fan it may rotate, but not run up to the proper speed to properly cool the CPU.
In summary, some motherboards cheat the process and do not report accurate frequency. No processor I`ve ever heard of is capable of a 100% overclock, unless of course, yours is actually an 800Mhz process someone decided to run at only 400Mhz.
However, in your case, if the darn thing is actually running at 800Mhz and not heating, why not? The first sign of overheating is freezing up or spontaneous rebooting!
Also, your inquiry about temp software is futile if your motherboard does not have the proper hardware in the way of thermal circuitry built in underneath the CPU!
Hope this helps.
Rich

 

[Pegasus04]

You tell me

When I load ¨optimal settings¨ on the cmos it runs at 466 mhz.

After fiddling in CPU PnP features, it goes up to 800 mhz.

I'm just saying what the cmos says to me.

Anyway, I turned it back to optimal settings, it's just not worth the risk in a pc mainly used to chat with msn messenger.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Blakhart]

I take care of boxes at a "cybercafe", and think you're far better off with a reliable box that starts and runs everyday than one that's tempermental.
Standard mem timings and no ocing. The data corruption that'll probably result from the oc will have you reiinstalling shortly....