October 2004
Intermediate to advanced
304 pages
7h 44m
English
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Hack #26. As Goes Voltage, So Goes Speed
Adjusting the power supply voltage to your CPU can make all the difference between an erratically performing speed-hack and a stable screaming demon.
Overclockers love to tweak every available parameter in attempts to squeeze every bit of performance out of their CPUs and system boards. Cranking up the speed is the most obvious way to get the CPU to run faster, but to get or keep it running at higher speeds you may have to jack up the CPU's power supply voltage a notch or two.
Today's CPUs run at extremely low voltages—in the range of 1.3 to 1.9 volts. As the CPU runs faster it gets warmer; as things get warmer their resistance increases, which causes loss of voltage and limits the available current to keep the device powered adequately. At these low voltages, it does not take much resistance to have a significant impact on voltage drop and increased heat generation.
Also, when the CPU runs faster the data signals tend to get a bit weaker, so increasing the voltage gives the data signals a little extra edge in getting through to the other components.
Warning
Be very careful with this hack; if you give the CPU too much juice, the internal temperature will rise quickly until the CPU components burn out and quite possibly release all of the "magic smoke" (and real smoke), rendering it useless. Ensure you have an adequate heat sink properly bonded and securely fastened [Hack #24] atop the CPU!
This is where you really need to check the BIOS CPU ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.