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Today�s subject in our Overclocking Guide� Hardware

For the most part, there are 4 key hardware components in overclocking your computer:

• CPU
• Cooling system
• RAM
• Motherboard and Chipset

Central Processing Unit or CPU:

Your CPU is the heart and soul of the overclock.  There are many differences and trends in the potential to overclock a processor.  The best indicator of how well one will perform is to do a little research before you buy or before you make up your mind to play with the speed.  You can visit forums such as overclock.net or extremeoverclockers.com to get a good idea of how your chip should react to a change in software.  Newegg.com also has a review column that a lot of people will post overclocking successes on.

Overclocking chips depends on what core they have, generally.  Earlier Palermo cores don�t overclock as well as the Barton cores.  A lot of experienced overclockers look for processors with specific core ID�s because if the the identification tags match a good batch or week, the results will be very similar. 

CPU Cooling

In the process of overclocking, you add extra voltage to your processor.  This increases the amount of heat that your CPU and RAM generates.  Therefore, the cooling system needs to be kept in check.  The most common system is air cooling.  Fans and heatsinks are cheap.  You can upgrade them at a drop of a hat if you need to.  There is an amazing amount of aftermarket support as well.  I have 7 fans on my PC and don�t ever turn off the computer.  It has held strong through almost a year and a half, but I have replaced the fans once.

You may also venture into the realm of watercooling.  I have never tried it, so I can�t necessarily offer any advice (I am the same person who hates changing water pumps in my car, let alone adding liquid to my computer..).

RAM

With
RAM, there is a definite need of quality.  The reason being, the RAM is
related to the front side bus (FSB).  In general, when you change you
FSB from 200 MHz to 210 MHz to overclock your CPU, your RAM will also
increase to accomodate the new speed.  If your RAM can not handle
the increase, it may become unstable and be your failing point.  The
better quality of RAM, the better you can overclock.

Mother Board and Chipset

Your motherboard is a terribly important part of the overclocking process.  The manufacturer of the motherboard and the chipset provider should be noted before you begin the process.  The chipset must be able to withstand increased frequencies running through it, or else your overclock won�t be worth bragging about.  The BIOS is what defines the motherboard.  Most of your software configuration will be done in the BIOS which is a motherboard function. 

Tomorrow, we will discuss the BIOS and software.  Tomorrow is the fun part.

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