Make your PC go faster for free

Posted on 3 Jul 2009 at 12:03

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It may sound daunting, but overclocking your PC is actually quite simple - and, as Antony Leather explains, it can give your system a real power boost.

Do you want your PC to run faster? For free? This may sound like a dubious marketing claim, but it is actually possible to wring more power out of your computer without spending any money at all. Here we'll show you how to trick your computer so that it picks up the pace.

What is overclocking?

Increasing the speed of your PC's existing hardware - known as overclocking - takes advantage of the extra headroom that is available because of the way in which PC processors are made. It's not just processors that can be overclocked, however; graphics cards and memory can also be tweaked relatively easily, potentially increasing your PC's performance in all manner of ways, whether you're running games or encoding video files.

How is it possible?

Computer processors are made in fabrication plants by companies such as Intel and AMD. Every processor, whether it is a slow or fast one, is made using the same process; there are no specific production lines for each speed grade. However, each processor is slightly different in terms of what clock speeds it can achieve at a certain voltage. This is because of tiny imperfections or differences in the chips, which come about as a result of the manufacturing process. Some chips may even be faulty and, after testing, be thrown away. Most work perfectly well, but will be capable of running at different speeds.

Manufacturers cherry-pick the best chips in a process called speed-binning, whereby the products capable of high clock speeds are categorised as high-end processors while the others will be labelled with lower clock speeds and sold at cheaper prices. An example of this is Intel's 3.2GHz Core i7-965 Extreme Edition, which costs nearly £800, while the slower 2.66GHz Core i7-920 costs just £230.

Demand for faster processors is never as high as it is for slower models, so often processors that are capable of faster clock speeds are sold as cheaper versions, just to meet demand. Clearly there is some potential to be exploited, which is what overclocking is all about.

Why overclock?

Why would you want to increase the clock speed of your hardware? Well, you've probably noticed how much faster a new PC runs than one that's three years old. Games run smoother, Windows is nippier and more responsive and tasks such as photo editing and video encoding take less time. This is partly due to the hardware having newer and more efficient designs, but it's also because it usually runs at higher frequencies, and a higher frequency means more calculations per second and ultimately better performance.

The best bit about overclocking is that it's totally free and can often boost your PC's speed significantly. When running tests for this article, we were able to boost our PC's performance by 20 per cent relatively easily and with no harmful side effects. It certainly challenges the maxim 'you never get something for nothing'.

Can I overclock my PC?

Unfortunately, many motherboards sold as part of complete systems often have no overclocking options in their BIOS, the basic software used to run a PC. If this is the case for you, don't despair. If you have a discrete graphics card, as opposed to having graphics built into the motherboard, it's still possible to overclock it using software in Windows. If you're lucky enough to own a motherboard with frequency and voltage adjustment, you may be able to overclock it slightly. Motherboards built for enthusiasts often have more options than you can shake a stick at, and you can spend days tweaking them. In some cases, it's possible to increase your processor's speed by over 100 per cent.