Articles on PC Performance

Overclocking is the best way to get a significant boost in the speed of your system at no cost at all.

But what exactly is ‘overclocking’?

It is the process of forcing the processor to run at a higher clock rate than its specification. The processor is made to run at certain frequencies (clock rates). The higher the frequency, the more calculations it can compute. Instead of buying a 3GHz processor, you can now make a 2GHz processor runs at 3GHz. In this case, you can save the time, effort and money needed to upgrade your system.

PC enthusiasts usually overclock their computer to increase the performance. Some of these enthusiasts purchase low-end computer components so they can overclock to achieve the performance of a high-end system. However, if all you do on your computer is word processing, email and simple tasks, overclocking will not give you a noticeable performance boost. For gamers and those who are doing computationally heavy tasks, overclocking is the best way to transform your system from a Daihatsu to a Ferrari.

There are some risks involved in overclocking. Firstly, you will be voiding your warranty. This is logical as you are making the chips run at a higher speed than its specification and there is a possibility that it could break. Though the risk of the chip breaking is small, the manufacturer will not want to cover this risk. In addition, the manufacturer disapproves of any overclocking act as it means there is a lesser demand for the higher speed processors which could bring them a much higher profit. If the processor breaks, the whole system might be destroyed. Therefore, overclock at your own risk.

The main components used for overclocking are the processor and video card. The two things to consider when overclocking a component are the power supplied to the component and its cooling ability.

When overclocking, be sure to match the proper amount of power for its new speed. Providing too much power could permanently damage a component. You have to find a balance.

It is necessary to supply the proper amount of power to the component for its new speed. However, providing too much power could permanently damage the component. You have to find the balance.

With the increase in speed, the heat generated will also increase. If too much heat is introduced to the system, it might destroy the functionality of the components, and in extreme cases, even cause them to catch fire. Therefore, sufficient cooling is paramount to a successful overclock. Some of the cooling agents used are forced convection (a fan blowing across a surface), Liquid Cooling (liquid coolant carrying waste heat to a radiator, similar to an automobile engine), liquid nitrogen, dry ice, phase change cooling (as used in refrigerators), and submersion (placing the entire computer in an inert fluid).

To overclock the processor, there are two settings that you must be aware of:

• the multiplier
• the Front Side Bus (FSB).

These two settings, when multiplied together, produce the frequency at which the CPU operates - for example, with a multiplier of 11 and a FSB of 200MHz, the CPU is running at 2.2GHz. By adjusting the multiplier value (usually an integer), higher speed can be achieved. It is advisable to do this by small increments at a time. A sudden increase will cause the system to be unstable and might lead to its destruction. Bit by bit, you can push the system to its extreme. Remember to increase its voltage as you do this. To test the performance of the overclocked processor, you can use free software such as Super-PI, Prime95, SiSoftware Sandra and Memtest86

For gaming purposes, overclocking the video card usually gives a better result than overclocking a processor. The largest performance boost usually come from overclocking the video card memory chips. So if you’re trying to keep the heat down and only want to overclock the essentials, this is what you’ll want to look at.

One application you can use to overclock the video card is PowerStrip (available from http://www.entechtaiwan.com). After installation, you can select ‘Performance Profiles’ and then ‘Configure’ from the menu. This is where you can see the Engine clock and Memory clock. Slowly increase the Engine clock in 5MHz increments and run the benchmark application. When you start to see a peculiar shape, this is its fastest possible speed. Move the slider back to its previous successful overclock and that is the core frequency. Repeat the same step with the memory clock. When this is done, your video card will be overclocked to its maximum. Before you run the application, remember to provide enough cooling agent to the video card as the overclocking process will bring up its temperature a few notches.

With the extra speed boosts, you will definitely be able to do much more things with your system. Hopefully this article has provided you with an insight into the overclocking world. Welcome to the overclocking community and all the best to your overclocking endeavours.

My PC is slow, what should I do?

No matter how good your system is, there will come a time when you will face the slow PC performance syndrome. This is a universal problem every user is sure to come across.

So when do you consider your PC slow?

The answer is simply when:

• you discover that the booting up time takes longer than usual
• your PC hangs frequently
• it takes a long time to start an application
• game play is sluggish

What is the cause for this?

Well, it can be due to either a hardware or software issue.

A lack of memory RAM is often the main cause if it is a hardware cause. As technology advances, more and more programs with heavy bandwidths are being developed. An old system with only 64MB of memory RAM will surely pant when running these heavy-duty programs. Check out your motherboard’s maximum memory support and upgrade the RAM to the maximum. This will see an improvement. If your memory RAM is already at its maximum, then maybe it is time to change the motherboard.

Other than the RAM, the CPU is also another culprit for the slow PC performance. Similar to the RAM, an old CPU will not be sufficient to support new and complex applications. It might be easy to think that changing the CPU will help. However, changing the CPU is not as easy as changing the RAM. Most of the time, the old motherboard will not be able to support the latest CPU in the market. If you are seriously considering changing the CPU, then it might be better to upgrade the whole system.

The data storage on the hard drive is based on sector allocation. Over time, due to frequent installation and un-installation of programs, the data sectors will be scattered all around in the hard drive, making data retrieval difficult. This in turn adds to the loading time. The hard drive fragmentation percentage refers to the percentage of the scattering of the data sector. The higher the percentage, the slower the PC performance. Performance can be improved by doing a defragmentation. This will arrange the sector clusters in retrieving order and also move seldom used or unused data to a remote sector.

Running of background processes and programs will also slow down your PC’s performance. Most of the time, these background activities occur without your knowledge and it is always the main cause for PC hanging. To eliminate this, press “ctrl + alt + del” to access the Window Task Manager. Click on the PROCESSES tab. This window will slow all the background processes. Select the application that you don’t need and click “End Process”. Do this with care as shutting down important applications will cause your PC to hang and all your unsaved data to be lost. Next, the right bottom panel of the window task bar shows the program running in the background. Right click on the icon and shut down the unused programs to free up the bandwidth.

These few tips should be sufficient to improve your PC performance. If the above techniques don’t work, then you might have to consider reformatting your PC or upgrading to a new system.