Overclocking AMD Athlon Processors – Playing With Speed
In the section on FAQs on its website, AMD categorically states that it does not endorse any activity that voids the warranty including over-clocking. So Over-clocking AMD Athlon Processors is a strict no-no. The same is reproduced below for the sake of the users with a caution to be careful as far as AMD products are concerned.
'Does AMD promote the practice of "over-clocking?"?'
AMD does not 'endorse' any activity that voids the warranty including over-clocking. Any modifications to the processor are done at the users' risk and such action may result in the voiding of the processor warranty.'
The implications of the above statement need to be understood in its proper perspective. If we carefully analyze the answer of AMD to the question regarding over-clocking, we would understand that AMD has not given a straight and simple answer, though the question is pointed and specific. The answer has dual implications.
By stating that 'AMD does not 'endorse' any activity that voids the warranty including over-clocking' AMD makes it clear that it does not any activity that voids the warranty. It can be any action on the part of the customer which would void the warranty. It need not necessarily be but can be over-clocking also.
Secondly by stating that that 'Any modifications to the processor are done at the users' risk and such action may result in the voiding of the processor warranty,' AMD washes its hands off and consequently if you had attempted to over-clock the system and you end up with a system failure, such action of over-clocking may render the processor warranty null and void and the loss if any will have to be borne by you and not by AMD. In such circumstances, over-clocking AMD Athlon Processors is not at all a good idea. What is over-clocking? In simple terms over-clocking is a technique of tweaking the system clock to make the central processing unit run faster than its originally intended speed. As we are aware any processor has a specific speed at which it runs. This speed of the processor is different for different types and models of processors. The unit of measuring the speed of a computer is Mega Hertz. But you may be wondering how over-clocking is possible since processors are designed to run at a particular speed. The fact of the matter is, the manufacturing process of the processors per se permits such leeway. It is like this: Processors are manufactured in bunches and series with a particular speed specification, but the manufacturing process has not yet evolved to an extent where the speed of a processor can be pinpointed with accuracy in advance. Therefore, once a particular series is produced they are tested on a test bed to find out the speed. For instance if the speed of the set of processors produced is expected to be, say, 600 MHz, then those processors which pass the test are labeled and sent for sale. Those which do not pass the test are tested for lower speeds and accordingly labeled. Thus there may be processors which were designed for 600 MHz speed but ultimately as they could not pass the test, had ended up in the market as a processor with a lesser speed. It is this difference between the original speed intended while manufacture and the ultimate speed the processor is labeled as capable of is what allows tweaking. How is over-clocking done? To Over-clock, three methods are followed: By replacing the crystal found in the clock generation circuitry by a crystal with a higher frequency
By changing the settings
By changing the configuration of the software. Over-clocking is a tricky proposition and hence is not advisable if you are not very familiar with the innards of a computer. For by resorting to over-clocking you may gain a small advantage but in case your over-clocking does not work then the loss will be substantial since AMD has very clearly stated that , 'Any modifications to the processor are done at the users' risk'. Now let us see what are the risks involved. Over-clocking AMD Athlon Processors is like stretching an elastic rubber-band. If you notice carefully you will find that the rubber-band can be stretched only to an extent, commonly referred to as the tensile strength. Once the level of stretching extends beyond the tensile strength, the rubber band breaks. The same analogy applies to clock frequency too. There is a limit to which a clock frequency can be tweaked. Beyond that, the system may fail - may be temporarily or permanently.
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