I have heard about this for some time now but have never been able to figure out how to do it, and have’t had the time to research. I would like to know if it makes a noticable difference in speed and if it would be worth doing. If so, how do I do it?
Thanks,
TraceR
It’s risky (might fry your processor) but usually does provide a good deal extra speed. The way you do it varies from processor-processor, usually involves twiddling mobo jumpers, soldering things, and bashing your bios. Look for a tut 
Unless you have a water-cooling heatsink or something, any noticable increase in speed would be more than made up for in the decreased lifespan of your CPU. If you want your processor to last, I wouldn’t suggest overclocking it.
agreed.
Well, I’m saving up for a supercomputer and so I’m just looking for something to tid me over untill I get it (which will be a while at this rate). I’m probably going to build my own when I get the money. 
Get an AMD processor they are much cheaper than intels, so if does decide to detonate its only gonna cost ya 50 to 80 quid to get a new one, I used to have(lol) a AMD 2600+ clocked to 3100+ but after a new mother board installation my PSU decide to cough and die, shorting my MOBO and processor at the same time 
this is not something to try if you haven’t got the time to put in a good amount of research and risk.
And by the way, this is something I have been meaning to post here. Everyone knows about the AMD 64 processors. My friend was trying to get me to buy a mac said that the Macs have 64 processors AND 64bit Motherboards, while windows has the 64AMD’s but no 64bit motherboard to run them on. So buying a AMD 64 would be pointless. He said once we did get a 64bit MOBO, Microsoft would have to make a new 64 OS because you wouldn’t be able to use a 64bit MOBO with a 32bit OS. IS THIS TRUE?
Well, there IS a windows xp 64-bit edition…
I would probably say that the motherboard doesn’t need to be 64-bit, but i could be wrong.
Pooba
U sure about that xp edition pooba? I’ll look into it. Does it cost a lot?
I wouldnt use XP 64-bit version, It has lots of the features of the 32 bit version ripped out, not to mention its poor stability and questionable compatabilty with other OS’s, just wait for 64-bit storm to clear than make choice, to be honest there are not that many 64-bit app’s out there yet at the moment, I would wait for longhorn, or use other OS’s
I could just get a 3.2GHZ Intel… 
KK, so first off, the thing about the motherboard - motherboard busses come in a variaty of widths - there is the 32 bit PCI bus, and the 32/64/128 bit memory bus, and the serial PCI-eX bus…
My advise at this stage is to get an athlon64 and a motherboard with rudimentry PCI-express. Athlons are about 15-20% cheaper for the same performance, or alternatively give more performance for the same price. If you don’t want to go with linux, 32bit windows XP works fine on an athlon64 (they can run in both 32 and 64 bit modes), and when a real windowsXP 64bit edition comes out, you just have to update your binaries, and switch to native 64 bit mode in the bios. (note that even in 32 bit mode, they are faster than intel for the same price, mainly due to hypertransport and the on-chip memory controller.)
Oh ok, thanks bob. So a AMD64 can run on a 32bit MOBO and still be speedy?
I have one like that. And I’m very happy with it. Just got it and realised that Blender can grab an object real-time 
I have one like that. And I’m very happy with it. Just got it and realised that Blender can grab an object real-time :D[/quote]
What do you mean?
Building your own is a good idea. It saves you the stupid costs that most companies charge. I built mine and although it’s just a P2 it works like a P3 with the modifications and enhancements. I reccomend NOT overclocking your proccessor unless you have a serious cooling system installed in that. I mean a fan everywhere and a few heat sinks. If you get a good processor in the first place though you really don’t have to overclock it, so build your own. If you need advice or anything I can help.
Yeah oveclocking, my computer is 2.o ghz, and the package says it can be overclocked up to 2,8 or 3 ghz. No way I do that, because the lifespan of the processor will get f…ked up :-? Overclocking is in my opinion a feature to temporary speed your system up for coding calculations and aftherwards put it back to it’s orginal settings.
Yeah I agree, even if a 2.0 can become a 3.0 It’s a bad idea. A 25 year life span can become 1 year easy!
Just use loads of slower computers in parallel. That’s what universities do. Not too long ago there was a thing about 1100 G5s used to make the world’s 3rd fastest supercomputer. Relatively cheap at only a few million dollars. Of course you wouldn’t need that many.
It’s not so much about clock speed anyway so much as data throughput. You should analyse your system and see where it might have bottlenecks. Maybe getting faster Ram or more Ram would make your system faster than overclocking.
Also, cooling mechanisms on your current setup will help your computer as well as using really well optimised software for your particular setup.