Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

OWC: Plug & Play Hardware RAID up to 8.0TB. High Performance, Data Redundant Solutions. FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB2, or eSATA. Hot Swappable Bays, Data Rates over 200MB/s. Click here

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Daniel's Advice

Introduction to Overclocking Your Mac

Evan Kleiman - 2002.06.24

Short link: http://bit.ly/17U9zk

One of the most common complaints computer owners have is that their computer is too slow. Unless you own a shiny new G4, you have probably had this complaint in one form or another throughout daily use of your computer.

Most people know of all of the RAM upgrades and daughter cards, etc., that you can add inside your computer to speed it up a little (or a lot). But all these upgrades cost enough money to even make Bill Gates sick, so what is the person with a slow computer and not a lot of cash supposed to do?

Today I'll tell you a about an almost free and rather easy option if you fit into this group - overclocking.

Over clocking is literally setting your processor, whether it is 45 MHz or 900 MHz, to a higher clock speed. Many Macs, as well as other computers, are able to be overclocked. However, some are easier to overclock than others - we'll get to that later.

Basically, overclocking works by tricking the processor into using more power and operating at a higher frequency (or "clock setting") thus the term, "overclocking."

This seems good, but since the whole world isn't overclocking, there has to be some risk involved. And, of course, there is. Since overclocking makes a processor designed to operate at 350 MHz, for example, run at 450 MHz, more power is consumed, and much more heat is generated. Many times people will need to add an additional fan or heat sink (the metal thingy usually sticking up inside your computer, on top of your processor) inside the computer. If the computer overheats, it will not function.

However, under most conditions, as long as you keep the overclocking to under a 15% boost, you won't need to change anything else inside of your computer. In some other cases, stability becomes problem, but as long as you keep the boost low, you won't have to worry about that either.

Okay, now that I've probably bored you with the usual large introduction and warnings of great destruction of your computer, here's the good part.

How exactly do you overclock?

Over clocking can be done relatively easily in many computers (in fact, the Yosemite G3 actually has a box right Yosemite designnext to the processor to adjust the processor settings). However, some computers aren't adjusted as easily. All models of computers are different, and some cannot be overclocked at all.

By now you've probably realized that overclocking isn't really for everyone, but if you've decided it's for you, now it's time to open it up and see what you can do!

Two great places to start are Accelerate Your Mac! and Bare Feats, not to mention Low End Mac's Chipping the Mac index.

Now get out there and start overclocking!

Next time: overclocking the blue and white G3. LEM

Not sure if you should upgrade your old Mac or replace it? Check the Mac Daniel index to see if we've already addressed your problem.

Recent Mac Daniel columns

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.