On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 07:41 -0500, Aaron Konstam wrote: > On Mon, 2007-07-23 at 18:27 -0700, Vicki and Dave Stevenson wrote: > > Unfortunately I didn't have much chance to work on this over the > > weekend, but it was so encouraging to hear from all of you. Thanks > > Chris, Andy, Stan, Jim and Willem for your suggestions. > > > > I managed to update the BIOS (which was several revs old - ver 0502 to > > ver 1001), and that seemed to be enough to get me past the sticking point: > > running /sbin/loader > > > > and the installation is proceeding. How lovely it feels to be asked what > > language I speak! > > > > I have some questions about some bios settings: > > > > 1) CPU Frequency > > The default value is 200MHz, and the max is 400MHz. The BIOS utility > > allows any integral value between those points [200, 201, ... 400]. If I > > set to 400MHz, is that what is referred to as overclocking? > > > > Are there risks associated with this? > > > I have never seen a BIOS with this feature, but overclocking has dangers > such as burning up your cpu. Have you no idea what the cpu clocking > speed is supposed to be? The simple answer is that yes, there are risks with overclocking, that is running the cpu faster than its designated speed. The reasons are multiple, from the fact that the cpu may not always perform correctly because of internal conditions not having time to settle, to board interface issues, to interrupt latency issues (where interrupts are serviced so quickly the motherboard doesn't have time to clear the bits), and finally the heating of a cpu is based on duty cycle, expressed as (risetime/clockspeed)*v^2, where risetime is limited by the physics of the cpu and motherboard design, so it is relatively fixed, and the heating factor is dependent on the square of the voltage (power formula) This is why modern processors run at 3.3 and lower voltages rather than 5. So in short if you clock it faster, it heats up more, and heat kills electronics components, especially processors. Basically, it is hotrodding the computer, so don't do it unless you can afford the consequences. Especially don't do it on your company cpu. It will most likely violate your employment agreement, and make you responsible for the cost of replacing the cpu and other components. Regards, Les H
