Ane of the perks of owning a PC is the ability to go more performance out of your hardware through a variety of tweaks. And one of the best tweaks that yous can do is overclocking your CPU.

That said, manual overclocking is a mammoth chore if you accept never done it before. Thankfully, tools like the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU) make the process a lot easier. Allow's see how you can apply Intel XTU to overclock your CPU and gain some free performance.

Things to Consider Before Overclocking

Overclocking is the process by which you increase the CPU frequency beyond the standard, manufacturer-decided frequency. In other words, by overclocking the CPU, you are assuming the risk of general system instability and even component decease.

So, before you jump head-first and put a massive overclock on the processor, brand sure yous know the risks and how to minimize them. And one of the steps that you tin can take to safeguard your CPU is to invest in better cooling.

When yous increment the CPU frequency, the CPU draws in more power. And more than power equals more heat generation. If your cooler is not good enough, this excess heat volition cause your CPU to thermal throttle, reducing its performance. And if the cooler is severely limited, the organisation will eventually close down to protect the components.

The second matter you need for overclocking is a CPU that has an unlocked frequency. CPU manufacturers similar Intel lock the frequency of some models of their lineup for added stability.

Finally, y'all volition as well demand a motherboard that supports overclocking. Got all of these down? Not bad, now you are ready for some overclocking activity.

Download and Install Intel XTU

The start matter you need to exercise is download Intel XTU and install it. So, go to the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility webpage, check if your CPU is supported under the list of supported CPUs, and download the installer if the CPU checks out. Next, install Intel XTU from the setup you only downloaded.

Perform the Start Base Benchmark

Subsequently installing Intel XTU, you should run an initial criterion to gauge the overall performance of your computer. You volition utilise the results of this benchmark as a reference to see how much functioning increase you reach after overclocking. To do this, open Intel XTU, and navigate to the Benchmarking tab and click on Run XTU Benchmark.

Intel XTU Benchmarking tab

Run the criterion a couple of times and note the average score to get a more authentic motion-picture show of the situation. After the criterion finishes running, you should note down the score somewhere for later utilise.

Overclocking the CPU

Intel XTU provides options for both amateur and experienced overclockers. We are only going to cover the Bones Tuning option as it is piece of cake to use and is more than enough to put a respectable overclock on the CPU.

The first matter we are going to do is adjust the Processor Cadre Ratio and increase the multiplier. All CPUs come with a base clock for every core on the chip. This base clock is in the "MHz", and so not a lot.

The concluding CPU frequency is the event of this base clock forth with the multiplier put on top of it. For instance, if the base clock of a processor core is 100MHz putting an x40 multiplier on height would issue in 4000MHz or iv.0GHz frequency. Then, conform the Processor Cadre Ratio slider and increase the multiplier by 1x. Apply the changes, and reboot your computer.

Intel XTU Basic Tuning tab

If your computer boots up fine, run the criterion as y'all did before, and compare the score with the pre-overclocking score. If you see an improvement, then the overclock has worked and you tin proceed increasing the multiplier by 1x to examination further.

If you see no improvements, your CPU is likely performing its best and you tin can tweak other parts of your calculator for a performance bump. Ane other overclock that you can perform in the Basic Tuning section is adjusting the Processor Cache Ratio. A CPU cache is an ultra-fast retentivity that bridges the speed gap between the processor and the RAM. And so, if the enshroud is non performing at its optimal, it will reduce your computer's overall functioning.Therefore, increasing the Processor Cache Ratio multiplier is crucial when you are overclocking your CPU.

Ideally, you desire to continue the Processor Core Ratio and the Processor Cache Ratio multipliers at the same level. So, adjust the Processor Cache Ratio slider, save the settings, and reboot your estimator. Finally, run the criterion to run across if you notice any performance improvements. Repeat the process until you hit a roadblock like your computer not booting up, stutters, or other stability issues.

Ironing Out Stability Issues

If your PC boots up but turns off after a while, your PC is possibly experiencing an overheating problem. In this case, you tin either decrease the overclock settings or go a better cooling solution to solve the trouble.

If, on the other hand, your PC boots up fine but stutters a lot, the CPU might not have sufficient power to run. To solve this, go to the Avant-garde Tuning tab inside Intel XTU and adjust the Core Voltage Showtime slider. Remember to limit the voltage changes to 0.05V at a time.

Intel XTU Advanced Tuning tab

Afterwards, salvage the changes, reboot the organisation, and see if they're no more stutters. Echo the process more than once if necessary.

Test Long-Term System Stability Afterwards Overclocking

After overclocking, yous must test the long-term usability of your computer. Because benchmarks that simply button the system for a couple of minutes don't simulate extended workloads, you will need to run longer benchmarks to simulate a real-globe use-case.

You tin can run long benchmarks inside the Intel XTU's Stress Exam tab. So, run a benchmark for 30 or more than minutes. Such an extended benchmark will be indictive of sustained workloads like video rendering or playing games. Come across if everything works as it should.

Intel XTU Stress Test tab

If everything works ordinarily, and then your overclocking efforts have bore fruit. At present, see if the games you play have increased frame rates. After all, almost of united states do information technology for games, don't we?

Clocking Into Overclocking

Overclocking your PC tin can be an intimidating job, simply with a niggling bit of know-how and some clever tweaking, you tin squeeze out every last drib of performance from your PC. And now that you lot take an overclocked PC on your hands, why non cheque out how high you can go your frame rates now?

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About The Author

Fawad Murtaza (106 Articles Published)

Fawad is a full-fourth dimension freelance writer. He loves technology and food. When he is not eating or writing about Windows, he is either playing video games or daydreaming most traveling.

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