Overclocking and clock multiplier are two terms used for the central processing unit ratio, or CPU ratio, of a microprocessor, and the E8500 is no exception. It is officially known as the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 and released by semiconductor company Intel Corp. in 2008. Made for installation on desktop PCs, the E8500 is a dual-core computer chip, meaning that it consists of two processing units. The terms "overclocking" and "multiplier" are related to each other, although they have different meanings.
CPU Ratio
The Intel Core 2 Duo E8500's CPU ratio - Intel calls it the bus/core ratio -- stands for the ratio of its speed compared with that of the computer's system bus. The E8500 has a certain speed at which it performs the desktop PC's fundamental operations; this is referred to as the clock speed. The system bus interface is responsible for connecting the processor with other parts of the PC such as RAM, or random-access memory - also done at a certain speed.
Multiplier
The E8500 surpasses the speed of the system bus by synchronizing with the interface; the computer chip's clock speed is 3.16 gigahertz. The Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 accomplishes this by using a multiplier, which is also referred to as the clock multiplier. Thus, it multiplies the system bus speed by a certain number. The E8500 has a multiplier of 9.5. That means that the CPU ratio, or bus/core ratio, will be written as 1/9.5.
System Bus Speed
Thus, to figure out the system bus rate, the Intel Core 2 Duo clock speed must be divided by its multiplier. In megahertz, 3.16 GHz translates to around 3,160 MHz. Dividing the latter by 9.5 yields a system bus speed of 333 MHz.
Overclock
Users can even increase the multiplier of the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500, which means that the CPU radio would be wider and the clock rate would be increase. This process is known as overclocking, and performance enthusiasts such as PC gamers rely on it to boost the overall performance of their gaming experiences. However, the option to overclock the multiplier - and by extension, the clock speed - depends on whether the desktop PC on which the E8500 is installed supports it via its basic input/output system (BIOS) menu.
Tags: Intel Core, clock speed, Core E8500, Intel Core E8500, certain speed