Overclock your XFX 680i motherboard for a free performance boost.
Overclocking is the process of accelerating default clock frequencies of devices such as motherboards, graphics cards and memory for enhanced performance speeds. As cooling and heat sink technology has advanced, overclocking has become a popular means of obtaining a performance boost for a computer without spending money on costly upgrades. Overclocking your XFX 680i motherboard on your Q6600 computer can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. A thorough knowledge of your computer's internal components is necessary to overclock successfully. Attempt this procedure only if you feel comfortable or have previous experience with overclocking.
Instructions
1. Restart your computer and press the "Delete" button on your keyboard during start-up to access the BIOS advanced configuration menu.
2. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate to "Advanced Chipset Features" located on the main menu of BIOS and press "Enter" to confirm your selection.
3. Navigate to "CPU Multiplier," press "Enter" and change the value by one increment--for example, from 4x to 5x. Navigate to "SLI-Ready Memory," press "Enter" and increase the value by an increment of one--for instance, from 1% to 2%. Press "F10" to save and press "Esc" to exit the menu.
4. Navigate to "Save and Exit" in the BIOS main menu page and press "Enter." Your computer will restart and implement your custom configuration.
5. Download and install Prime95, a free overclock testing tool. Close all unnecessary programs running in the background of your computer, such as Skype, by right-clicking on a black space on your desktop and selecting "Task Manager" from the options menu. Click on an unnecessary program to select it and click the "End Task" button to close it. Do this for all programs that aren't integral to running your computer.
6. Double-click on Prime95 to run the program. Click on the "Options" tab at the top of the Prime95 window and select "Torture Test" from the drop-down menu. Click the "Start" button to initiate the test. Run the test for at least 30 minutes. If no errors pop up and your computer doesn't freeze, click on the "Stop" button to end the test and restart your computer. Re-enter the BIOS configuration menu and repeat Steps 2 to 4. Close all unnecessary programs and run the Prime95 "Torture Test" again. If no errors pop up, repeat. Repeat this process until you acquire the optimum performance boost for your computer. If errors do pop up or your computer freezes while running the "Torture Test," restart your computer, enter BIOS and lower the values to the last stable performance level.
Tags: your computer, press Enter, performance boost, Torture Test, 680i motherboard, Close unnecessary