GOING THE DISTANCE

Going The Distance
By: The Editor

How we over-clocked our AMD K6-2 3D Now! 333Mhz motherboard.

I know one thing at least when it comes to over-clocking - HEAT KILLS. So knowing this; I was cautious in looking into cooling options.

I know from building my office system that the clock settings are easily
manipulated, by using simple dip switch ON/OFF settings.

The Source
So I finally decided on a cooling system, and jetted over to www.motherboards.com to pick one up. They carry the ICEBERG peltier fan; they processed my order fairly quickly and I shortly received my fan.

The peltier fan has advanced cooling technology which acts like sitting a refrigerator on top of your CPU. It costs $45 for my model. Which is half the price of buying a replacement faster CPU.

Disclaimer
First a word of warning...
This may/will void your warning. Here are some other things to keep in mind if you are considering doing this for yourself:

*Overclocking is NOT recommended for PII or most Cyrix chipsets
*I don't recommend this for motherboards that don't have dip switches
*You shouldn't try this if you aren't experienced in PC repair
*Definitely don't even think of trying this without your motherboard manual!

Most systems are different, so as a disclaimer: Please try this at your own risk or don't try this at all.

The Review
(Courtesy Mr. Megabyte)

CPU cooler has a peltier junction which acts like a refrigerator
or air-conditioner for your CPU.

I am impressed by what you get for your money.

Most Peltiers are $50 - and only come with a small square peltier
barely big enough to cover your CPU - then have to be glued on.

This one is BIG - twice the size of my old fan.

PLUS the Iceberg includes a Fan - as big as the one in my case!
It makes for a BIG cpu attachment - but VERY high quality.

Uses heavy gauge wire AND included HEAT SINK COMPOUND!!!
Which is a white "goo" which you rub on the peltier or CPU
before attaching - which allows for better heat transference.

I don't mind Overclocking because:

My chip is a AMD - which is one of the lowest voltage and lowest
heating chips.

Unlike Cyrix and PII which could be used as a blow torch.

My motherboard allows only one small switch to be changed -
a Dip switch - which is easy to remember.

THAT'S IT - no reconfiguration - no tricky BIOS change - No
software hack.

Pure and Simple
Sure it puts extra work on your CPU - but at the rate these
things become obsolete - Who will care when this thing
is 300 MHZ BEHIND the times?

Also with the Peltier it CANT overheat.

Anyway I am over clocked, been running all day - Zero problems -
Not one HICCUP.

In fact our system is working BETTER than before.

Anyway here is what it is actually doing:

You paid for a 100MHZ bus motherboard right???
I sure did.

When you run at 333MHZ - Guess what -
The motherboard is only running at 83 Mhz.
NOW THAT'S NOT GOOD.
I'm getting ripped off almost 20MHZ from
my BUS I paid for.

When I flip that DIP switch - it forces the motherboard
to perform at 100Mhz bus. Which then the CPU has to
kick in a little more processing in order to compensate.

In Conclusion
Its like hot-rodding an engine - and as long as your engine can
take it - it will work FINE.

You can find more on Overclocking at System Optimization.