Overclocking a old PC.

Over clocking that computer if it allows the OP to do that IMHO will do nothing but create more heat. While its creating heat it will just shut down. It's got more bottle necks than a case of bottle beer.

It can be overclocked.. if the bios supports it, but you would only be able to get about 1.9 GHz max from it.

It's not as old as I thought, but still workable..If you raise the FSB clock to about 125 MHz (maybe 133 at the most) and the vCore to about 1.9v you might get about 1.9, maybe 2GHz but that's about as far as you can safely go with it. I would strongly recommend raising each setting in the smallest increments possible then testing for stablity, but don't try any higher setting that that, as the IDE clock is determined by the CPU clock and that is your main bottleneck. If it were a Northwood, you'd be in better shape, but all of those old P4s have locked multipliers, which really limits what you can do. One thing to warn you about, the willamette P4s run hot, so if you are able to OC, watch your temps very closely

If you do decide to over clock please monitor the temperatures. With stock cooling you could be making a toaster.

Hondajt said:

How much money do you want to spend? The stock cooler will not be able to handle much. An inexpensive $25 aftermarket CPU cooler can do a much better job, and allow for a higher overclock.

Also, I think you can do more than what they are saying. I bet you could get 2.2 out of that. The FSB is probably the only real tool you have to overclock, so increase that and watch your temp's! Raising the voltage is fine, those things are beasts, but do be careful. If you really want more info, there are forums actually dedicated to overclocking.

Actually, it's impossible to get more than about 1.9 - 2.0 GHz out of a 1.6 GHz Willamette, even if you used liquid nitrogen cooling, because as I said before the CPU clock determines the IDE clock, and if that goes too high, you get all sorts of BSODs, if the system will even start. As a matter of fact, most other overclockers who have had experience with the 1.6 Willamette recommend not going over a 10-15% overclock because it will cause the southbridge to overheat. It would be in fact be cheaper to find a Northwood and use a much higher starting point before overclocking than improve the cooling capacity enough get anywhere significant with the 1.6 Willamette