Hi guys, it's me again.

I want to OC my Intel Pentium 4 2.4Ghz (Prescott), but it seems it's locked in the bios. My motherboard is an MSI P4MAM2-V series mobo.

Is it possible to Oc my cpu?

thanks

Hello Zeldascorn,

From my limited knowledge of overclocking, you can only do what the motherboard will allow you to do. You'll need to consult with the motherboard manual or contact MSI directly to find out what options are available to you.

I don't believe there is any way around the BIOS. They either include overclocking options, or don't. If the multipliers do show up in the BIOS, but are locked, there may be an option you have to change to open them up. But if the multipliers don't show up in the BIOS, I'm pretty sure there is nothing you can do about it except see if there is a BIOS update that includes overclocking options.

Hope that info helps you!

I don't believe it is possible The mutlipliers in P4's are hard-coded into the chip-- from what I've read
That's one of the reasons AMD chips are preferred by overclockers. OC is a whole 'nother world... good resources here:

Overclockers.com---Cool Links


You have an ATI radeon, yes?
I have had some performance gains when I am Gaming using this:

ATITool - Overclocking utility for ATI cards

Freeware
You can save the profiles-- for when you are gaming-- and when you are not-- saving wear and tear.

fair warning though-- be cautious-- you can overheat your video card using it...that's the trade off with overclocking-- you get faster performance-- but it beat's on your gear. Done carefully it's safe enough-- though it may shorten the life of some gear

Yes, I already have that tool and it really works and increased graphical performance a lot.

It's pity though i cannot OC my CPU. Anyway, thanks and i think I will buy sooner or later a new CPU. What would you recommend. I am a power user and a gamer as well.

That would depend greatly on how much you would have for a budget...as you probably know--- you can spend many thousands on a "Hot Rod" gaming PC. It's like buildind a hot rod car-- the more you spend --the faster it gets. I have seen photos of some really over-the-top rigs--but you don't want to know what they cost. ($10,000 US ?)
The locked mulitplier problem may have been removed in some of the newer P4's-- though I am not sure... I am low-key game type-- I have Halo-- and that's about as fast as I get
I prefer the design-troubleshooting end of things.

With the dual-core /quad-core intel chips out now-- perhaps OC becomes moot--the newer chips from intel are reputed to be miles ahead of any AMD without OC

many Overclocker/Gamer resources from this page:

Overclockers.com---Cool Links

EDIT

[H] Enthusiast - Newegg [H]oliday 2006 System Build Guide

According to this guide @ hardOCP-- the new intel dual and quad-core chips are overclockable--so I was correct.

In fact a lot of OC club members are starting to turn to Intel-- Blasphemy just a few years ago. They scoffed at Intel products for lack of tweakability. Not true now.

AMD is falling from favor in many ways--
Their chips are weak
Many are not happy they bought ATI--
Intel's chip's are smokin fast now.

in answer to that, all mainstream P4s have locked multipliers. except fort the extreme editions. I would reccomend a Dual Core Pentium D. I know newegg has a 3.2Ghz Presler for about $170. i would reccomend one of those. either that or a 3.4Ghz P4 that was on newegg also