26 Great CPU Overclocking Tools in History

1The 26 greatest processor overclocking tools in history are listed

Before the 486 era, CPUs usually adopted a unified main frequency design. The CPU frequency was the motherboard frequency. There was no multiplier jumper on the motherboard, so the CPU at that time was not suitable for overclocking.

When the history came to the Celeron era, the most glorious era of overclocking finally arrived. Since then, one overclocking tool after another has come out, and one overclocking miracle after another has come to an end.

Early gamers would get excited about overclocking as if it were a string, and they would never get tired of it. When it came to Celeron 300A, Pentium III 500E, Tualatin, Patton, etc., they would count on their fingers and know them all by heart.

Nowadays, the DIY industry is not as good as before, and fewer people are playing overclocking. However, just like immortal veterans and heroes in their twilight years, our admiration for the old overclocking artifacts will not fade away with the passage of time.

Below, we will select 26 CPUs with super overclocking capabilities in the history of CPUs, dedicated to the glorious years that are no longer glorious, and dedicated to the trillions of DIY veterans who love overclocking...

A lot of material in this article comes from the well-known American technology blog site techspot, and we would like to express our gratitude here.

List of the 26 greatest overclocking tools in history:

2 486DX2/Pentium 3/Pentium MMX/Duron/Celeron 300A

Intel 486DX2-40

Released: March 1992
Default frequency: 40MHz / 50MHz
Overclocking range: 66MHz (~65%)

Intel's DX2 486 series processors, codenamed P24, introduced CPU multiplication for the first time, doubling the speed of the system bus, so the system bus frequency can be set and adjusted via motherboard jumpers or DIP switches. Overclocking range options include 20MHz, 25MHz, and 33MHz (40 and 50MHz modes were added later), and users can complete overclocking in a very convenient and quick way without having to replace or repair the clock crystal oscillator.

Intel 486DX2-40 (Image source: x86-guide)

Among them, the DX2-66 was priced at US$799 at the time, and the 486DX2-40 was priced at US$400. The former could increase the overclocking range to a greater extent, reaching 33MHz, while the latter was only 20MHz, but the latter was obviously more cost-effective.

Intel Pentium MMX 166

Release date: January 8, 1997
Default frequency: 166MHz
Overclocking range: 207-266MHz (~54%)

The Pentium MMX series has made significant improvements on the original Pentium, adding 16KB data cache and 16KB instruction cache on the chip, especially the newly added 57 MMX multimedia instructions. The Pentium MMX frequency includes three types: 166MHz, 200MHz, and 233MHz. The first-level cache has increased from 16KB of Pentium to 32KB. The core voltage is 2.8v, and the multipliers are 2.5, 3, and 3.5 respectively.

Intel Pentium MMX 166 (Image source: techspot)

Among them, the unlocked MXX 233 is the performance king of the series, but the price of $594 may make most users settle for the second best - the $407 MMX 166. This processor is a very cost-effective product. When paired with a 430TX motherboard, the front-end bus frequency can be increased from the default 75MHz to 225MHz (3X multiplier) or 266MHz (3.5X multiplier).

Intel Celeron 300A

Release date: August 24, 1998
Default frequency: 300MHz
Overclocking range: 375-504MHz (~55%)

If overclocking is a world of its own, then Intel Celeron 300A is a legend. Celeron 300A was the absolute first choice for overclockers in the mainstream market in the late 1990s. It could easily reach 450MHz. Although some motherboards limited the front-end bus speed to 83.3MHz, making Celeron 300A only overclockable to 375MHz at most, the FSB frequency of most motherboards on the market at that time could reach 103MHz, which means it could be overclocked to 464MHz.

Intel Celeron 300A (Image source: techspot)

Some high-quality motherboards can reach a front-end bus frequency of 112MHz, which is enough to make the Celeron 300A soar to 504MHz. It is also worth mentioning that the 300A does not need additional pressure when overclocked to 450MHz, and the processor is also equipped with L2 cache. The price of $149 is also acceptable to many builders.

Intel Pentium III 500E

Release date: October 25, 1999
Default frequency: 500MHz
Overclocking range: 667-775MHz (~50%)

Thanks to the more conservative packaging mode, the relatively low front-end bus frequency of 100MHz and the built-in L2 cache, the Pentium III 500E, code-named Coppermine, has an inherent overclocking potential. It is priced at only $239 and uses the Socket 370 interface, which can be compatible with the old Slot 1 motherboard through a converter.

Intel Pentium III 500E (Image source: techspot)

Just set the FSB front-end bus in the BIOS options to 133MHz, and the Pentium III 500E can easily reach 667MHz. If the motherboard is of good quality, it is not difficult to reach 750MHz (150 FSB) or even higher. The performance brought at this time is comparable to the Pentium III 800 which costs as much as $850. Of course, the architecture of the two is exactly the same.

Nevertheless, there are certain risks when overclocking the Pentium III 500E, as it requires the motherboard to support AGP and PCI clock division functions (1:2 and 1:4 respectively) in order to maintain the stability of other components and PC133 RAM during the processor overclocking process.

AMD Athlon 700 (Thunderbird) / Duron 600 (Spitfire)

Released: July 5, 2000 (Athlon 700) / June 19, 2000 (Duron 600)
Default frequency: 700MHz / 600MHz
Overclocking range: 770-900MHz (~12%) / 800-1000MHz (~59%)

The Athlon 700 with a Thunderbird core is the dream of a generation of overclockers. We know that due to some strategic needs, the voltage and multiplier of AMD's K7 product line are locked. But "unfortunately", overclockers soon discovered the overclocking secret of Athlon 700 - using a conductive pencil to bridge the cache levels to release wireless potential.

AMD Athlon 700 (Thunderbird)

Initially, using a conductive soft pencil or mercury pen to bridge the L3, L4 and L6 modules with L1 can unlock the multiplier, and bridging L7 with L1 can unlock the voltage, thus making the necessary preparations for overclocking.

Duron 600 (Spitfire)

AMD's EV6 system bus is very sensitive to overclocking, but with the lower default core voltage (1.5v), Duron's overclocking potential is also very large. The price of $112 makes Duron a synonym for low price and high performance for a long time.

3 Pentium 4/Athlon XP/Patton/Pentium D/Xeon LV

● Intel Pentium 4 1.6A / Celeron 2.0 (Northwood)

Released: January 7, 2002 (Pentium 4) / November 18, 2002 (Celeron 2.0)
Default frequency: 1.6GHz / 2.0GHz
Overclocking range: 2.4-2.8GHz (~48%) / 2.66-3GHz (~46%)

The Williamette processor, with its backward technology, high heat generation and low performance, is a nightmare for overclockers. Fortunately, the Northwood core processor arrived in time, allowing overclockers to experience the pleasure of overclocking again. The Pentium 4 with a higher frequency has obvious advantages over its competitor Athlon XP. The Pentium 4 1.6A is priced at only $125, with an FSB frequency of 100MHz. For overclockers, it is very easy to adjust the FSB to 150 to overclock the main frequency to 2.4GHz.

Intel Pentium 4 1.6A ( Image source: CPU-World )

In addition, thanks to the 20X frequency multiplier design, the Celeron, which debuted in September 2002, still has strong overclocking capabilities, although its overall performance is still limited by the 128KB L2 cache design. Celeron users can increase the voltage (adjust to 1.6V) to make it soar higher.

● AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (Thoroughbred-B)

Release date: June 10, 2002
Default frequency: 1.46GHz
Overclocking range: 2.2-2.5GHz (~44%)

Compared with its disappointing brother Thoroughbred-A, Thoroughbred-B (Athlon XP 1700+) which debuted in June 2002 was based on a more advanced 130nm process technology and had a higher core frequency, which was eye-catching. More importantly, Thoroughbred-B had good overclocking performance.

AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (Image source: Sysprofile.de)

Equipped with the nForce2 chipset, the XP 1700+ (1.46GHz) priced at only $60 can easily reach 2GHz at the default voltage. If the voltage is adjusted to 1.7V and the front-end bus is adjusted to 200MHz, the XP 1700+'s main frequency can reach 2.5GHz. This level is comparable to AMD's own flagship Athlon XP 2800+ priced at $397, and even shocked the Intel Pentium 4.

●AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ (Barton Mainstream 45W TDP)

Release date: March 12, 2003
Default frequency: 1.87GHz
Overclocking range: 2.4-2.7GHz (~32%)

The AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ based on the Barton core, with a thermal design power consumption of only 45W, has phenomenal overclocking capabilities. Players at the time used to call it Barton 2500+.

AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ (Image source: techspot)

It is worth mentioning that after the strong overclocking potential of Patton 2500+ was hyped by the public, its retail price increased from the original 75 US dollars to nearly 100 US dollars in just a few weeks. With a powerful nForce2 motherboard and excellent heat dissipation, if you are willing to adjust the voltage to 1.8V, Patton 2500+ can easily achieve 30%-40% overclocking performance.

●Intel Xeon LV 1.6 D1 revision (Prestonia)

Released: November 2003
Default frequency: 1.6GHz
Overclocking range: 2.6-3.2GHz (~63%)

In the past 10 years, dual-core processors have tended to have more stable overclocking capabilities. When the expensive QX9775 processor and Skulltrail motherboard became synonymous with overperformance, many high-end gamers preferred to choose the relatively cheap but powerful overclocking Xeon LV 1.6 processor.

Intel Xeon LV 1.6 D1 version (geocities.jp)

Xeon LV 1.6 is based on the Prestonia core. Compared with the Pentium 4 Northwood core, it has added SMP symmetric multi-processing structure and hyper-threading function. It is priced below US$200. By adjusting the FSB frequency, a net overclocking range of 2.6GHz can be easily achieved.

Of course, the overclocking capabilities of the Xeon LV 1.6 D1 version are far more than that.

●Intel Pentium D 820/D 805

Release date: May 26, 2005 (D 820) / December 2005 (D 805)
Default frequency: 2.8GHz / 2.66GHz
Overclocking range: 3.5-4.2GHz (~26%)

Pentium D 820 is a very special product, it is a dual-core processor in MCM package, but its price is cheaper than AMD's cheapest dual-core processor Athlon 64 X2, which is priced at $241, and even $30 cheaper than the single-core Athlon 64 3500+. Relatively speaking, the performance of Pentium D 820 is mediocre, unable to challenge AMD's Athlon dual-core processor, but with a good cooling system and proper voltage, its overclocking performance should not be underestimated.

Intel Pentium D 820 (Image source: municion.org)

In addition, for overclocking players with limited budget, the younger brother D 805, which only costs $129, is also a good choice. Although its system bus speed is reduced from 200MHz of its older brother to 133MHz, its 20x frequency multiplier design is enough to ensure the fun of overclocking.

In fact, for a long time, the combination of D805 processor + 945P motherboard + mainstream RAM has always been the best choice for a $500 installation budget.

4. Opteron/Kourou E6600/Q6600/Pentium E2140

●AMD Opteron 144 / 146 (K8 Venus)

     Release Date: August 2, 2005
Default frequency: 1.8GHz / 2.0GHz
Overclocking range: 2.5-3.0GHz (~63%)

Like AMD's Athlon 64 series processors, the Opteron 144 and 146, which use Socket 939 interface, are also based on the San Diego core and are priced at US$125 and US$183 respectively. However, the two brothers are obviously more cost-effective - with similar features, the Athlon 64 3700+ is priced at as high as US$329.

AMD Opteron 146 (Image source: techspot)

Like other locked-multiplier processors, the Opteron's capabilities depend on the performance of the motherboard it's paired with. However, the Opteron 144 and 146 can be overclocked without any impact, and in many countries, the Opteron 144, which is priced relatively low, has already arrived and is being quickly sold out.

●Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Release date: July 27, 2006
Default frequency: 2.4GHz
Overclocking range: 3.0-4.0GHz (~45%)

In July 2006, when Intel's new Conroe architecture was released, people's attention was focused on the unlocked X6800, but the cheapest E6600 with a full 4MB L2 cache stole the show. The E6600, which was priced at less than $200, was not as good as the E6700 that came out later, but it was already a threat to AMD's top-level Athlon series - Athlon 64s.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Image source: CPU-World)

With the original radiator, under the default voltage, the E6600 with a default main frequency of 2.4GHz can easily reach 3GHz. However, if a high-efficiency radiator is used and the motherboard stability is reliable, after adjusting the frequency of the front-end bus to 400MHz (the limit should be 450), the E6600 can be overclocked to 4GHz.

How can the E6600, which has such powerful overclocking performance, compare to the X6800 priced at $999 and the Athlon 64 FX-62 priced at $799?

●Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Revision

Release date: January 8, 2007 (B0 step) / July 22, 2007 (G0 step)
Default frequency: 2.4GHz
Overclocking range: 3.4-3.6GHz (~46%)

Core 2 Quad Q6600 is like an evergreen in the history of CPU. It has always been the overclocking king among quad-core processors and the best choice for mid-to-high-end gamers. Starting from January 2007, the price of Q6600, which was priced at $851, kept dropping. By May of the same year, its price had dropped to $530. Finally, in July, the G0 stepping version of Q6600 was launched at a very affordable price of $266.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 version (Image source: Wikipedia)

The price of the 2.4GHz G0 version of the Q6600 is almost the same as the recently released dual-core 3GHz E6850, but its performance is much higher. The G0 version of the Q6600 has lower power consumption, but its overclocking ability has been greatly increased. It can easily reach 3.6GHz with a little overclocking, and it can be even more powerful when paired with a top-level P35 motherboard.

●Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140/E2160

Release date: June 3, 2007
Default frequency: 1.6GHz(E2140) / 1.8GHz(E2160)
Overclocking range: 2.7-3.2GHz (~89%) / 2.9-3.5GHz (~92%)

The arrival of Intel's new E2000 not only heralded the end of the haze caused by the NetBurst version of Pentium D, but also replaced AMD and became the new overlord of the entry-level market. Although compared with the E4000 series, the E2000 series cache is halved and the system bus speed is only 200MHz, it perfectly inherited the overclocking gene of the "Kourou" series processors.

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 (Image source: Wikipedia)

Even with the original cooler, at the default voltage, the overclocking range of the E2000 series can easily exceed 50%. If paired with a top-level P965/P35 motherboard or a top-level Nvidia 650i SLI motherboard, the overclocking capability of the E2000 series processors will be even stronger, approaching 100%.

5 E8400/i7 920/Phenom II Black Box/i7 2600K

●Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 E0 Revision (Wolfdale-6M)

Release date: January 7, 2008 (version C0) / July 18, 2008 (version E0)
Default frequency: 3.0GHz
Overclocking range: 4.0-4.5GHz (~41%)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 E0 (Image source: Sysprofile.de)

In January 2008, the C0-stepped E8400 became an overclocking weapon in the mid-range market as soon as it was released. Five months later, the more powerful E0 version arrived as expected, and the E0 version of E8400 optimized the voltage design. It is understood that some C0-version E8400s have the potential to overclock to 4GHz, but the E0 version can reach the same level or even higher at the default voltage and original package cooler.

Intel Core i7 920

Release date: November 17, 2008
Default frequency: 2.67GHz (2.93GHz Turbo)
Overclocking range: 3.5-4.0GHz C0 version; 3.8-4.2GHz D0 version (~58%)

The new Nehalem architecture and X58 platform provide enough upgrade temptation for the long-standing Core 2+LGA 775 system. In terms of price, the highest-priced flagship i7 965 EE (1,000 US dollars) in the Nehalem series is one-third cheaper than the Core 2 QX9770, but it is still far from enough compared to the i7 920.

Intel Core i7 920 (Image source: Wikipedia)

The i7 920 with C0 stepping can easily exceed 3.6GHz under high voltage, and the next D0 stepping version is even more powerful, it can reach 4GHz at the default voltage of 1.26V, and even close to 4.5GHz at 1.5V, which is quite amazing. There is no doubt that the i7 920 is the most overclocked processor among all LGA 1366 socket processors.

●AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition (Callisto) / X4 955 Black Edition (Deneb)

Released: June 1, 2009 (X2 550 BE) / April 23, 2009 (X4 955 BE)
Default frequency: 3.1GHz / 3.2GHz
Overclocking range: 3.7-3.9GHz (~22%)

In the first few months of 2009, the release of the revised K10.5 architecture gave AMD a chance to recover. Among them, the emergence of black box processors with unlocked multipliers made overclocking more fun. The simultaneous development of Phenom II X2 550 black box version (Callisto) and X4 955 black box version allowed AMD to completely get out of the shadow brought by Core 2 Quad.

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition (Image source: techspot)

At the price of $100, if the two shielded cores can see the light of day again, the 550 Black Box Edition will be the pinnacle of the ultimate cost-effective masterpiece. In addition, the 955 BE, which is worth $245, also poses a certain threat to Intel's high-end X58 platform.

●Intel Core i7 2600K / Core i5 2500K

Release date: January 9, 2011
Default frequency: 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) / 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo)
Overclocking range: 4.6-5.0GHz (~49%)

Intel Core i7 2600K (Image source: techspot)

Intel Core i7 2600K and Core i5 2500K are the overclocking artifacts closest to us. It is said that they can be easily overclocked by 30-50%. I think many players have a deep understanding of this.

6 numbers read 26 great CPU overclocking tools and final summary

Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth. When the wheel of history crushes clear marks of time in the grooves of human memory, glory and shame are like the old ruts on the plateau. When they extend infinitely to the horizon of memory, those classics that cannot be hidden are slowly revealed before us.

Distribution by era

Overclocking Range Comparison

I believe that every gamer has his or her own overclocking hero in his or her heart. It's like the classic line from Stephen Chow: Do you think you can't be found if you hide? It's no use! A cool man like you is like a firefly in the dark, so bright and outstanding no matter where you are. Your melancholy eyes, sparse beard, amazing knife skills, and that glass of Dry Martine have deeply fascinated me.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.