Chip architecture...

I have heard a rumor from Bit Tech hardware 13 podcast that Intel are thinking of setting up the chip in such a way that FSB clocking will not work.
This comes on the back of the 'k' series intel chips out now/soon that have the multiplier unlocked. This was only seen on the extreme edition processors.
I think the 'k' series chips will have limited appeal due to the ease of clocking using FSB. Maybe ok if you don't have a clockers board but if it's a cheap budget board then clocking is probably a bad idea anyway. Power regulators tend to go pop.
Click here for 'k' series review conclusion.

Interesting, I can see why Intel might consider making their CPU’s more easily clockable, to them its got to be a selling point, overclockers have been calling for it for years, so really I’m all for it, but, and I think it’s a big but, to stop the ability of overclocking the FSB I’m not for.

Overclock with the FSB you speed up more than just the CPU, i.e. memory bus and font side bus, as long as you know what you are doing, that way you end up with a faster PC than one clocked by the multiplier, given the same MHz clock speed.

Clocking with the multiplier is also going to be done in large steps, a few hundred MHz at a time, where as on a decent mobo it can be done by as little as 1 Mhz steps.

Intel should unlock the multiplier and leave alone the FSB, then a clocker can have hours of fun finding the sweet spot of his CPU, first with the maximum multiplier it will do and then fine tuning with the FSB. Or maybe increase the multiplier by one and see how far it will go with the FSB.


I think you make a good point about cheaper motherboards that cant really handle the power requirements of a clocked CPU going pop. Some surely will 

My thoughts 

  I'd read a few weeks ago that intel was unlocking some of it's processors,  not big on overclocking so don't really care.  Since the six core processor Intel has uses the 1366 I think it will be around, because of the price the sales may be low.
  I like the capability of handling 130 W.  To me it's a little similar to a transistor without a heat sink, say it can handle 10 W,  connect it to a large heat sink and it can handle 75 W.
Carl2

Thanks for that Carl2, interesting too, I always use Gigabyte boards these days and personally I think they are among the best boards around, its good to see they are still at the forefront. 

Used Intel boards a few times, like you say, they do seem to be rock solid, I found them very fast booting too, great boards, unless you want to clock your PC, they aren’t really the ones for that.

Seen many makes of motherboards go wrong ,always a bad one in the bunch kind of thing. For me I would be looking at a Gigabyte board for my next build and for the PC’s I build people Gigabyte boards tend to suit their price rang better and have been very reliable, I remember one going wrong but that was an older VIA chipset board.   

  The Intel Sandy Bridge is being sold at Newegg, it seems to be a reasonable price for the latest and greatest.  I think it is a 95 watt processor, I still like the 130 watts,  helps keep you warm in the winter.  I probably don't go anywhere near 130 W's, probably stays close to Idle power.
Carl2