Is my P3 Locked?????

[3D_WARRIOR]

I read somewhere that Intel locks there P3 processor so they can't be overclocked. Please say it isn't so..........

P lll 800@880
P3B-F (Intel 440BX AGPset)
256 MB Ram (Cas 2 Micron)
Maxtor 27.3 HDD (ATA 66)@ 33 7200rpm
Hercules Prophet GTS 2 Pro (220/435)
SB Live Platinum 5.1
Netgear 10/100 Nic
Pioneer (16x) DVD Rom
Creative 4x4x24 CDRW
Westell Ext. DSL Modem
Microsoft Digital Speakers(Front)
Logitech Stereo Speakers(Rear)
Standard Keyboard
Microsoft Intellimouse/Optical
ME

[Tim-]

Yes, the PIII is locked- but that doesn't mean you can't overclock it. It means that you can't OC by changing the multiplier settings.

Intel chips are overclocked by increasing the Front Side Bus speed which is the clock generator that is multiplied by the on chip multiplier to a given CPU speed. A PIII-700 has a fixed 7x multiplier. At 100FSB x7 you get a 700 MHz CPU speed as per the design. At 133FSB (i.e. overclocked FSB) x7 you get a 933MHz CPU speed.

This is the reason that the "E" series PIII's are better overclockers than their "EB" (133FSB design) counterparts. When you start out at 133FSB it is much tougher to get a big gain with the fixed multiplier, plus motherboard stability becomes a major issue above 133FSB.

Starting at 100FSB you have 40 to 50MHz of range to play with on most motherboards, and a majority of this range is in stable operating conditions for many MB's.