VII. Trick [f]or Treat

_{Update: Added November 22, 2006}

This one is just a neato trick I found accidentally when I was tweaking the bad ass Conroe Extreme, playing with bootstrap and whatnots. This is about tricking a CPU with 266MHz FSB (1066MHz PSB QPB) such as all the current E6xxx Conroe into booting with 333MHz FSB (1333MHz PSB QPB) overclocking it easily. I have tested this with a 1441 BIOS but I haven't tested it from any other BIOS so you may want to consider this before doing the trick.

Of course, this isn't as elegant as having Conroe Extreme, which when placed in the Bad Axe allows the manual tweaking of the bootstrap, and this is also not as volatile as the step I mentioned in section "IV. Bootstrap Frenzy, Leap-style Overclock" of this article but this is also not as dangerous. However, unlike what I described in that section, this trick only works if you have a CPU that opens up the bootstrap (i.e. Conroe XE or Kentsfield XE) before placing a CPU that doesn't allow such as regular E6xxx series.

Well, I see eyebrows raising, why would anyone who have an Extreme even try to bother with E6xxx anyway right? Why would anyone do that or would even want to do that? Well, that's why I said this is a lot safer because there is no hard modding (i.e. no physical change on the mobo) and no software modding (no need to use ITK which is permanent settings in BIOS). And this is also where this trick is easy to push back to default, just boot in "maintenance mode" and then load the Optimal Default and your overclock will be gone. You'll have to use the Extreme CPU again to be able to change the bootstrap again.

So how does it work? Simple, just plug in a CPU that allows FSB Bootrap alteration and change the boostrap settings from default to 1333 and you're done. Power down your system, remove power from the electrical outlet and plug in a new CPU such as E6300 and wollah, instant overclock. From here on, your base FSB is 333MHz so be careful with your memory since on 1:1, it will be running at DDR2-667MHz. Your 50% headroom is also higher, because the 333MHz is your new baseline FSB to compute the increased FSB. Imagine, from 266MHz (50% of which is 133MHz), you can only reach 399MHz FSB., but with 333MHz, your BIOS OC ceiling will be 499MHz. Enjoy...