Overclocking

Fred

Overclocking is not a horrible idea or anything, as long as you dont overclock too much. You can ruin your processor by overclocking if you are not careful. It is probably not a good idea to overclock if the CPU fan is stock because overclocking makes the CPU run a bit hotter and a stock fan probably wont be able to handle the heat. About the case fans: If they are pushing plenty of air, it should be fine... But if they aren't moving much, it would be a good idea to get a little more high quality fans.

Waffle

I've managed to clock my 2.8 prescott up to 3ghz and can notice no extra performance, so I can't say its worth it from my experience. 2.8ghz is more than enough power for any program or game out there, so unless you really want to, there is no great benefit of doing so.

If you do, I would suggest getting a better heat sink fan other than the stock, and some high quality fans. Then just clock it up in amounts of around 5mhz at a time, don't over do it.

I'll put this in the right forum and if you read through this it will give ya a little more info.

Basic Over Clocking Guide

harrack52

First I'll tell you why your processor only runs at 1.5ghz. It actually is the right speed. What you have is a Sempron 2200+, not a 2.2 ghz processor, and if you look around, you'll see that its stock speed is in fact 1.5 ghz.
The fastest Socket A Sempron runs at 2.0 ghz (3000+). Even faster is the Socket 754 Sempron which runs at 1.8 ghz (3100+). This might be confusing, but AMD uses a relative scale to rate their processors, unlike Intel which uses, usually, the actual ghz their processors have.


Secondly, about overclocking. I'm not an expert in overclocking Intel processors, but I do suggest you get yourself a better heatsink and fan for your cpu. Something from Thermalright is what I recommend, you can buy some of their products @ Newegg .
As for the case fans, what's important to understand is that you need good airflow through the case. Which means you should have at least one fan at the front, which sucks air into the case, and one at the back which sucks it back out. Ideally, you will have two of each (80mm fans). Panaflo fans are quiet, reliable and efficient.
Also. to help airflow, it is imperative that there are no cables blocking the way, so you will probably need to open the case and re-route some of the cables, especially the IDE cables (the flat, grey cables).

Aside from that, the only way you can overclock an Intel cpu is by the FSB, because the multiplier is locked. I suggest you take it up in small increments (5mhz) and test each step for stability with programs like Prime95 and 3dMark. You should run Prime95 a few hours, making sure you don'T get any errors, because if you do, it means you went too far, and should back down before seriously damaging your cpu and/or other parts.
Be advised that there are several things that need to be taken into account. The main thing is the motherboard. ASrock isn't known for their highly overclockable products, so don't expect to get impressive numbers like the ones you see on different forums, including this one. You will also be limited by your RAM speed, if you stick to a 1:1 ratio. You will also be limited by your power supply, because the higher the speed, the more power it needs to work.
Also, it can be a good thing to crank the VCore of the cpu a notch or two to make it more stable at higher speed, but not too much because again, you could fry it.

Finally, be very aware that you can damage one or many parts when you do this, so get ready to fork out some cash if anything bad happens.

Those are the basics, but pushing hardware to the edge needs experience, patience and knowledge of the parts you are working with. The more compatible parts you have are with eachother, the higher the speed you can attain.