Can overclocking a processor increase it's multitasking ability?

Question

Overclocking increases a cpu's ability to multitask or the speed which it operates?

Answer 1

It increases the speed at which it operates, which can give you a performance increase while multitasking. However, overclocking is risky and can fry your CPU, if you want better multitasking performance, I suggest a RAM upgrade. It is far easier, safer, and will not void your warranty.

Answer 2

multitask - no, not one bit. it can improve the speed however and at the same time shorten the life of the CPU due to increased heat.

Answer 3

What person # 1 is talking about for a RAM upgrade is a mix of the following.

(1) Find out how much memory your computer can take at a maximum. Usuallly most newer laptops are limited to either 2Gb or 4Gb of RAM, whereas desktops can easily take a lot more.
(2) Find out the recommended speed of RAM and the RAM configuration information from the motherboard specifications.
(3) See how much RAM your video card is using up. In many newer systems that have hyperthreaded system models, the graphics card may use up to 512Mb of your system memory. This is particularly true of many laptops.
(4) Make a note of what operating system you are running. If anything earlier than Windows XP, then you may have problems with 512Mb, 1Gb, 1.5Gb or 2Gb of RAM. Double check the limits of your software and see what the maximum your software can use.

If you are using Windows XP, you want to try to get as close to 2Gb of RAM as you can. If you can put in more, then put in up to 4Gb of RAM.

If you are using Windows Vista, then you want to reach 8Gb of RAM, and if you can, put in 16Gb or 32Gb of RAM into your computer.

If you are using Linux, you can put in any amount of RAM you want as the maximum.

If you are using MAC OS/X, doublecheck the limits for your RAM, some versions have limits around the 2Gb or 4Gb mark, other versions are practically unlimited.
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Now that you know how much RAM your OS needs to run at the maximum, add on how much RAM your graphic card is going to eat up, and then take that total amount and see if you can install that much RAM into your computer, or as close to it as you can get.

Take that final figure, and see what configuration your computer requires the memory sticks to be in - sometimes they require matching memory sizes in certain memory slots, other times it will accept mis-matched sizes. Overall most computers have additional hardware speedups built in if you have matching memory stick sizes as well.

Now that you have the final APPROVED memory size to use, check out the speed ratings of the memory it wants. Try to find memory sticks in the same configruation but that have either a speed rating one step higher than they specify, or even see what is the top of the line speed rating memory for that type of memory. Modern memories are called DDR or DDR2 memory - you cannot mix the two types - if it takes DDR memory, only search for DDR memory, if it takes DDR2 memory, only search for DDR2 memory. And remember that laptop memory is different than desktop memory.

Finally, look at the wait states for the memory you find. Find memory with wait states as close to zero as you can. You can usually find memory with 3, 2.5 or 2 wait states for a reasonable price. If you truly want 1.5, 1 or 0.5 wait state memory, you will have to special order it at an extremely expensive premium.

The more memory you have, the less likely the operating system is to be using the disk cache for any operations, and the faster the memory is, the faster it will operate in general. You can usually get about a 200% to 400% speed increase out of most Windows machines by maximizing the memory for the OS to use.