Overclocking The Intel Pentium Pro
The Intel Pentium Pro still doesn't seem to be a popular CPU for overclocking. This is really not fair to the powerful PPro since this CPU works just as well as the Pentium for overclocking.
The first letdown seems to be the lack of any available motherboard for this CPU that runs at a 75 or 83 MHz bus speed. Hence you'll have to stick to the good old 50, 60 and 66 MHz settings. For the PPro the same methods are valid as for the Pentium - first try improving your bus speed.
A PPro150 or a PPro 180 doesn't deserve to run at the puny bus speed of 50 or 60 MHz. They are screaming to be overclocked to the 66 MHz bus speed and will reward you with a considerable performance increase and a high reliability.
| Pentium Pro at | 1st choice | 2nd choice |
|---|---|---|
| 150 MHz | 166 MHz @ 2.5 x 66 MHz | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| 180 MHz | 233 MHz @ 3.5 x 66 MHz | 200 MHz @ 3 x 66 MHz |
| 200 MHz | 266 MHz @ 4 x 66 MHz | 233 MHz @ 3.5 x 66 MHz |
I admit, that it will be tough, to get a PPro180 to 233 MHz and a PPro 200 to 266 MHz, but it's worth a try. The second choices however work out in most of the cases and the PPro 150 runs great at 166 MHz. The problem with the PPro is the difficulty to adjust things. Here the SoftMenuTM technology is a let down, because it wouldn't let you choose 233 or 266 MHz. You can't adjust the voltage either, because the motherboards adjusts it by itself or more by a VRM module. Nevertheless the PPro is a worthy overclockable CPU!
