with the removal of one resistor I could clock up my 733 MHz G4 processor to 800 MHz.
That may be true, but there is no guarantee that it will RUN at that frequency, especially if it has the on-board cache chips.
The processor chips of a given design made in a given week are expected to run at a range of frequencies. They are selected at test, sometimes while they are still on the wafer with dozens of others. The ones that pass the most stringent tests are packaged as the fastest parts. The ones that run Ok but slower are packaged as slower parts. The ones that don't pass the slowest acceptable test are discarded.
So the parts you have MAY have passed their test by a lot, or they may have just squeaked by.
When you overclock your processor module, you are running all the parts faster than the manufacturer was willing to warranty them for. Sometimes they will run much faster, and sometimes they will not run one bit faster than their rated speed. Sometimes running them too fast will cause them to overheat and malfunction, or overheat and burn out.
If you are doing this for fun on a Mac you can afford to lose for a while, it can be really interesting. If you are doing this to get more processor speed, you are making a serious mistake. Think instead about buying a faster processor, more RAM memory, a faster hard drive, or a newer old Mac with all of the above.
If your Mac later becomes flaky for any reason, you will have to suspect that the overclocking you did might have something to do with it. You lose your "sleep-at-night" factor.
This is one small page on a huge site that provides a support community for system modifications, user upgrades, and similar stuff:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/quicksilver733_overclock.html
WARNING: DO NOT run any G4 or faster processor without its Heat sink installed. It can self-destruct if you do.
Message was edited by: Grant Bennet-Alder
