Re: On Overclocking - READ THIS!

Nelson Minar (nelson@media.mit.edu)
Tue, 6 May 1997 22:57:55 -0400

This is ridiculous. Obviously overclocking can introduce random errors
in a CPU. We all know that. I guess there's a question about whether
it can introduce an error subtle enough that the machine looks to be
functioning normally but in one crucial case (say, finding the actual
key) fails. It sounds to me like Andrew Meggs has a good example.

The big question is whether those errors will be significant to the
computation. It is worth thinking about what random failures mean to a
huge computation like deschall. Other parts of computers flake out:
memories fail (especially if you don't have parity or ECC), a register
could get hit by a cosmic ray, etc. Anyone care to estimate the number
of random bit errors that will occur over 2000 years of PPro 200
computation?

I'm somewhat reassured that deschall does a selftest.