Any potential problem with using half clock multiplier vs. full clock?

[GundamF91]

I heard somewhere to beware of using half clock vs. full clock multiplier, as half clock has more impact to system performance and stability. For example, aside from issues of additional heat to CPU, setting FID multiplier to 12.5x rather than 12x can affect RAM performance. So full clock multiplier should be favored over half clocks.

Is there any truth to this?

 

[ShawnD1]

Don't most processors have a locked multiplier? There is usually a lot of buzz around processors where the multiplier is unlocked, and I haven't heard any of that lately. Late one I remember was the mobile barton core, and that was probably 3 years ago.

 

[996GT2]

The new Athlon X2 65nm chips are 1/2 multiplier chips, and performance doesn't seem any different from the whole-number multiplier chips in the rest of the Athlon range. If anything, the new Brisbane X2s seem to overclock better than the 90nm Athlon X2s.

To Shawn, CPUs these days are usually not bottom-locked. That is, even if you have a chip with a 12.5x multi, you can set it to 12x, 11.5x, 11x, etc in the BIOS. The very high-end chips are unlocked both ways, so you could set the multiplier to something like 13 or 14x for an easy OC without messing with the FSB or HTT.