Multiplier

From TheBestCaseScenario

The CPU Multiplier is not usually a main part in overclocking, most of the time people just up the Front Side Bus (FSB).

On most processors now (except high-end expensive ones) the Multiplier is locked at a certain number this means it cannot go above it's original, but it can be lowered.

For example, if the FSB is 333 MHz and the CPU multiplier is 9x, then the processor would run at 2997Mhz, that is shown in GHz because it is over 1000 so it would be 2.99GHz (3GHz). Channing that multiplier to a number such as 10, allows the CPU to jump upto 3.33GHz. And so on although as the Multiplier is locked usually people use it to increase the FSB even more so they can have a multiplier at 8x not 9x and change the FSB to 375MHz they still have the processor running at 3GHz. Some times having a faster FSB can increase performance as it makes quicker connections to other hardware.