only stable when overclocked?

[fataldreams]

Let me start off by saying that it's already hot as hell where I live.. and even hotter in my bedroom. Earlier this afternoon (room temp. was probably 105°F), I went to install Office 2000 at the stock speed of my Athlon (which is 750MHz). I couldn't do so, because it was too hot, and locked up. I'm now running it at 910MHz, and it was easily able to install, with even higher temperatures than it was hitting at 750. The same goes for games. I can play Unreal Tournament for hours at 910MHz, and won't have any problems. But if I try to run it at 750, it'll lock up.

Why is it that I can run it overclocked and be what, in my mind, is stable (stable to me is being able to do just the things I need and want my computer for), and NOT be able to run it stable at stock speed?

 

[BuddyHolly]

Damn, it sure is hot in California..
Strange problem. I had an old 300a Celeron that did that. I ran it overclocked for a month or two, and it would no longer run stock speed without problems. I assumed I had somehow "set" something in the cpu so it was not happy at the lower speed.
Very strange though..

 

[Richardito]

I think Buddyholly is right. My Duron overclocks better as times goes by... I was able to o'clock it only to about 950MHz when I got it 7 months ago. Now I can do 1.1GHz, but it's unstable... Go figure!!

 

[fataldreams]

hmm.. yes, California is hot. I think it hit the 100s already, but I dunno. It's way past that in my bedroom.. damn heat for rising.

But thanks. It isn't really a problem for me that it does this, I just found it odd.