All Intel(r) CPUs are currently clock multiplier locked, yet FSB speed remains unlocked for the time being. This means that as long as the user chooses the P3-500's 5.0x clock multiplier setting, they can select and experiment with any of the available bus speeds that their mainboard offers.

Here's a look at all of the "possible" overclocking combinations that the P3-500 could see on an Abit BX6 2.0 mainboard.

Stock:	5.0 x 100MHz	=	500MHz
	5.0 x 103MHz	=	515MHz
	5.0 x 112MHz	=	560MHz
	5.0 x 117MHz	=	585MHz
	5.0 x 124MHz	=	620MHz
	5.0 x 129MHz 	=	645MHz
	5.0 x 133MHz	=	665MHz

The P3-500's 5.0x clock multiplier proves more daunting when overclocking the CPU than the P3-450's 4.5x multiplier does, as the chart above illustrates. To test the P3-500's limits we used a standard OEM heatsink/fan (AAVID) with the CPUs, as well as a voltage friendly Abit BX6 R2.0 Slot-1 mainboard.

Here's how successfully we were during testing the P3 at variuos overclocked speeds:

5.0 x 103MHz = 515MHz = 100% Pass
5.0 x 112MHz = 560MHz = 100% Pass
5.0 x 117MHz = 585MHz = POST successful, 
			failure to boot into 
			Win95. 
5.0 x 124MHz = 620MHz = Failure to POST
5.0 x 129MHz = 645MHz = Failure to POST
5.0 x 133MHz = 665MHz = Failure to POST

Much like the results of the overclocked P3-450 CPUs we've looked at, the P3-500s showed a maximum overclocked speed of 560MHz while retaining full stability. 585MHz was troublesome at best, we weren't able to successfully boot into Win95 OSR 2.1 at that frequency level no matter what voltage we utilized.

At 560MHz, we get a very good look at where May's P3-550 CPU will perform, and where the top of the current .25 micron P3 hierarchy will fall in.