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The Celeron processor was originally introduced as a budget variant of the Pentium II, though many overclocking enthusiasts quickly discovered its hidden potential. The .25-micron Celeron is designed for 66-MHz front-side bus operation. The first Celeron models lacked an L2 cache, which means that any increase in clock speeds would affect performance results. The Celeron is available in both 370-pin PGA socket and Slot 1 motherboard interfaces for the broadest range of compatibility.
Of more interest is the Celeron A series. At 100-MHz front-side bus speeds, the 128-KB full-speed on-die L2 cache often allowed this revision to perform better than the more expensive Pentium II with its half-speed 512-KB off-die L2 cache. The average overclock for these Celeron A models extends 50 MHz, and often extends well beyond 200 MHz for some highly desired models.
The Celeron 300 produces the best results due to its low 4.5× multiplier. The most common overclock for this chip is between 450 and 500 MHz with decent cooling and a minimal increase in core voltage. Overclocking the lower range of Celeron speed grades, under more extreme cooling and voltage implementations, can yield results in the 550 to 650 MHz range for most users. Performance results slowly diminish at higher multiplier levels due to the comparative loss in front-side bus speeds, but most Celeron A series processors can reach 500 to 600 MHz with moderate effort.
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