While some of these processors could clearly be unmasked by our program ctP2Info, others couldn't. They were real ones, which could be determined by establishing the access time of the cache chips. This is, on the one hand, some reassurance, but on the other hand it shows that at times even Intel doesn't treat the Pentium II CPUs with too much care. Scratches and notches to the processor casing are, therefore, no sure sign of forgery. It is not only forgers who like running processors at a speed which is higher than the specified clock rate.
Many users try to boost their system's performance that way, too.
The easiest way of doing it is to choose the multiplier on the motherboard higher than it is supposed to be that is, to run a Pentium II 233 not at 66 MHz x 3.5, but at 66 x 4. The older 233s play ball, the newer ones don't even start up they have integrated overspeed protection. Unlike the classic Pentium, the Pentium II does not have specific BF pins for selecting the multiplier. After that, the four signals resume their original function. The old Pentium's 'overspeed protection' by omitting some of the BF signals therefore doesn't work with the Pentium II after all the multiple use signals are needed in normal operation.