Since eee PC comes with very limited space it is very important to free up as much drive space as possible to make the most out of it. After installing all the drivers and setting up Windows XP go to 'System Properties' by right-clicking 'My Computer' and choosing 'Properties'. Under the 'Advance' tab choose the settings for 'Performance'. Visual Effects can be turned off in 'Performance Options' to improve the responsiveness of Windows XP on eee PC. Under the 'Advance' tab of 'Performance Options' the size of the 'Virtual Memory' can be set to as low as 256MB to reduce the space reserved for Virtual Memory by Windows. Since Windows will increase the size of the Virtual Memory as needed there can be no issue by setting the initial amount to 256MB. Turning off the 'Hibernate' option in 'Power Options' can also free up the amount of space reserved for hibernation, which is equal to the amount of system memory.

By doing all these and the reduction of unnecessary system components, Windows XP Pro SP2 installation on eee PC took approximately 1.43GB. This, however, is the usage before Windows XP SP2 is updated with the latest patches and software such as .NET which is necessary to use many applications. After running 'Windows Update' from the Start Menu and choosing all options including Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7, the hard drive usage comes down to 2.75GB. One thing to bear in mind is that this number is after removing 'System Restore' feature and deleting un-install files for all the updates. At least 600MB of space was recovered by not having System Restore and update un-install files. To delete the un-install files for Windows Updates, 'Folder View' options must be set to 'Show Hidden Files and Folders' to be able to see the hidden folders inside Windows install folder.

As can be seen from a screen shot of CPU-Z software, Asus eee PC is equipped with 900MHz Intel Celeron Ultra Low Voltage CPU based on Pentium M design. However, none of the official description from Asus would mention '900 MHz'. This is because the CPU speed is actually locked at 630MHz. Earlier factory prototype BIOS which uses the full 900MHz has been reported to be unstable. This might have forced Asus to take extra precaution on the retail version and drop the CPU speed to 630MHz by reducing the Front Side Bus speed to 70MHz from the 100MHz Intel Celeron was designed for.

Although the eee PC running 630MHz is not too terribly slow, it is not reasonable to lose as much as 25% on processing capacity when there isn't much to spare in the first place.
This calls for using tweak software such as SetFSB from http://www13.plala.or.jp/setfsb/
Set FSB is a free software design to take control of specific chipsets and force them to run at certain speeds through a Windows based graphical user interface. It is provided free with no warranty to use at own risk. Modthebox.com takes no responsibility for any damage caused by following the instructions provided below to over-clock the eee PC.

Set FSB version 2.0 cannot automatically detect the type of clock generator used in a computer so it has to be manually selected for the first time. After choosing the clock generator, it will remember on the next startup of the software. The clocked generator used in eee PC 4GB for the review (hardware model 701) is ICS9LPRS906CGLF. Choosing the wrong clock generator can lock-up the machine and will require removal of A/C power and battery to restart the eee PC.

Once the correct clock generator is selected, click on 'Get FSB' to detect the system speed. FSB can be changed from 280MHz (70MHz multiplied by 4) by sliding the bar to get desired speed, which is 400MHz (100MHz multiplied by 4). Be sure to not have any program which may be detecting the chipset and clock generator are running before clicking the 'Set FSB' button. Once the FSB is set to 400MHz the CPU should increase to full 900MHz speed without a problem.

Set FSB software comes with a command line option to quickly run the software at certain setting and exit afterwards. By creating a shortcut to the program file and adding in -s400 at the shortcut command, the speed of the eee PC can be changed in a few seconds. This shortcut can be moved into the 'StartUp' folder in Start Menu to automatically set the FSB every time Windows XP starts up.

Performance Increase over 620MHz was measured using PC Mark 2005 software from http://www.FutureMark.com. CPU Score was increased from 1000 to 1388 and Memory Score from 1137 to 1573. CPU temperature was increased additional 2'C to 57'C under full load conditions. The tiny ventilation fan on the side of eee PC was running at full speed to keep the CPU cool while running 900MHz speed. There were no crashes or stability issues while running benchmarks and video decoding at the increase clock speed.

The results from the experiment were very satisfying. Asus eee PC was able to run much faster than it was shipped originally with a very small increase in operating temperature. It is safe to operate under most conditions without having to worry about over-heating the tiny notebook. Asus may have taken a step back for precaution but the user doesn’t have to. Perhaps Asus will increase the CPU speed in future revision of eee PC BIOS release. Until then, SetFSB software will do the trick to keep it at full performance.

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