The multiplier lock is used by CPU manufacturers to prevent consumers and dealers from overclockingthe CPU. When overclocking became mainstream, profit margins for CPU manufacturers lowered because users wouldn’t need to upgrade to a faster processor.
When locked, the multiplier–the factor by which the bus speed is multiplied to derive the CPU speed–is stuck at one given value, thus ruling out any overclocking on motherboardsstrictly built to the CPU manufacturers specifications. The lock is hard wired into the CPU and is very difficult to overcome.
