Overclocking is the practice of making a component run at a higher clock speed
than the manufacturer's specification. The idea is to increase performance for
free or to exceed current performance limits, but this may come at the cost of
stability.
Overclocking is like souping up a car, if you just want to get where you’re
going, there’s no need for it. But it is fun and educational and can get you a
machine that provides performance all out of proportion to its cost.
Think of the 3GHz on your new 3GHz Pentium 4 as a speed limit asking to
be broken. Some other components in your computer can also be overclocked,
including RAM and your video card in many cases. Over clocking is possible
because of the way electronic parts, especially VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration)
chips are made and sold. All processors in a given line, the Pentium 4 for
example, are made the same way, on a large die that is cut up into individual
processors, those processors are then tested and graded as to speed, the best
chips will be marked as 3.0 GHz the second best 2.8 etc. As time goes by and
production processes and masks improve, even the lower rated chips may be capable
of faster speeds, especially if vigorous cooling is implemented. Also many
manufacturers will mark chips that test faster at slower speeds if there is higher
demand for the lower end component.
Its important to note that not every chip will be overclockable; its really the
luck of the draw. Some companies that sell factory overclocked systems engage
in a practice called binning where they buy a number of processors, test them
for overclocking potential and throw the ones that dont overclock in a bin to
be resold at their rated speed. Even with processors that have a reputation for
overclocking well, some parts simply will not exceed their rating.
That said, effective cooling can give a boost to a chips overclockability. With
luck you will be able to get extra performance out of your components for free.
With luck and skill you can get performance that is not possible even when
using the top of the line components. Sometimes you can buy cheaper parts,
and then OC them to the clock speed of the higher end component, though the
cost of extra cooling can compromise any money you may be saving on the part,
57 not to mention warranty and part life issues.
WARNING: OVERCLOCKING MAY VOID THE WARRANTY
ON THE PARTS BEING OVERCLOCKED. DOING SO MAY ALSO
CAUSE SYSTEM INSTABILITY, AND MAY ALSO CAUSE DAMAGE
TO COMPONENTS AND DATA. REMEMBER THE 3 “C’S”
WHEN OVERCLOCKING:CAREFUL, CONSERVATIVE, and CAUTIOUS