Over Clocking

To the uninitiated, overclocking sounds like a great plan. You get extra megahertz without spending a dime. But anyone who rushes into overclocking is likely to get no more from it than a malfunctioning PC.

Overclocking is the act of manipulating a processor to run faster than its advertised speed. Resetting the jumpers on an Athlon 700MHz processor so that it runs at 800MHz is one example. This works because processor manufacturers tend to underrate the chips when labeling their speeds. Technically, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with overclocking. Computer hobbyists have been doing it for years. However, overclocking your CPU (central processing unit) puts your system at risk for a whole slew of technical problems and nullifies any warranty you may have on your processor. In other words, for the sake of a few extra megahertz, you could end up with a CPU that doesn’t work and no way of getting it fixed.

There’s also an uglier side of overclocking, says George Alfs, Intel spokesperson. “What we’re really worried about with overclocking is unsavory types overclocking the processors and reselling them as higher-rated CPUs to other purchasers,” he says. “That’s illegal. We really don’t like that, and neither do most people.”

To ensure you get a system that hasn’t been overclocked, Alfs recommends buying hardware components only from authorized dealers. Owners of Intel processors can also refer to the Intel Processor Frequency IDUtility (http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/frequencyid) to determine whether their processors are running faster than their rated speeds. If you determine that your CPU has been overclocked without your knowledge, you should contact the manufacturer and the retailer who sold it to you.

"Intel claims overclocking bad, film at eleven."