Overclocking - Intro

For those that may or may not know, Overclocking is a fine art that pushes a specific hardware component to exceed its 'rated' performance setting.

Any single piece of silicon is usually binned for performance as no two pieces are ever the same (even if they are cut from the same batch/wafer). These parts are binned to increase yield (by making the pieces incapable of meeting high end requirements for example, to be turned into lower priced components). (there are MORE criteria to binning though such as TDP, voltage requirements, etc so this is a VERY GENERALIZED look). However, even in the process of binning, the manufacturers must set an acceptable speed that the binned tiers can be guaranteed to run properly at.

What does overclocking do? It pushes the hardware above the guaranteed speed to fully maximize that piece of silicon. That's right, it allows it to maximize its potential. For example, my current processor (Intel E8400 - SLAPL). Stock speed is 3.0GHz at stock voltage. However, I pushed it all the way to 3.8GHz without even touching the voltage. 800MHz improvement right out the door.

So how come everyone doesn't just do this? Well overclocking as I mentioned, is a fine art. The moment you push it above and beyond, you no longer enjoy the safety net provided by the manufacturer (that it will run appropriately under all normal operating conditions). With that in mind, instability among other things (including outright hardware failure) becomes a very real threat (though there are ways to avoid and safely do this).

So why do people do this? Well, for a variety of reasons. I personally embarked on this art by wanting to have more performance so I could game better. At the time, I was still budget oriented (I still am to a certain extent). But at the current levels that I am at, budget oriented really is not a factor (I spend hundreds on cooling alone). I no longer really care about performance gain (well apart from increases in gaming that is). I just want to overclock the mofo (excuse the term). So it is more of a need I guess. A yearning/longing. I get itchy when I have a CPU/GPU/RAM in my system that is running at stock speeds.

Next I will write a bit on how to safely overclock. :)