Having a strong fan or even better, a liquid cooled cooling system, is important.

Pushing your components to the limit uses A LOT of energy, and since energy causes heat, you are looking at A LOT of heat. When overclocking, especially extreme overclocking, heat can be a huge issue. A CPU’s speed rating states the speed of all processors in the same manufacturing batch can run, basically meaning the speed listed is more than likely lower than the actual abilities of the CPU. If one were to overclock an Intel Core i7 860 it would then be running at a speed higher than 2.80GHz. As an example, an Intel Core i7 860 has a speed of 2.80GHz. Overclocking occurs when you set your CPU and memory to run at a speed that is higher than their official speed grade. Increased heat, permanent damage to the component, voiding warranties, etc.īefore we get too deep into the dangers, let’s take a look at what exactly overclocking is… But, of course, there are dangers that come along with something as magical as overclocking. You can buy a less powerful (and less expensive) component, and then overclock to match the speeds of a more powerful (and more expensive) component. Off the bat, overclocking sounds awesome. The overall goal of overclocking typically is to increase the operating speed of the given hardware. Overclocking occurs when you push a component or computer to perform faster and more powerfully than it was originally designed for.