Overclocking is modding a computer to perform at faster clock cycles than it was designed for by the manufacturer.

It involves pushing a computer to its limits and perhaps, even beyond those limits to achieve faster and powerful performance from the computer. While it may seem like rocket science to many, overclocking, when stripped down to the basics is really about 3 fundamental things; temperature, lifespan and uncertainty. Temperature governs speed – the hotter the chips get, the slower they perform, and this is where cooling systems such as liquid nitrogen injection systems come in to play. Overclocking must also take into account the effect on the lifespan of the components. Simply put, stock parts in a processor were not built to withstand such powerful overclocked output and are therefore more prone to “catastrophic failure” (complete and irreversible) during overclocking. Lastly, with overclocking comes uncertainty or the lack of definitive ways of measuring performance of the overclocked computer. This can be made easier with standard operations to test the workload capabilities of the system.