(41) Stop the clocks
Overclocking is a complicated business. If you’re dead-set on pushing your hardware to the absolute limits, it’s best to track down some serious in-depth guides on how to do so without bricking your build. Hardcore overclocking kicks the crap out of your processor and motherboard, which can result in some disastrously high temperatures if you’re not careful.
At a fundamental level, overclocking is achieved by raising the frequency at which the processor runs, and increasing the voltage supplied to the components to compensate for the additional power. Different motherboards and CPUs have differing limits when it comes to the overclocks you can achieve; this is done by accessing the motherboard BIOS and manually raising the frequency at which the CPU attempts to run. Depending on the capability of the processor, this could be anything from 0.1GHz to 1GHz more. If you’re running a high-end chip, you should be able to squeeze at least 0.5GHz out of it.
Keep raising the operating frequency in the BIOS. At a certain point, the CPU will refuse to boot. To get past this, head back into the BIOS and raise the voltage, usually by 0.05V at a time. Of course, doing this raises the temperature in turn. It’s vital to have decent CPU cooling if you’re going to overclock; a bundled stock heatsink and fan isn’t going to cut it, so be sure to splash out on an upgrade.
If you’ve got a high-end AIO cooler, though, you can use a stress-testing program such as Prime95 to push your CPU to the limit, and assess the maximum running temps you’re likely to hit. Test it between changes to the BIOS settings to ensure that you’re not in danger of killing your processor – in theory, though, modern chips should shut off automatically when they reach dangerous heat levels.
After a while, you’ll hit a stage where it’s impossible to get the frequency any higher, regardless of the applied voltage. At this point, dial it back by 0.1GHz (this constitutes a more stable overclock), and run some more benchmarks to ensure it isn’t about to die on you. If your PC crashes or you hit temperatures that exceed safe operating levels, lower the frequency by another 0.1GHz, and try, try again.