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""I think the enthusiast passion for overclocking has cooled off as it's become increasingly difficult to justify what a person should overclock for," he said."

Overclocking is probably something many of us has tried in the past. Who wouldn't want more for less? However, with recent hardware prices relative to performance, there are some that believe overclocking is no longer necessary. ExtremeTech takes a look at overclocking to see if in fact there is a cooling trend in this art.

Do you still overclock? If so, are you looking to gain performance for a budget item or are you in it for the satisfaction of being able to say you've pushed a piece of hardware to its limit?

"With Intel’s latest 32 nm Core processor generation, code-named Sandy Bridge, these overclocking-oriented processors actually start to make a lot more sense in the mainstream. Thanks to Turbo Boost 2.0 and the chips’ power control unit, which monitors power and temperatures, Sandy Bridge factors out much of the luck/skill that was previously involved in achieving high maximum clock rates, as well as much of the risk previously associated with overclocking. In the case of Sandy Bridge, this means that even beginners can now safely aim at a significant overclock and let the platform do the rest. In this article we overclock a Core i7-2600K processor using Intel's reference heatsink and fan. Our analysis includes performance and power efficiency, which scales impressively well on Sandy Bridge as you keep increasing clock rates."

Looks like you can both easily and safely overclocked this up to about 5 GHz. Kudos to Intel for offering a product specifically tailored for the tuner market.

"If you want to squeeze every last ounce of processing power out of your new computer or aging system, overclocking is a great-if slightly nerve-racking-option. Here are some simple guidelines for safely overclocking your CPU. Simply put, overclocking your CPU involves running your processor at a faster speed than was intended out of the box. While overclocking, at its core (no pun intended), can be quite simple, there's a bit more to it than just tweaking one setting. The main setting that determines your CPU speed (known as your Base Clock) also affects your RAM speed, so there's a bit of tweaking required to get the right balance. You'll also have to tweak a few voltage levels, because without enough power, the CPU can't run fast enough. However, higher voltage also means higher temperatures, so you need to be careful not to overheat your CPU, which can lower the life, not to mention fry it completely if you're not careful."

Photo by Blazor85

You have probably heard about overclocking and how you can increase the speed of your CPU by making some tweaks in the BIOS, but perhaps have never had the courage or knowledge to do it. Now you can, as Lifehacker have posted an indepth beginners guide to overclocking, covering everything from the terminology, explaining the concept, before finally showing you how to go about doing it. If you've ever been interested and have an intel i5 or i7 CPU, but were unsure how to do it, then this is the guide for you.

"Sunnyvale-based Advanced Micro Devices wants to show the world that its processors are capable of breaking the world records when it comes to their overclocking capabilities. As such, the company sponsored an overclocking event in Finland, where its AMD Phenom II 955 Black Edition processor was pushed up to the impressive speed of 7.0GHz, a figure that might become a new world record in case the results are validated."

7 Ghz? Sweet mother of motherboards! That's...insane. I drool at the thought of encoding h.264 video at 7 Ghz. So the question is, if this new chip is capable of insane speeds like that, why don't we see chips in the more "mundane" range of 4 Ghz or 5 Ghz? Power consumption? Stability? Longevity of chips? I'd happily accept a 5 Ghz chip that only lasted 36 months if I knew it would be stable during that period.

"The bulk of overclockers, however, are more concerned with the cost dividends. If you can take a $300 CPU and make it as fast or faster than one that costs $1,000, the money you save can go toward other components in your system. For these folks, it’s like getting a free high-end videocard. Whether you’re a cheapskate or a drag racer, you’ll find that Intel’s new Core i7 CPU is unlike any previous Intel CPU, and overclocking this beast requires more tinkering than you might expect. Follow along as we explore what it takes to push this chip hard."

It seems as if Intel goes through phases when it comes to being overclock friendly. Every few generations, Intel releases CPUs that can be insanely overclocked like the Core 2 Duo, or, and I'm dating myself a bit, the original Celeron. Then they realize they're cannibalizing their premium CPU sales and lock things down. That seems to be the case with the Core i7 series, where the low cost 920 needs work to speed it up while the 965 Extreme Edition is easier to boost. I do find it interesting that AMD is on the flip side with the recent release of the Phenom II which has proven to be very overclocking friendly. Should you be bitten by the speed bug, just be aware that you are going to need more than that stock cooler to keep things running reliably. While the investment may pay off, you could compromise stability, and possibly even your warranty.

"In light of a new competitive challenge—Intel’s Core i7—AMD is revamping its Spider platform with a new processor and the addition of software able to tie all of the hardware together. As you no doubt already know from reading Bert’s story, this latest effort is called Dragon. But we’re not here to rehash the details of Phenom II. Rather, in light of significant enhancements to the CPU architecture’s overclocking capabilities (and indeed, confirmation from AMD that all of the "magic" that went into its ACC [Advanced Clock Calibration] technology is now baked into Phenom II), we’re eager to compare the value of AMD’s fastest 45 nm chip to Intel’s entry-level Core i7 920—the one most enthusiasts would be likely to eye as an overclocking contender."

Tom's Hardware puts the newly released Phenom II through its paces with attention paid to the overclocking market. The results are hardly surprising with the Phenom II showing remarkable overclocking value. However, when compared against the Core i7, the decision between CPUs gets a bit muddier. The Core i7 represents leading edge technology with powerful performance, topping the Phenom II in overclockability. However, the Core i7 also means a large investment in purchasing new hardware. On the flip side, the Phenom II can be a drop in replacement, working with many existing AM2+ motherboards. Unless you're willing to drop some serious change for a new rig, the Phenom II is a sound upgrade path.

"We've long since known that MSI was a fan of overclocking. After all, just about every last one of its gaming notebooks come with one-button OC'ing courtesy of the Turbo Drive Engine technology. Now, it seems that the company is giving the spoils once reserved for the Crysis crowd to those with netbooks, or more specifically, the Wind. The freshly released (and absolutely official) v1.09 BIOS update enables simple overclocking by mashing Fn+F10, giving users the ability to push things 8%, 15% or 24% beyond their normally specified limits. Electric Feel over at ElectricVagabond has found that the update provides up to a 30% boost in performance..."

While it might seem strange to overclock a netbook, the fact that it's so easy and can be done from within Windows means that it's highly practical to crank the CPU up when you're using an application that takes more grunt. I haven't loaded up Photoshop Elements or Lightroom on my MSI Wind, so I doubt I'll be overclocking it, but it's nice to know that I can do so if I wish. I wonder what it does to the battery life though? Heck, I'd prefer to underclock the CPU once I was in Word 2007 typing up a document if it meant saving some battery life.

"On Saturday February 23, members of the Jmax-Hardware, Tom's Hardware, and Tom's Guide forums met in the offices of Bestofmedia. They had come to try to set a new world record for overclocking. And they succeeded. The team consisted of 13 members: six from Jmax-Hardware, four from the Tom's Hardware forums, and three members of the Tom's Guide forums. The hardware used to set the record consisted of four test platforms; three using a liquid-nitrogen cooling system and one with a compressor-based (DoD or Direct-on-Die) cooling system."

A picture is worth a thousand words: and that's one fast computer! That's the same CPU I used in this article, and sheesh, I couldn't get it past 2.83 Ghz. Guess I needed some liquid-nitrogen cooling...