Over clocking – Introduction and is it safe?

Over clocking is the process of operating computer hardware at speeds in excess of their manufacturers’ ratings.

Over clocking allows normal computer users to buy OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer) computers at lower speeds and then overclock them to much higher speeds, even sometimes better than a brand new OEM at that higher speed.Overclocking a system may be difficult than building a new computer as it usually requires a great patience and a lot of planning.

Over clocking is not something of a secret as you may think, The manufacturers of CPU or Processors are well aware of the over clocking phenomenon. A lot of these companies to little to lock the over clocking phenomenon in processors as a vast majority of people don’t know even know what over clocking is and are pretty naïve in this field.Another reason is that initially some companies did put in a mechanism called clock locking, because of which the users couldn’t over clock the processor.But eventually this venture didn’t turn out to be feasible on the commercial production level and was later finished.

Over clocking can be done in a lot of ways.Some of the retail manufacturers most of the time want to maximize system configurations,hence their motherboards would be extremely feasible and tweak able to over clock.On the other hand there are those OEM manufacturer’s(or pre-built computers like those from HP, SONY and others) often are lacking user-defined options.The main reasons are that these systems are not designed to be custom tailored and are mainly engineered for maximum stability and perfection across a wide range of uses.

Some companies outperform others in this retail – level manufacturing.Taiwan based Abit Computer Corporation is one of those famous and most popular retail level manufacturer whose motherboards are highly customizable to ones needs and support a wide range of options.But the basic thing Is nearly all motherboard manufacturers offer some or the other way, through which we can over clock the computer.

There are mainly two ways of over clocking, hardware or software.

Over clocking your processor will make it often unstable, and to attain stability of the system at that high speeds is usually done by increasing your processors core voltage.Beware that increasing voltage levels can be potentially hazardous and must be done with care and planning.Most of the current micron processor architecture i.e. is the 0.18- and 0.25- can usually operate within a variation that is about ± 10% from the original OEM configurations.

It is common knowledge that if you increase the voltage levels then there will be some increase in heat, you must take care that there is proper cooling of the processor.Otherwise you could end up having a spoilt processor and and don’t think processors come cheap, a new P4 3 Ghz HT processors comes around 250$ or so.Processor coolers,heat sinks,liquid cooling systems , all play an integral part of an over clocked PC , as compared to a normal OEM computer.The reason is that over clocking can make you computer to become unstable if the proper temperature levels are not maintained inside the processor, even though most processors have a tolerable range of temperature, for durable long term running temperature is an important and integral part and must be considered.

Cooling of the computer can be done in many ways, some of the traditional ways are:

Case Cooling : This refers to the normal CPU fan which most of us have in our computers.

Heat Transfer Compounds : This usually involves applying a thermal interface material between the processor core and the heat sink,this enhances heat transfer to a large extent.

But there are other new ways of cooling which are gaining much more popularity due to their innovative ways of cooling.

Known better as alternative ways of cooling these cooling systems are not based on the forced –air technique.Though be forewarned these technologies are not very cheap and often comes at high prices.These techniques are only employed by high – end manufacturers.Although these techniques are extremely effective they are hit by a major disadvantage is the boot – time startup time delay, as most of these devices lack a real - time response system, hence the cooling device must reach a certain temperature before the computer can be powered up.In order to remove this delay,some high –end manufacturers have employed complex systems using electrical relay circuits and timind devices to cut – short the booting time.

Some of these alternative cooling techniques are :

Peltier Cooling : The peltier cooling systems are gaining popularity due to their low cost , but there are other hidden secondary costs also that most people do noe realize.These type of cooling systems work on the Peltier thermoelectric effect(ok for those who are new to this, in layman’s terms its like when you apply current to a thermocouple it starts to cool on one side and gets warm on the other side), theres a thin ceramic like disc that acts like a heat pump, once an electric current is applied across it.

Vapor Phase Cooling : Vapor phase cooling is in its mechanism of working very similar to the working of a air conditioner,and car air conditioning too.Its based on the active refrigeration technology, in which a gaseous substabce, usuallu Freon is made to pass through an exchanger device to provide the effect of cooling.Two companies famous for this vapor cooling system are KryoTech and VapoChill

Liquid Cooling : Liquid cooling involves a pump which circulates water through a radiator element and then throughout the system.Fans are employed to cool the radiator for maxium thermal effeiciency.

Submersion Cooling : Submersion cooling systems are gaining widespread popularity in over clocking enthusiasts.Submersion means literally dumping the complete system into a liquid substance.The liquid can then be chilled to zero degrees or below and with it the computer.Submersion cooling is expensive and cost upto thousands of dollars. Fluorinert liquid from the Electronics Manufacturing Division of 3M is the most attractive submersion cooling fluid.However it is expensive and permits are required to purchase it..And Fluorinert evaporates easily so it requires a vat or cooling system to prevent it from evaporating.