Description: This article contains some of the most frequently asked questions about Overclocking from Summer 2019.

Q: What is overclocking?
A: Overclocking is the act of increasing the clock speeds of components to obtain an increase in performance. This is often accompanied by an increase in voltage.

Q: What are clock speeds?
A: Clock speeds are the rate at which a component (CPU, Graphics Card, RAM, etc.) is running, often expressed in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz). They are generally advertised to indicate a components relative speed or performance.

Q: What are the benefits of overclocking?
A: The main benefit to overclocking is an increase in performance. This performance boost can help alleviate potential bottlenecks in the system, and allow for a faster, smoother operation.

Q: What are the risks of overclocking?
A: The main risks to overclocking are system instability or overheating. When increasing clock speeds, the component often requires an increase in voltage. Without the necessary voltage, the system may crash. With too much voltage, the system may overheat, which can result in the system shutting down or potential damage to the component. It’s also important to keep power in mind and that the increase in voltage can increase the stress on the motherboard and power supply.

Q: Does overclocking void the manufacturer’s warranty?
A: Depending on the component manufacturer, overclocking can void the product's warranty, especially if damage is caused as a result of overclocking. For specific details regarding overclocking and warranties, check the manufacturer’s terms and conditions.

Q: The clock speed of my component is going higher than what is advertised, is this normal?
A: Yes, this is normal. Most modern components have technologies that allow them to adjust their clock speeds based on operating temperature and power availability. Technologies such as Nvidia’s GPU Boost, Intel’s Turbo Boost, and AMD’s SenseMi can dynamically adjust clock speeds on the fly without any effort or input from the user.

Q: What is Nvidia’s GPU Boost?
A: Nvidia’s GPU boost is a proprietary technology that monitors the voltage and power consumption of a graphics card and boosts the clock speed until a specific temperature or power target is met - more details can be found on Nvidia's website.

Q: What is Intel’s Turbo Boost?
A: Intel’s Turbo Boost is a technology that is designed to increase the processors clock speed based on how much power is available and how much temperature overhead is available. This technology can apply specific clock speeds to a specific number of cores, maximizing efficiency tasks that may not utilize all the processor cores - more details can be found on Intel's website.

Q: What is AMD’s SenseMi?
A: AMD’s SenseMi is the sum of a group of technologies designed to dynamically adjust the performance of the processor depending on several factors. It includes technologies such as Extended Frequency Range (XFR) which allows the CPU to boost its clock speeds based on temperature and power availability as well as Precision Boost, which provides the same benefits as XFR, but in a more precise manner - more details can be found on AMD's website.

Q: What is XMP (Extreme Memory Profile)?
A: XMP is a pre-saved profile that can be stored on memory to allow the user to load an overclock for that RAM. These profiles can include higher clock speeds and/or better memory timings. More details can be found here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/extreme-memory-profile-xmp.html

Q: How much performance will I get from overclocking?
A: The answer to this depends entirely on your system configuration and the applications you are using. Performance gained from overclocking does not scale linearly, so a 10% increase in clock speeds often will not yield a 10% increase in performance. Other components can become the bottleneck, which can limit or outright prevent any potential gain in performance.

Q: Do I need specific hardware to overclock?
A: Yes. Not all hardware supports manual overclocking, and some will prevent you from doing so as the hardware itself may not be designed to handle the additional power requirements for overclocking. Most motherboards will mention whether their chipset supports overclocking, and most processors will be advertised as Locked or Unlocked for overclocking support.

Q: My component isn’t overclocking as high as I am seeing online from others. Why is that?
A: Realistically, anything beyond the manufacturer’s specifications are not guaranteed. There are many factors that can limit how far a component can be overclocked, ranging from the quality of the component’s silicon to the cooling solution that you are using.