Overclocking means configuring a PC component (in our case, the processor and the video card) to run faster than the its default speed, which is set at the factory. PC enthusiasts (which is a fancy term for computer geeks) have been doing this at home for years.

Companies like Intel, ATI and nVidia now make it much easier to achieve significant performance gains through overclocking. Here are some of the latest offerings from Intel's Core 2 Quad product line:

Prices are from September 5th, 2008

Intel also knows that there is a rapidly growing interest in overclocking. They don't want to make it too easy to take a $324 chip and make it run faster than the $1,500 model, so they struck a compromise.

The speed of a processor is a function of two values:

CPU Speed = ("Front Side Bus Speed") x ("CPU Multiplier)

Intel allows us to change the Front Side Bus speed, which in turn allows us to increase the CPU speed. The multiplier, however, is off-limits to us. Higher multipliers make it easier to hit target speeds. As you can see above, the multiplier gets bigger as the chips get more expensive. Intel gets to sell its processors at different price points, allows overclockers to do our thing, and manages to give us incentives to spend more if we can.

The bottom line is, overclocking can make a $324 chip outperform an unmodified $1,500 one. Now you might have noticed from our chart that Intel lets you change the CPU multiplier on the QX9775 (hence the "10ish" multiplier). It shares this ability with the QX9650 because they are higher-priced "extreme" models. While this is an advantage the other chips don't have, the performance payoff from pushing a chip beyond 3.6GHz begins to diminish rapidly, and you're paying through the nose for the privilege. So while there are ways of building even faster PCs, our focus remains on one concept: giving you unbelievable speed at an affordable price!

Q: Isn’t overclocking risky? Can’t you damage your PC?
A: The components in our PCs are chosen because we know the repeatable and reliable amount of safe overclocking they can offer. Some individual components could be pushed farther than others, but we only overclock to a point which we know is safe and effective.

Q: Doesn’t overclocking reduce the lifespan of components?
A: Technically yes, but it doesn’t matter. All PC components experience electromigration - the gradual deterioration of the conducting material as electricity passes through it. Overclocking does speed this process up, but not significantly. You’re looking at reducing the lifespan of the components from roughly 10 years to 7. Since the functional lifespan of any PC is usually no more than five years, the overclocking we do wouldn’t be an issue even for a non-gaming PC. We guarantee our machines for three years because that’s about how long it takes for a gaming PC’s components to become obsolete, with or without overclocking.

Q: Duo processor or quad processor - which is better for gaming?
A: We are moving into the quad world - slowly. Only a few games do any better on quad right now. That will change, but it’s not clear when. Choose the quad-core if you want to rock out on upcoming games which can really take advantage of four cores, when and if they arrive. Pick the dual-core if you want pure speed. The QX9650 offers both, at a greater cost

Q: Should I buy a Killer NIC with my Überclok PC?
A: It depends on what games you're playing. The Killer NIC can help eliminate lag (stuttery performance) on some network games under some circumstances. MMORPGs like Everquest II, LOTRO, and Age of Conan might benefit from this technology, as might first-person shooters with numerous online players like Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 3, etc. If you play such games and your internet connection isn't necessarily blazing fast, you might do well to get one.

Q: Should I buy a sound card with my Überclok PC?
A: Probably yes. Some games layer a lot of sounds simultaneously, like Bioshock. You'll miss out on the richness of the environment without a dedicated sound card in games like that. Also, if you get surround sound speakers or headphones, we definitely recommend it. You’ll be able to tell in what direction other game elements are from the sounds they make, and you’ll hear little details you’d otherwise miss. If you’re sticking with a basic set of speakers or headphones, or mostly play MMORPGs or RTS games which typically aren't as demanding for sound, the on-board sound will do just fine.

Q: RAID 0 or not?
A: Many gamers have heard that having two 10k rpm drives in a RAID 0 configuration will speed up gaming performance and load times. How much? Not a lot. We wouldn’t do it on our personal PCs, since it doubles your chances of catastrophic data loss. That said, if you want it, we’re happy to give it to you. RAID 0 does speed up load times a bit

Q: Why no liquid cooling?
A: Liquid cooling is very sexy, and in some cases allows one to reach higher overclocked speeds than air cooling. Unfortunately, pushing a CPU from 4.0GHz to 4.2GHz (which is about all the liquid cooling could do) produces almost no noticeable benefit to your gaming experience. To get that unnoticeable benefit, you'll either pay $500+ for a custom liquid system, or settle for an off-the-shelf solution which is affordable but very noisy (as in "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU, MY PC IS ON!" noisy).

In addition, liquid cooling is not as maintenance-free as air cooling, and it carries with it more inherent risks, such as damage from condensation and leakage. In developing our current products, we found that our cases and air cooling units are so good at cooling our PCs that a liquid solution is completely unnecessary.

Q: Should I buy a PC with 4GB or even 8GB of memory?
A: Memory is quite affordable these days, and many motherboards (including the ones we use) support 8GB. There is a tangible benefit to some games' performance when moving from 2GB to 4GB. The same cannot yet be said of 8GB, and if you don't use an application right now which you know for a fact can use 8GB, it would probably be a waste to install it. That said, we ship 4GB of memory in the form of two 2GB modules, which leaves two slots free for future expansion. If you want to go 8GB later, you won't have to throw away any existing memory. Another factor is that the extra strain of 8GB on the motherboard's memory controller sometimes forces the memory to run at a reduced speed than with 4GB.

2GB is our minimum amount of memory, and it is adequate for every game on the market today. Because 2GB comes in the form of a pair of 1GB modules, they would have to be discarded if you ever want to upgrade to 8GB. It also won't be long before most major PC games will benefit from 4GB vs. 2GB. Consequently, our recommendation is to go 4GB if you can afford to, but don't bother with 8GB unless you need to.

Bear in mind, a 64-bit operating system is necessary to enable the use of all that memory. This is particularly true in a gaming PC, where video RAM occupies a significant portion of the equation. In 32-bit Windows, only 4GB of "memory space" can be used at once, and that includes the on-board memory from the video card (or cards.) So after you subtract whatever the operating system and video cards are using from the 4GB maximum total, the remainder is all your applications (games) have access to - regardless of how much physical memory you install. So, the only way to effectively use 4GB of memory is to run a 64-bit OS. Which brings us to our next question:

Q: Should I choose a 64-bit operating system?
A: Pretty much every single kink has been worked out of Vista 64-bit vs. 32-bit, and Vista Home Premium 64 is our recommended OS. XP 64-bit is another story - it works well, but there will always be more driver incompatability issues for XP-64 than Vista-64.

Q: Should I choose Windows XP or Vista?
A: With Überclok, you can choose both! Right now, PC gaming is in an in-between state when it comes to Windows. For gamers though, "XP vs. Vista" is really about "DirectX 9 vs. DirectX 10". (DirectX is Microsoft's rendering technology for gaming - nearly all games depend upon it.) .

With its 1.7 patch release, Company of Heroes became the first commercial DirectX 10-capable game. This meant it was now a hybrid game, looking for the player to choose which version of DirectX to use. Reactions to CoH in DirectX 10 mode were lukewarm. Performance took a hit partly because the game wasn't written for DX10 from the ground-up, and partly because DX10 is a significantly more complex technology than its predecessor. Tech-heads were forgiving because they were impressed with the extra features DX10 can offer a game (better lighting, particle effects, more grass, etc.) "Bottom-line" gamers were not so impressed because the frame rates dropped.

As time marches on, more and more games will be written specifically for DX10, and in a year or two, it may feel pretty out of place to be running XP. We currently split the hard drives on our personal PCs into half, and switch between XP and Vista at will - it might be worth the extra money for you to drive on both sides of the street. If you just want one OS, and you care about performance more than anything else, go with XP. If you want to explore DX10, you'll need Vista.

Q: What version of Vista should I choose?
A: Pass up Home Basic - our PCs have no trouble with the Aero interface, so why miss out on one of Vista's most attractive features? Home Premium has Media Center, DVD Maker, and the HD version of Movie Maker, so it has more multimedia features. Business comes with the full Backup & Restore software, Fax & Scan, and Remote Desktop. Choose Ultimate if you want all those features. The official comparison chart is at:

Microsoft Vista Comparison Chart