What is Overclocking?       In definition, overclocking is the act of making a chip work faster (or at a higher clock speed) than it was originally intended to. The newer CPU's available from companies such as Intel, are of such a high standard that they can be safely run at higher speeds than originally designed to do and still hold the same stability as they had when running at the factory setting.

What are the upsides?       If all goes well, and you are sensible with your overclock, then you will gain a sometimes quite significant speed boost completely free of charge! Your CPU will be running faster than before and so applications will open faster, quake frame-rates will notch up a few points and your bank balance can be calculated that bit quicker in your favourite spreadsheet!

Are there any downsides?       In theory there is only one real downside to running a stable overclocked system, this being the life span of your CPU. Under normal conditions your brand-new Intel CPU would happily chug along for the best part of 10 years before finally dying. When you overclock your chip, it makes it worker faster and therefore harder. This in turn will shorten the life span of the chip, and with the speed increase being looked at here, your CPU may not last as long as 6 or 7 years.       But in reality there are very few people who will still be using their current CPU's 7 years down the road. Its very hard to see what we will be using at that time but you can bet that it wont be an Intel Celeron! If on the other hand you think you will be using your chip at that time, there is but one answer. Just don't overclock!