Overclock

Also known as OC

thumb|upright=1.5|A computer BIOS on an ABIT NF7-S [[motherboard with an overclocked AMD Athlon XP CPU, running at 2,442 MHz]] In computing, overclocking is the practice of increasing the clock rate of a semiconductor device, such as a processor, beyond its rated speed, potentially increasing its performance. Overclocked devices, however, may have shorter lifespans, become unstable and unreliable, and in extreme cases, be permanently damaged. Many manufacturers do not cover damage from overclocking in their warranties, while some allow it inside a predefined safety margin.