Reading up on the pros and cons of overclocking your computer can provide you with a greater understanding of what your end result may be. After reading through this article, you should have a fair grasp as to what rewards and risks are involved with overclocking your computer.

Disadvantages of Overclocking:

- It will void your warranty:

A voided warranty means that you won't be receiving any assistance or replacement from the manufacturing company. They only made their hardware to handle what it's set to, not what you set it to.

- Lowered lifespan for your components:

Your components where tested to operate at their defaults for an extended period of time. By pushing their limits, you're increasing the stress that is being applied to it. This will result and a shorter life span of the component when compared to an unmodified version.

- High temperature environment:

While frying an egg on your system may be appealing, you'll need to do something about the heat your overclocked components will be giving off. Unfortunately, this means spending money. Higher voltage means more heat, and that heat can effect all the components in your system, not just the overclocked ones.

- Efficiency is not increased:

Instruction sets dictate what a CPU can do. You can't add new instruction sets to your CPU, so overclocking can only do so much. Don't think that overclocking will turn your $200 CPU into a $500 CPU.

- Overclocking will frustrate you, big time:

You've installed all your fancy new cooling devices and set up everything perfectly, but for some reason your system won't turn on. Looks like your back to the drawing board unless you want to admit defeat and call a friend over or buy new parts because chances are, your warrant is void.

Pros of Overclocking:

- Increased speed:

You may not get the same efficiency as the CPU $200 more expensive then the one you bought, but you'll definitely see a jump in performance over the default speeds that it currently operates at.

- You'll save money:

Instead of buying new components as the biggest and best come out, overclocking allows you to take advantage of the components you already have that may have a little bit of age to them. Overclocking lets your current components hold their own for longer then they would at stock specifications.

- You'll know your system like the back of your hand:

Whether you have previous experience with computers or this is the first time you've opened one up, you'll gain a good grasp on how your system operates and what you may need to do to troubleshoot any issues.

- Geek Pride:

Unless you're reading up on this site to understand what you're friend or someone you paid will be doing to your computer, you'll have full bragging rights. While you may not be able to convince your boss that you deserve employee of the month for overclocking, you'll be able to proudly display your rig at the next LAN party.

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Overclocking can be difficult so make certain you understand how to overclock a computer and have the necessary overclocking benchmark software before you begin.