When building gaming PCs, we want to get the most performance possible. That’s why many consider overclocking their components. Today, we’ll explain what overclocking is, how it works, and whether it’s really dangerous for your PC.
What is Computer Overclocking
Overclocking is the process of increasing the operating frequencies of components. The higher the frequency, the more operations per clock cycle CPUs, GPUs, and RAM modules can perform. This boosts performance, increases FPS in games, and shortens render times in professional software.
Why Overclocking Can Be Dangerous
The frequency of computer components is a dependent value measured in Hertz (Hz). To raise it, you also need to increase voltage, measured in volts (V).
The problem is that higher voltage leads to greater heat generation. This accelerates natural degradation — the breakdown of internal chip structures. As a result, components become less durable and may fail sooner.
Higher voltage also puts extra stress on the power delivery systems of graphics cards and motherboards. Controllers, MOSFETs, drivers, capacitors, chokes — all these components wear out faster and may become damaged. Repair is often costly, and it’s usually easier to replace components than fix old, worn-out ones.
Can You Overclock Without Raising Voltage?
In many cases, yes — but you won’t be able to raise the frequency significantly. Performance gains will be minor.
For example, if your DDR4 RAM runs at 1.35V and 3200 MHz, and you don’t increase the voltage, you may only reach 3600 MHz. That would result in about a 5% performance increase in games. The same applies to the CPU and GPU: without raising voltage, you won’t get a significant boost.
So, why overclock if it shortens lifespan? The secret lies in increasing voltage just slightly. In that case, natural degradation is minimal and component lifespan remains stable. A good cooling system also helps extend the life of your components.
Going back to the RAM example — don’t raise voltage too much. A bump from 1.35V to 1.38V is safe.
Next, we’ll cover how to overclock your computer. This won’t be a full guide — just general steps, otherwise the article would be too long.
Also, it’s easier to follow a video guide. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube on how to safely overclock PC components.
Intel CPU Overclocking
Only Intel CPUs with a “K” suffix can be overclocked. Also, overclocking is only available on motherboards with a “Z” chipset.
Make sure you have an effective cooling system — at the very least, one that handles the CPU well at stock settings. Check your power supply unit to ensure it can support the power demands of an overclocked CPU.
Once you’re sure your system is ready, follow these steps to overclock your CPU:
- Enter BIOS by pressing the “Delete” key during startup.
- Switch to Advanced Mode (usually called "Advanced Mode").
- Navigate to the overclocking tab. Names vary by motherboard: "AI Tweaker", "Extreme Tweaker", "M.I.T.", etc.
- Disable C-States and set LLC to a medium level.
- Enable "Sync All Cores" so all cores are overclocked.
- Increase the frequency by 100 MHz and voltage by 5 mV.
- Save changes and reboot.
- Run a stress test to check CPU stability.
If temperatures are normal and no errors occur, continue increasing. Repeat the steps, adding 100 MHz and 5 mV at a time. If temperatures spike or the stress test fails, revert to the last stable settings.
If your system won’t boot, reset the BIOS. Disconnect the PC from power, find the “CLR-CMOS” pins on the motherboard, and short them with a metal object (e.g., screwdriver). This resets BIOS. Reconnect power and try different frequency and voltage values.
AMD CPU Overclocking
To overclock AMD processors, you don't need expensive motherboards or CPUs with special suffixes. All you need is to check your power supply capacity, the efficiency of your cooling system, and the CPU's maximum frequency. You can find it in the specs on AMD’s official website or on any product page in online stores.
Follow this algorithm to start overclocking:
- Enter BIOS and go to the "Tweaker" menu. As with Intel CPUs, the name may vary depending on your motherboard manufacturer.
- Find the “CPU Clock Ratio” setting and input the multiplier. If your CPU runs at 4600 MHz, set the multiplier to 47 — this increases the frequency to 4700 MHz. To increase it by another 100 MHz, enter 48, and so on.
- Find the “CPU Vcore” setting and set the voltage between 1.25 and 1.32V. Do not go above this range as it may be dangerous and your PC may fail to boot.
- Save the BIOS settings, reboot the system, and run a stress test.
If temperatures are normal and no errors appear, repeat the process and raise the frequency further. If errors start showing up in the stress test, roll back to the last stable frequency.
RAM Overclocking
There are two ways to overclock RAM: automatically or manually. To save time and effort, we recommend the automatic method. Your RAM should support XMP — an overclocking profile that automatically applies the best frequency, timings, and voltage. Most modern RAM modules support it.
To set the desired frequency, enter BIOS and go to the “Memory” menu. Look for a setting called “Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.)” or something similar. The name may vary depending on the motherboard. Choose “Profile1” or “Profile2” and save the settings.
GPU Overclocking
To overclock your graphics card, you’ll need to download and install MSI Afterburner. Launch the app and press the “OC” button on the left side of the interface. A small window will open — click “Scan.” The program will start an automatic overclocking process, which may take 30 minutes to an hour. Once finished, click “Apply” in the center of the utility. Also, check the box for “Apply at Windows startup.”
Conclusion
Overclocking with minor voltage increases is a completely safe process that:
- improves FPS in games;
- makes the system more stable;
- reduces render times in professional software and applications.
How HYPERPC Computers Are Tuned
All HYPERPC computers undergo a minimum of 4 hours of testing in special stress-test software. These tools simulate heavy loads to identify defects and technical errors. If any instability is detected during testing, our engineers fine-tune the components in BIOS manually.
This way, we eliminate any issues to ensure maximum performance in both gaming and professional workloads.
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