Overclock

1 definition found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  overclock /oh'vr-klok'/ vt. To operate a CPU or other digital logic
     device at a rate higher than it was designed for, under the assumption
     that the manufacturer put some {slop} into the specification to account
     for manufacturing tolerances. Overclocking something can result in
     intermittent {crash}es, and can even burn things out, since power
     dissipation is directly proportional to {clock} frequency. People who


     make a hobby of this are sometimes called "overclockers"; they are
     thrilled that they can run their 450MHz CPU at 500MHz, even though they
     can only tell the difference by running a {benchmark} program.