Tech: The Wages of Overclocking

I remember the first time I overclocked a processor: I was trying to squeeze ever more performance out of my VooDoo II . I used the built-in driver's overclocking settings to squeeze a few more frames-per-second out of the aging hardware. The improvement wasn't really noticeable, so I turned it back down to the normal clock.

One thing I've learned in my travels, though, is that you should never overclock a laptop. They just don't take kindly to the extra heat. I tried overclocking my Mobility Radeon 7000 and basically broke the card after a few prolonged sessions of Battlefield 1942. After the card sputtered and died, I couldn't even boot up my PC. Laptop graphics cards are not replaceable, either, so I was SOL - had to get a new laptop.

The proper way to do it is to overclock, but to add in more or better cooling for your ailing chips. Of course, like anything else tech-related, people can go off the deep end. In this case, the pool is filled with eight gallons of cooking oil: