Whats with the overclocking?

Lots of motherboards come bios locked. It's the norm for pre-built computers, like those from HP or Dell.

You really should look at chipset reviews rather than what manufacturers tell you as the oced value. If you don't oc, yes you can ignore them.

Felix:
Just FYI, some BIOS utilities will have a number of options disabled initially as the guys above have said, but generally there is a combination of keys you can press to unlock them (CTRL+F1, for examlple).

The restricted settings normally include the options that allow you to change your memory and CPU voltages and FSB frequency. If you do decide to start overclocking in the future, then the more basic BIOS (found in most commercially built machines) is a good way to start.

Agree with Zorg, try and find a board with a Q6600 or similiar CPU that runs at 2.66GHz because they generally have a very generic FSB freq that can work very well with most ram modules (using what's known as a 'clock multiplier') and is a good way to start overclocking (easier calculations).

As for your question, I wouldn't look too far into whether or not your mobo is overclocked - if it is sold overclocked then 9 times out of 10 the distributor has run some extensive testing on it to ensure its stability, not to mention manufacturer warranties.

Overclocking is frowned at mostly by people who don't fully understand it, but given the hardware available today it would be damn near impossible to damage your hardware during overclocking, because mobos that allow you to clock to those higher frequencies have very good heat sensors that will prevent your board from even running if the equipment gets too hot.

Buy whatever looks attractive to you, don't worry too much about overclocked components.

Effect of voltage depends on the particular cpu. A q6600 can tolerate higher voltages much better than most other chips. It's one of the major reasons why most overclockers prefer such a dated cpu over newer ones. The official "recommended voltage" on Intel's website for q6600 is listed as 1.5v or below. At 3.6ghz, q6600 can usually run fully stable at 1.45, which is well within safe limits for a q6600, but much higher than q9300/e8400's official recommendation of 1.3v.

Point was, it's easy to damage cpu through oc for some chips, not as easy for others. No blanket statements.

I am curious though, if you wanted to do an extreme overclock, why would you be doing it on a mobo that would allow your CPU to fry? Modern day mobos won't complete the post if the CPU is clocked too high, and older mobos that WOULD fry a cpu don't have the clock multipliers to stress todays 'latest' cpu's. Or am I wrong? Not having a dig, genuinley curious.

Yeah thats good, cheers lol