QOTD: Do You Overclock Your PC?
There's no real shortage of processors and graphics cards these days. For every application and intent of building, there's a CPU and GPU that will fit your needs, and budget.
What's also equally apparent these days is that CPUs are very fast, relative to what was available just a few short years ago. This isn't to say that today's CPUs are significantly faster in clock frequency however--they're faster overall and significantly more efficient. Even Intel's Pentium 4 CPU was able to reach current CPU frequencies no problem.
When CPU clock frequencies were sub-gigahertz, overclocking brought in a significant boost in speed ratio. But today, with high frequency processors, overclocking doesn't nearly bring in as much, relatively. However, it must be said that getting more bang for your dollar is mainly what this is about, and squeezing every bit of performance from our components means a lot more than just the bottom line.
The question of the day is: Do you overclock your computers?
If you do, what kind of cooling do you use?
If you don't overclock, tell us why as well.
Check out pictures of some of the craziest systems Tom's Hardware saw around the net last weekend.

I overclock because like it says I want to squeeze as much performance as I can from my hardware.
I've been overclocking my CPU's since the Pentium 1 days.
An aftermarket heatsink/fan is a must. I tend to use hardware website reviews along with Newegg customer reviews in my decision regarding which HSF to purchase.
CPU: Q6700
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120
Motherboard: Asus P5E
Maximum Overclock: 3.67GHz
Normal Overclock: 3.0GHz
Temps (normal OC) - Idle: Mid to Upper 30's Celcius | Load: Mid 40's Celcius
I also have a 4850e on a 790GX that is not overclocked, and won't be; it's on 24/7 and I want lowest power consumption.
My wife's PC is a 5400 X2 on a 790GX. It has a Ninja Mini on it, but isn't overclocked. I just got some better RAM for it, and will likely try to push it some (she runs LOTS of stuff at the same time), but I think I see a 720 in her future.
Cooling with a ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro. Again, nothing crazy. Does the job very well and quiet at the same time.
Amd PII 940 3.5ghz
MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum
BFG GeForce GTX 285 OC
Corsair 4gb (2x2gb)
Here is the specs
AMD Phenom X3 8650 @ 3.1 ghz
Jetway HA07 790GX Board
Transcend P-Series DDR2 800 Mhz [5-5-5]
Western Digital 640Gb AAKS
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer
Thermaltake M9 with 2 pre-installed fans.. will change them with Antec Tri-Cool 120mm and add an extra 120mm .
POV Black Diamond 500 W SMPS
I also have the new AMD Phenom II 720 (which I'm currently overclocking for the AMD virtual contest) that I will keep overclocked on just plain air cooling using Thermalright Ultra 120 Black Edition.
I find that's it definitely a way to get more bang for the buck. Even though it might make it last a little less time with the the way chips get outdate so fast, there's really no problem with keeping overclocked with the right cooling.
With my watercooling setup it stays at 39C at 100% full load running SMP Folding@Home.
I have overclocked since P2 days and have never had a really bad experience or lost major hardware except a few athlons along the way(My bad, super stressed the components knowing I was on track to killing them)
Have had some superb OC before, Best though are P4 3.0ghz at 3.8ghz prescott chip on s478 with zalman flower cooler, still running daily at this clock after several years and my current core2duo 7200 clocked at 3.8ghz with artic cooler freezer 7 pro which has been running flat out for ten months now at this speed, even had it over 4.2ghz before booting into windows.
Point is, if you have the correct kit, take your time and do it slowly unless you know what the kit is capable of, you can gain way more than 3-5 frames per second in my view.
It's cooled with an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
It runs ok, doesn't overheat, but runs hot!
NB: 1.40V, RAM: DDR2 800 "cheap" Apacer memory, tightened to 4-4-4-12 and overvolted to 2.15V.
What others are missing is the gfx card.
My 8600GT runs at 652MHz, 1400 MHz shaders. GDDR3 runs at 1.9Ghz, (950MHz).
It doesn't help that I haven't bought a 3rd party mobo in a while. But when you get them for free....
Intel dg33tl
Intel q9650
Crucial 4x2GB 800MHz
9800 GX2 (the only OC, to 700/1050/1700 - core/mem/shaders)
Nice Call judeh101, 3.2 is great for that c2d
Graphics cards are essential overclockers as well, have 4870 OC to 850MHZ core and 4400MHZ Memory, a sweet overclock, figured that by the time it would have made a difference to the life of the card I would have moved a couple of generations on from it.
I never did go to water cooling though, but only because prices of such setups make them less bung for $$$ than using air cooling. Pretty much the same as my Ninja "miss" - I doubt that this CPU would get much further even if it was watercooled.
What I DO NOT overclock are PCs used for just surfing on the Net and using office apps.. makes no sence to do it there, as any CPU is already overkill for those apps.
Cheers!
(I'm starting to like these QOTD articles