WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.879 these days the process of artificially boosting your processor's performance is 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:11.599 really quite straightforward many motherboards offer a one-click oc of 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:16.320 some sort and for those who want to get their hands dirtier the most that's 00:00:13.920 --> 00:00:20.800 often required is a quick boost to the speed and the voltage in your bio 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:26.400 settings which takes all of five minutes plus the subsequent stress 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:29.599 testing but like so many other things in 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:31.199 life this process used to be much more 00:00:29.599 --> 00:00:35.600 involved in the past overclocking didn't begin with modern 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:41.280 gamers trying to squeeze a few more frames per second out of the crisis 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.520 games but rather overclocked consumer 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:46.640 cpus actually first hit the scene all the way back in the 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:51.600 mid-1980s that's right not long after the original 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:54.800 ibm pc started making its way into homes and offices 00:00:52.879 --> 00:01:00.000 the first widespread overclocked consumer CPU wasn't some fancy unlocked 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:06.240 model that Intel marketed to gamers but rather it was the humble 8088 the same 00:01:03.440 --> 00:01:11.439 chip that was at the heart of the ibm pc because the original pc was relatively 00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:16.880 easy for other manufacturers to clone they tried to set their machines apart 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:18.479 by jacking up the CPU speed by over 00:01:16.880 --> 00:01:24.840 twice as much i mean granted this was just from 4.7 to 00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:28.240 10 megahertz but come on it's the mid 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:29.840 1980s and this wasn't just a matter of 00:01:28.240 --> 00:01:33.680 the manufacturer changing a few bio settings before 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:39.439 shipping the computers out for sale instead they actually had to physically 00:01:36.479 --> 00:01:43.439 change out the crystal oscillator that dictated what the clock speed would be 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:48.640 so if you don't know what a crystal oscillator is it's a little chunk of 00:01:45.520 --> 00:01:50.880 material often quartz that vibrates at a 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:55.119 certain resonance to synchronize an electrical circuit this is the same 00:01:52.880 --> 00:01:59.759 reason that you often see analog watches and clocks that feature quartz movement 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:04.799 messing with the crystal oscillator was not only more laborious than modern 00:02:01.520 --> 00:02:06.640 overclocking it was also far less stable 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:11.520 so you know how in modern times it's common to change the CPU multiplier if 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:16.000 you want a speed boost but you typically leave the base clock alone well that's 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.319 because the base clock controls how other components in your system sync up 00:02:18.720 --> 00:02:24.319 with the CPU having a multiplier lets you crank up 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.400 the processor without interfering with your other stuff but back then well 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:32.720 there was no such thing as multiplier overclocking so getting other parts of 00:02:30.640 --> 00:02:36.959 your system to play nicely at over double the speed was often a huge 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:43.680 problem but even after multiplier overclocking came along in 1989 as part 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:45.360 of Intel's famous 486 processor changing 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:50.400 that multiplier was still a bit of a pain doing it in firmware wasn't quite a 00:02:47.920 --> 00:02:56.959 thing yet so enthusiasts had to adjust jumpers do their own soldering or even 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.599 use conductive pencils to draw traces of 00:02:56.959 --> 00:03:05.200 sorts between nodes that would tell the CPU to run faster the pain of having to 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:10.959 do all of this by hand plus the relative expensive cpus kept overclocking a niche 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:16.400 hobby for several more years but in the mid to late 2000s processors became 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:19.200 cheaper and better aftermarket cooling solutions started becoming more 00:03:17.920 --> 00:03:24.000 widespread furthermore it was around this time that 00:03:21.200 --> 00:03:27.040 the extreme enthusiast overclocking scene that we know today started to take 00:03:26.239 --> 00:03:33.280 off CPU clock speeds were growing by leaps and bounds even out of the box and 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:38.159 people got excited at the prospect of chasing ever higher speeds and smashing 00:03:35.760 --> 00:03:41.840 world records with setups involving liquid nitrogen and other exotic cooling 00:03:40.799 --> 00:03:47.760 methods it also didn't hurt that this was around the time that the internet was really 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:52.720 starting to catch on and as such a relatively new community of overclocking 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:57.519 hobbyists formed in a short time span then in the early 2000s biosas that 00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:02.319 allowed the user to regulate how much voltage was hitting the CPU as well as 00:04:00.239 --> 00:04:07.680 directly controlled the multiplier started coming out thanks to new AMD and 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:11.519 Intel chipsets making overclocking both easier for enthusiasts and accessible to 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:15.439 novices this led to not only the proliferation 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:21.040 of overclocking competitions that were getting lots of attention in technology 00:04:17.359 --> 00:04:24.560 publications but also to Intel and AMD 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:27.199 openly marketing unlocked cpus with k 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:30.880 and x indicating an unlocked model on the Intel side 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:36.240 though of course they didn't and still don't to this day officially support it 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:40.720 as they don't want to be responsible for thousands of questionable warranty 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:44.320 claims with that said you can buy extra coverage if you'd like as for the 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:49.040 current day the design of modern motherboards has gotten us to the point 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:54.960 where you don't even need a super exotic model in order to get a decent overclock 00:04:51.520 --> 00:04:58.560 with that said many manufacturers Intel 00:04:54.960 --> 00:05:00.960 AMD and even on the GPU side NVIDIA are 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:05.520 shipping their silicon so close to the red line that there's not a ton of 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:10.320 overclocking headroom left at least when we compare to the days of old and it's 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:15.600 for that reason as well as others that there are plenty of purists who yearn 00:05:12.880 --> 00:05:19.919 for the good old days of overclocking and having to physically tinker with the 00:05:17.840 --> 00:05:23.680 chip or the motherboard as for me i don't actually mind being 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:28.960 able to set it and forget it so i have time to pursue my other hobbies 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:32.800 if you're interested to learn more about what it takes to overclock head to 00:05:30.479 --> 00:05:36.400 www.Intel.com gaming where they're building out a 00:05:34.080 --> 00:05:40.800 bunch of educational resources for pc gaming and hardware from learning how to 00:05:38.479 --> 00:05:44.240 build a pc to tips on overclocking to how to get the most out of your game 00:05:42.320 --> 00:05:48.479 streaming Intel's got you covered so check it out today at the linked below 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:52.080 so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other videos and don't 00:05:50.320 --> 00:05:56.240 forget to subscribe to techwiki so you don't miss any of our upcoming videos it 00:05:54.479 --> 00:06:00.800 could even be one suggested by you if you take the time to leave a comment 00:05:57.520 --> 00:06:04.240 suggesting a video topic for the future 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.240 ran out of air there