So we hate to break it to the good guys at Tom's Hardware, but while we're impressed that they managed to overclock a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 to 5.1GHz using a cryogenic cooling system, it's not nearly close to the world record they're claiming -- we've seen P4's at up to 8.18GHz, and just a couple months ago someone jacked a Core 2 Extreme QX9775 on a Skulltrail board to 6GHz. Still, it's always fun to watch people pour liquid nitrogen over a mobo -- video after the break.

[Via PC World]

Straight up, this one sounds just too bizarre to ever be true, but we suppose (almost) anything goes when talkin' AMD. Now that you're suitably skeptical, word on the street has it that AMD's triple- and quad-core Phenom processors posses a half dozen "hidden pins" which can enable painfully easy overclocking when paired with the right chipsets. Yeah, this sounds way too much like some sort of Up / Down / Up / Down / Select / Start fantasy boost, but apparently a 2.8GHz Black Edition CPU can be taken to 3GHz with a SB700-equipped motherboard or an even more tantalizing 3.2GHz when used with a SB750. As expected, the release date for this tech is listed as unknown, but maybe that's just some code trying to tell us we're really stuck in the Twilight Zone.

[Thanks, kris120890]

Hold onto your frame rates folks, as Alienware has just relaunched its more-potent-than-ever Area-51 ALX desktop. The bona fide gaming rig packs a 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9770, but rather than being satisfied with Intel's work, this thing comes overclocked to 4GHz -- it's "maximum stable output." As expected, you'll find the outfit's own High-Performance Liquid Cooling solution to keep things from turning into molten hot lava, and you'll also have your choice of twin NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GPUs or an ATI CrossFireX configuration with dual ATI Radeon 3870 X2 cards. Furthermore, you'll notice 4GB of DDR3 RAM, dual Ethernet ports, an optional Blu-ray burner, oodles of hard drive space and all the other high-end niceties you've come to expect from the company. Only problem? The $5,549 starting price that comes along with the 4GHz CPU and required 1,200-watt PSU.

Yeah, we've seen other mad scientists take way more antiquated chips to higher figures on the GHz scale, but can that cryogenically cooled P4 handle all those SSE4.1 instructions? The latest feat of overclocking prowess comes to us courtesy of K|ngp|n, who has apparently taken Skulltrail beyond the 6GHz mark. You'll also notice the 1,716MHz FSB (!!!) and the fact that it's sizzling along at 1.953-volts -- but hey, no one said running Crysis would be easy, right?

[Via The Inquirer]

It's safe to assume that if you're using one of OLPC's XO laptops, you're not exactly a speed demon. Still, you probably wouldn't mind squeezing a little more power out of that innocuous Geode CPU -- and now there's a way to do it. The cats and kittens over at OLPC News have discovered a way to (relatively) safely overclock your system using a shortcut at the open firmware prompt. At least one reader reports a 21.8 percent boost in system speed, and claims that bumping the 433MHz processor to 588MHz, and the 166MHz RAM to 233MHz has resulted in a much smoother ride with Ubuntu. Of course, if you decide to try this, keep in mind that just like overclocking the big boys, you could explode your system, restart the Cold War, or attract tons of vampires.

The fury has really been unleashed over at AMD, as the cats in 2nd place take aim at the pocketbooks lowdown, dirty overclockers. Feeling like getting into it? Then you'll probably want to get your hands on the extra-special Phenom 9600 "Black Edition" quad-core processor, which allows brave souls to tweak (i.e., overclock) to their hearts content by utilizing the company's OverDrive utility. It's not all rainbows and unicorns, however, as these chips apparently contain a bug which under extreme conditions can cause the CPUs to perform in a less than stellar manner. AMD says that it hasn't witnessed any of its production installations exhibit the errata, and that only its internal stress-tests have pushed the processor into the danger zone (cue Loggins). If you're really concerned, a BIOS patch will circumvent the issue, but may suck away 20-percent of your delicious speed. The choice is yours.

[Via TG Daily]

Get ready, OCZ is comin' atcha with some newfangled RAM technology that's likely to scare off the very market it's hoping to attract, but we're here to break things down for digestion. Put (sort of) simply, the firm's DDR3 PC3-12800 Intel XMP Ready Titanium Edition RAM will become the first memory to feature Intel Extreme Memory Profiles, which work exclusively with Intel's X38 chipset to enable the average joe (or jane) to overclock their RAM without even knowing what latency means. The sticks will come configured to run 8-8-8 latencies, but a secondary profile featuring a 7-6-6 latency can be easily activated if ran on an X38 chipset to squeeze a bit more performance out of the setup. There, that wasn't too hard, now was it?

[Via TrustedReviews]

The QX6850 is just one of six new Core 2 Duo-ish procs introduced by Intel today. The other most notable addition is the 2.6GHz Core 2 Extreme X7800 with an 800MHz dynamic FSB and 4MB L2 cache -- Intel's first "Extreme" branded processor to make the leap from desktops to laptops. A 2.8GHz X7900 is expected later in the year. No worries though, the X7800's unlocked multiplier should allow for "easy" overclocking. In fact, some (vaguely insane) Belgian tinkerers over at Matbe have already dialed in a 3GHz speed on an X7800-equipped ASUS G2S gaming laptop. Niiice. Expect to see the first gaming laptops sporting the new $851 X7800 procs in the next few weeks.

Read -- Overclocked ASUS G2S
Read -- Intel's new processors

[Via El Reg]

You already knew that our Chinese brethren were tearin' it up at Computex 2007, but this one is of particular interest here in the US. Turns out that Asus' OCgear overclocking module actually doesn't have a graphics card integrated in, rather, it's simply an extra peripheral that will connect up to your card via USB or PCIe. Reportedly, a proprietary connector was initially considered, but the tried and true connectors proved quicker in the end. We have to admit, it certainly adds that finishing layer of geekness to the front panel of the PC, but why not hit the read link and view the gallery of hands-on snapshots for yourself, cool?

Nah, 8,180MHz can't hold a candle to 500GHz, but on the long road of overclocking Intel's Pentium 4 where there is an increasingly brief amount of time available to brag before being trumped, the zany Italians have crowned themselves champs once more. Not content with just hitting 8GHz with a "Cedar Mill" Pentium 4 631, OC Team Italy managed to push that very model an additional 179MHz by tweaking the FSB. The final results yielded a 173-percent overclock, and while this here setup may run stable for a continued period if placed at the depths of Antarctica, we can't imagine this being too feasible for the common man to replicate and actually utilize.

Hardcore gamers seeking top-of-the-line performance can always look to Alienware for rigs with the latest components -- at a steep premium, of course -- so it's no surprise that the recent Dell acquisition has decided to stuff an overclocked, quad core Core 2 Extreme QX6700 chip into the legendary Area-51 ALX. The mad scientists tinkering away at AW HQ (a UFO, perhaps?) have stepped Intel's premiere CPU up from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHZ -- a pretty sizable boost, while still giving speed addicts room to push the processor even further. As usual with this gear, pricing will range wildly depending on the configuration you choose, but expect to pay top dollar for the extra labor and always-pimpin' case.

Back in the olden days, before Abraham Lincoln put an end to the megahertz myth -- or was it Theodore Roosevelt, we always get so confused -- the Pentium 4 ruled the land, with its deep instruction pipeline and PR-friendly xtreem clock speeds. Luckily, Intel wised up and started beefing up the quantity and efficiency of cores instead of just the megahertz, but the megahertz myth still lives on in our hearts, and OC Team Italy keeps that hope alive with its latest achievement: an 8000MHz (8GHz in layman's terms) overclocked Pentium 4. The lucky chip to reach such ridiculous frequencies is a "Cedar Mill" Intel Pentium 4 631, with a standard clock speed of 3GHz. It wasn't just a case of flipping a few pins here and there, the OC folks used a modified ASUS P5B motherboard, with an added copper pipe and a few voltage modifications, along with a little bit of your garden-variety liquid nitrogen to keep it all cool. Golf claps all around, OC, now can you do something to rev up a processor that's actually going to be useful for something? Wait. What's gotten into us? Keep up the good work!

[Via Slashdot]

It seems that the "most powerful" laptop in Alienware's ever-growing lineup has already lost its crown, as the (somewhat) budget-friendly m5700-series has received a new member, and the "Special Edition" m5790 delivers a base price that won't elicit rage from the SO, but offers up an overclocked CPU option to satisfy your speed cravings nonetheless. Aside from the 17-inch display, 512MB of RAM, 60GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600, gigabit Ethernet, 56k modem, Bluetooth, WiFi, and combo drive, the machine seems fairly vanilla, but if you cough up $800, you can get an overclocked 2.66GHz Intel T7600G Core 2 Duo processor to spice things up. Among the other upgrades that push the pricetag on this lower-end machine up into the clouds are a $200 UXGA screen, $430 for 2GB of DDR2 RAM, $270 for 200GB of HDD space, $600 for a built-in Blu-ray drive, and $350 for ATI's Mobility Radeon X1900. So if you're in the mood for seeing just how much self-control your mousing finger really has, surf on over to the read link and (try to) buy only what you want need.

[Via TGDaily]

We're not suggesting you try this at home (though we're also not suggesting that doing so will melt your MacBook Pro), but according to reports trickling out on the internets, the graphics processor in Apple's MacBook Pro is woefully underclocked. One user who tested his unit found that the MBP's Radeon X1600 came in at just 310MHz, compared to 470MHz on similarly equipped laptops from other brands (we almost said "similarly equipped Windows-based laptops," but, hey, we can't do that anymore, can we?). So, what's a gamer to do? Why, overclock it -- or reclock it, if you believe the unit is underclocked in the first place. Just boot your MBP into Windows (you do know how to do that, right?), run ATI Tools 0.2.5 and kiss your sluggish graphics (and probably your warranty) goodbye. Oh, and just in case you really don't know how to run Windows on your MBP, it turns out that at least one retailer is now selling models with XP pre-installed. Get one now, before Apple shuts them down.

Read - GPU
Read - XP pre-installed on MBP