Gamertell

In today’s technology race, consumers can easily find themselves paying more than five thousand dollars for a high performance gaming computer. The Chicago-based company Überclock hopes to offer consumers a cheap alternative with two new models of customized CPU’s, both of which utilize overclocking to boost system performance. For those of us who are less computer savvy (like me), the company’s product site defines the term very well:

Overclocking means configuring one or more components of a PC to run faster than their default speed, which is set at the factory. PC enthusiasts (which is a fancy term for computer geeks) have been doing this at home for years. Although it was known that PC components could be sped up, finding the highest STABLE speed was a game of trial and error.

Garage PC enthusiasts of the 1980’s and big CPU manufacturers like Intel needed to find a common ground which would let tech savvy consumers maximize performance without running the risk of destroying their equipment. Intel also wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t be “too easy to take a $170 chip and make it run as fast as the $975 model,” as the product site states.

The compromise is a line of overclock-friendly chips that had a price-graded component called a “multiplier,” which is unchangeable on all of the chip models except, of course, the most expensive one. The higher the multiplier, the easier it is to overclock your PC to ri-god-damn-diculous speeds. According to Überclock, this means “Intel gets to sell its processors at different price points, allows overclockers to do our thing, and manages to give us incentives to spend more if we can.”

So it’s still possible to make less expensive chips perform as well as their costly counterparts, and as you can see, Überclok is betting that they can turn this skill into a commercial niche. Their FAQ sheet and product specifications give helpful information in plain terms, or as plain as humanly possible when it comes to computers. In an interview with Driver Heaven (no date given - amateurs) Überclok employee Thomas Glen states, “The purpose of Überclok is to bring overclocking to the masses, to those who don’t already know how to overclock for themselves.”

Which begs the question, doesn’t the transition of this homegrown user rebellion into a lithe business venture seem a little fascist? What Intel and Überclok are basically making their money on is the fact that people don’t know how to configure their own computers. Then again, that’s what auto mechanics do with cars, and if you ask me to choose between learning to overclock myself or dropping a little over a thousand dollars I’d probably reach for my wallet. Plus, these babys are shiny and blue. I think I’m in love.

Read [Überclock] Also Read [Driver Heaven]