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Overclocking is when you push your hardware harder than it is ment to go, to provide a performance boost.

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Unfortuntly your going to have to post your specs before I can tell you that(because every system is different).

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A working and well cooled computer

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Advantages:large performance boost(sometimes)

disadvantages:make more heat, make a system unstable(if pushed to hard), shorter overall computer lifespan(if not cooled correctly)

Post your specs and I can help you with Q2.

Hope this helps

And I would like to add to the disadvantages of overclocking: takes up an awful lot of time.

O/c-ing really requires a lot of patience to go through trial and error. You need to change the settings slowly and test for stability and performance. I always spend 1 hour benchmarking my system after each significant change to my system. What I mean by trial and error is, you have to test to see how far you can go. This could be the processor voltage (Vcore), RAM voltage (Vdimm), RAM timings, which divider to use, etc. It's a lot of work tweaking your system settings to squeeze out the most performance out of it.

1)What is overclocking?
2)How to overclock?
3)What do I need for overclocking
4)Advantages and disadvantages of overclocking

1. Running your hardware at speeds or settings in excess of rated.
2. Depends on hardware and individual knowledge.
3. Hardware, time to learn OC, the will to do it, and a bank account to replace things that lack of preparation (or impatience) causes you to destroy.
4. Adv: Zero to moderate performance gains, bragging rights, knowledge about hardware operation.
Dis: Time spent (lots of it), system instability, system failure, hardware destruction (if not disciplined), software incompatibility

In this forum, I personally won't even begin to touch the topic of introductory OC... but google is a good way to find lots of sites about it. Take a month or two, and just read and absorb. Know the system interactions of increasing frequencies, e.g. Know what 2-2-2-5-1T means. Know why some boards are better than others for OC. Know what unlocking a CPU does.

There are some experienced OCers in this forum (2 have already posted, I see). If any potential OCer does their homework, then has a direct question, I'd answer it, but I won't touch the beginner aspect of it... people will try it and then destroy something; entire websites are devoted to it, and it is very hardware specific.

As for general RTW/BI stuff, people in general have enough problems just getting it running smooth, optimized, and stable without OC settings... throw that in, and all other bets and troubleshooting are off. The experienced OCers can already read a troubleshooting procedure, and know what they have to do/allow for when testing video card settings, for example. That's why all procedures & HOWTOs I personally post assume no OCing. That's not to say that you can't... but you must know how its going to affect you, and account for it.

So OCing will complicate things considerably... but with the time and effort, it is not "rocket science"... for the careless or hasty, though, it can be "pocket science"... money from your pocket to your local computer dealer!

And one more thing... OCing for most people will require certain hardware to make an impact (like certain RAM) without reducing stability. The performance gained on low-grade stock in mose cases is trivial compared to simply putting the effort into optimizing your registry, disk drive, swapfile, system settings, etc. The downside of the latter is at most a system reinstall, not hardware destruction and hardware upgrades. So its much less expensive.

Thanks for all your help guys!

Just 1 more question:

Is overclocking worth it?

The shorter life span, more heat generated seems to make the idea of simply buying a better card is easier AND the lifespan will last longer.

Worth it? I'd say yes, but only under certain circumstances. If your hardware is new, and you're not a serious overclocker (people who buy new stuff just to o/c), then I'd suggest you leave things as they are. O/c-ing voids your hardware warranty, and IF anything untoward really happens to your rig as a result of o/c-ing, you'll be kicking yourself.

If you're relatively well-off, that tiny bit of risk shouldn't be a problem. For "budget overclockers" like me, it's a big one. That's why I've been extra careful when I o/c my system. It's not funny if I fry my graphics card and have to buy a new one. I simply don't have the money. If you're also like me - lacking cash - and really want to o/c, don't be too daunted by the risks involved. If you do everything right, nothing bad can happen to your system. The worst I've had to do was to reset my CMOS (BIOS) when my system refused to boot after I pushed my RAMs too far. Scary as it may sound, the procedure took me only 3 minutes or so each time.

I don't really see "shorter lifespan" as a problem. As I've said, the only risk is damaging your hardware in 5 minutes by doing something dumb. Overclocked hardware don't have a very much shorter lifespan than untouched hardware. The difference is not a lot, really. By the time it dies, it would have become very obsolete. It's more likely that you've upgraded before your hardware dies on you.

Heat isn't a big deal if you take certain precautions, such as improving airflow within the casing, and constantly monitoring the temperature of your hardware. For me, I'm very particular about system temperatures, so much that I'm actually undervolting my CPU to reduce the amount of heat it produces. Also, I installed a graphics card fan, an extra case fan, and I put in a lot of effort into sorting out the mess in my casing. Currently my CPU is running at 37 degrees C, my casing temperature is at 36 deg, and my hard disk is at 39 deg. Still quite a bit of headroom for more heat.