Risks of Overclocking:

- Your warranty may be void:

A voided warranty means that you won't be receiving any assistance or replacement from the manufacturing company. They only made their hardware to handle what it's set to, not what you set it to.

- Lowered lifespan for your components:

Your components where tested to operate at their defaults for an extended period of time. By pushing their limits, you're increasing the stress that is being applied to it. This will result and a shorter life span of the component when compared to an unmodified version.

- High temperature environment:

Don't want to fry your components instantly? Get ready to drop some extra dough on cooling devices for whatever you overclocked, and even for just your case in general. Just because your overclocked hardware can handle the heat without added cooling, doesn't mean other components can.

- Overclocking does not increase efficiency:

Just because you've managed to overclock your CPU, doesn't mean that it's as efficient as a more expensive chip that operates by default at that speed. No matter what you do overclocking wise, the instruction set for the CPU will still remain at what it was mean to, limiting your efficiency gain.

- It isn't for everyone:

Hope you don't mind the chances of your system just not working without any indication as to why. Many times when you overclock a system, you'll end up running into a series of oddities that you can't always explain. Thus, the process isn't always cut and dry and can become very time consuming.

Benefits of Overclocking:

- Improved performance:

Your CPU is now faster than it was before, and while that may not be as efficient as the next step up, it's definitely competition.

- Your bank account will thank you:

Instead of buying new components as the biggest and best come out, overclocking allows you to take advantage of the components you already have that may have a little bit of age to them. Overclocking lets your current components hold their own for longer then they would at stock specifications.

- Increased understanding of your system:

Delving into the depths of your system is a great way to learn more about it. Hands on learning is the best way to understand your system and control all aspects of it directly.

- Showing Off:

Unless you're reading up on this site to understand what you're friend or someone you paid will be doing to your computer, you'll have full bragging rights. While you may not be able to convince your boss that you deserve employee of the month for overclocking, you'll be able to proudly display your rig at the next LAN party.