The terms overclock/overclocking have emerged in the last couple of years or so, steadily gaining ground as consumers wise up to the technique as a way of purchasing cheaper hardware but getting the performance associated with much more expensive models. The countable noun overclocker is also used, and refers both to a mechanism used in the process and to a person who ‘does’ it, as illustrated in the third citation above. There’s also an opposite term underclock, which describes the technique of making a computer run more slowly, usually in order to reduce power consumption. Underclocking is often used as a way of improving battery life and can be set to kick in when a device is using battery rather than mains power.

The terms overclock/overclocking have emerged in the last couple of years or so, steadily gaining ground as consumers wise up to the technique as a way of purchasing cheaper hardware but getting the performance associated with much more expensive models. The countable noun overclocker is also used, and refers both to a mechanism used in the process and to a person who ‘does’ it, as illustrated in the third citation above. There’s also an opposite term underclock, which describes the technique of making a computer run more slowly, usually in order to reduce power consumption. Underclocking is often used as a way of improving battery life and can be set to kick in when a device is using battery rather than mains power.