Part of the final frontier with PCs is overclocking: getting more out of your system than it says on the box. But what settings do you change? How do you overclock safely? And do you need to change anything at all, or can you get a program to do it for you?

If you've ever asked yourself any of these questions, never fear. Here's what you need to know about overclocking.

If you want to overclock your PC, you're going to need to care a lot about how much heat your CPU generates. This video from LinusTechTips helps you understand how to pick the right heat sink, and more importantly, how to improve the one you have.

The Raspberry Pi 2 is a lot faster than its predecessors, but you still might want to overclock it for the best possible performance. Blogger Hayden James breaks down what each overclock setting does and shares some configurations for better performance.

With a custom operating system and the right package installed, it's not hard to get a Raspberry Pi running at 1GHz, up from its stock speed of 700MHz. But going beyond that? It is possible, but the gear required cancels out two of the main benefits of the device -- its portability and silent running.

If you want to squeeze every last ounce of processing power out of your new computer or ageing system, overclocking is a great -- if slightly nerve-racking -- option. Here are some simple guidelines for safely overclocking your processor.

Overclocking -- running your hardware at higher speeds than it was designed to run -- is one of the best ways to boost your gaming performance. Here's how to overclock your video card and get faster, smoother games without spending any extra money.

Do you consider yourself a PC enthusiast? Downloading the latest drivers the moment they're available, running custom tools to access hidden settings and overclocking your components to get the best bang for your buck? We'll, here's one tale that goes above and beyond your average tweaking session.

If you unwrapped a Raspberry Pi for the holidays or grabbed one to tinker with yourself, we already have some great projects you can try. If you wish your Raspberry Pi had a little more juice for that XBMC media center or arcade table, it's not too hard to overclock it.

Video cards are being used these days for more than just gaming, with frameworks such as NVIDIA's CUDA and OpenCL allowing general purpose applications to be coded to run on your GPU. If you're just throwing frame after frame of pixels onto the screen, the odd error or two from an overclocked card is going to go unnoticed. But in an applications like [email protected] where precision is a must?

For $US35, you can't expect too much out of the tiny 700MHz Raspberry Pi computer. However, according to the official site, you can now overclock the little processer up to 1GHz without voiding your warranty.

Productivity may be our main focus here at Lifehacker, but that doesn't mean we don't like to kick back with a good video game once in a while (after all, they're more than just an entertaining time sink). This weekend, take a break and de-stress with some of your favourite games (and some tweaks to make them better).

There's nothing inherently wrong with a product you buy off the shelf, but there's definitely something awesome about hacking it to make it better. This weekend, throw your warranties aside and bring something new to the things you already own.

It's a sad fact of life that over time, all of our computers get a little bit slower. Before you start shelling out for a new machine, take some time this weekend to perform some maintenance tasks, upgrade a single piece of hardware, or even overclock your machine for a little speed boost.

You may have heard about how flashing a new ROM can improve your Android experience, but flashing a new kernel is one of the best ways to improve your phone's performance, battery life and even add some saucy new features. Whether you know anything about either, here's what you need to know to make it happen.

Overclocking is a great way to eke a bit more gaming power out of your computer, and Windows users have quite a few tools to help them do it easily. Our favourite of the bunch is the insanely easy to use, feature-filled MSI Afterburner.

While it won't likely mean your old video card can magically run the latest games on ultra settings, overclocking your video card is a solid way to eke a bit of extra gaming performance out of your computer. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do it properly.

Netbooks run basically the same OS as your desktop PC, but their portability and low cost mean that they're made to run a bit slower. By overclocking you can push it just over the speed bump to where it's a bit more usable. Here's how to overclock your Atom-based PC or netbook.

Windows only: If you're looking for a way to eke a bit more performance out of your video card, free app Precision from manufacturer EVGA will help you easily overclock your NVIDIA card—even if it isn't made by EVGA.

We've made brief mention of it before, but today we're taking a closer look at SetCPU, the app that makes overclocking happen on Android — as well as other ways to use it.