Tom's Hardware: "A few months ago, we compared the Phenom II X2 555 to Intel's Pentium G6950 in both stock and overclocked form. When the dust settled, the results were inconclusive after we enthusiastically over-volted the Pentium CPU past its limits and into oblivion. Even though the load temperatures were quite cool, the processor died halfway through our benchmarks. Readers also commented in the forums that they wanted to see what would happen if our Phenom II X2 555 could run with its dormant CPU cores enabled."
Benchmark Reviews: Enthusiasts have lost sight of the original purpose behind overclocking, which was made popular because it could make something slow become fast, thereby getting something more for your money. Then at some point the computer industry went from asking consumers to pay more for the faster products, to demanding you pay more for products you might be able to make faster. This article will focus on one of the lesser-known threats to the desktop PC platform: overclocking.
I think it's always been about bragging rights more than need. Forget about the special products to facilitate those users who wanted to overclock and can afford it. If you're a true overclocker, you won't buy any of the off-the-shelf, top-line overclockable products, but instead take more simple hardware to a faster level -- like the article says. It's all about the challenge. That said, fast hardware is cheaper than ever these days and unless you're a hobbyist, it's not really worth overclocking.
