Overclocking is the process of increasing the operating frequency of computing equipment above its standard operating values. In mining, overclocking is used to increase hashrate when the equipment and cooling system can operate reliably at higher settings.

Depending on the equipment architecture and specific algorithm, overclocking may be applied to the frequency of computing chips or memory.

The Cost of Higher Frequency

Increasing frequency generally increases the load on computing components. Depending on the architecture, this can lead to higher power consumption, higher chip temperature, and an increase in hardware errors.

If cooling is insufficient, thermal throttling may be activated. In this case, actual hashrate may be lower than expected despite the higher configured frequency.

Overclocking and Power Efficiency

Maximum hashrate does not always correspond to the most efficient operating mode. For economic operation, the additional hashrate is compared with the additional power consumption, and changes in hashrate per watt are evaluated.

Overclocking is often combined with adjustments to the power limit and undervolting to find a suitable balance between performance, temperature, and power consumption.