Abstract :
The author spotlights "better-than-worst-case" design. With normal worst-case design, any computing system is a conglomeration of components, operating within frequencies, power supply voltages, and temperature ranges that were set to simultaneously accommodate worst-case values of every single component. These stacked margins result in noticeable headroom under nominal conditions. It is this headroom that lets the overclockers ply their trade and provides ammunition to the conspiracy theory-minded among them. Overclockers can demonstrate computers apparently running stably at substantially higher clock rates than those that the chip vendors guarantee. The author looks at whether they have a point.
