Overclocking, the process of raising the operating speed of a processor beyond the manufacturer´s recommended speed, could easily be called the bastard child of the semiconductor industry. Many semiconductor companies don´t like the fact that you, the average home user, can buy a less expensive product and then crank the speed of the processor up past the advertised speed, effectively getting a faster product for less money. Even though those companies have taken steps to make it more difficult over the years, overclocking is still a common practice among hardware enthusiasts.