Nowadays high performance chips are fabricated with copper used as the metalization. Copper atoms are smaller than Aluminium which is the traditional material used to fabricate metalization in ICs, and furthermore lack the capability to form an impermeable oxide layer like that in Al. That makes copper more prone to electro-migration. The increased voltages will accelerate copper electro-migration and result in early failure.

Forgive me if I seem to be throwing a fox into the chicken coop, but one AMD design engineer I knew preferred to *underclock* his PC and said overclocking as well as fancy glow-in-the-dark UV doodads is for stupid people. I tend to agree. Overclocking induces electromigration, while UV light is know to accelerate the degradation of polymers.

It's just like using NO boost on your car 24/7: you feel damn syok sendiri but will cry when the repair bills come.

However, having said all that, what I can say is that there nothing ethically wrong with overclocking as long as you know what you are getting yourself into. Just don't go whining to the manufacturer asking for a RMA when you overclock parts that are not suitable to OC and cause them to break. Overclock knowing full well that you are voiding a manufacturer's warranty