Overclocking a P4 1800; how much is safe?

I know that no chip is as reliable overclocked as when it is run at its rated speed; but, I have also seen several machines with Pentium chips that were overclocked and sold to unsuspecting customers as a higher speed chip. This overclocking wasn't discovered until sometimes 1- to 3 years later when I happened to be servicing a machine or replacing a fan.

As far as the customer knew, they had never had any problem and the machine ran fine.

So, my question is how much can a P4 1800 with the Intel-supplied CPU fan be overclocked and still be reliable?

 

There are so many variables as I am sure you know. Many times manufacturers will sell a chip that is UNDERCLOCKED due to demand, IE rated at 1800 but sold as 1600 because demand is high. They also will push some chips to the limit due to demand. Bottom line, HEAT is the enemy, if the chip does not overheat at a clock setting and is stable, there is no need to worry. As far as overclocking these days, 200mhz does not mean what it used to when we were playing with P90 chips etc... Not much to be gained in real world operations, more just the thrill of saying "I DID IT".

Just an opinion,
SeeYa

 

Frankly, I never thought much of overclocking. It seems ridiculous, sometimes The lengths people will go to and the expense involved will sometimes exceed the cost of a chip rated even faster than the overclocked speed.

But, I would still like to know how far a P4, 1800 could be safely pushed.