Is overclocking not that prevalent or is Ebay full of liars?

ScretHate

[H]ard|Gawd
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Before I decided to go the 2500k path, I was toying around with the idea of picking up a Q6600 G0 on Ebay to hold me over until Ivy Bridge or even Haswell. Well, when I was browsing around - I must've looked at 20+ listings for this prized overclocker - it seemed like every chip was "pulled from an office pc" and "never overclocked." I just found it funny that apparently all these people selling the overclocker's chip of the last five years would claim that theirs has never been OC'd. So are they lying or is overclocking just not that popular?
 
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I don't think its that popular overall. However, many of those who don't overclock probably don't know the option exists and wouldn't even think to advertise it as "never overclocked". So yeah, I would be suspicious of those listings.
 
I would say both.

Overclocking amongst the general population is definitely not prevalent, we are a niche category, and that Ebay is full of liars.

The motivation for some cpu sellers to lie is pretty obvious imho, they are concerned that the casual joe may not buy their previously overclocked cpu thinking it'll burn out quicker, or some similar crap.
 
I never did OC my Q6600 or other CPUs, was thinking about it but decided it wasn't worth the trouble even thou I had a few water cooling systems.
 
The ebay thing is lie I guess, but in reality only small amount of all CPUs get overclocked. Overclocking is very enthusiastic, although most advanced users or professionals know about it, they just don't do that, because apart from the unlocked CPU you need mobo with OC cabilities and better cooling. Seems that is also reason why unlocked CPUs are sold for extra price, there is otherwise no technical difference between standard and black edition CPUs.
 
The vast majority of the population does not overlcock, nor are they able to overclock even if they desired to do so. I mean, more often than not the bios of a retail desktop won't allow a user to overlock.

Look at the ebay seller's other auctions. If they are selling dozens of computer cpus and other parts then they really are probably just pulling them out of dead retail desktops. Of course this is not an absolute rule, but you get the idea. Then again, if the seller is familiar enough with overclocking to know that people don't want a cpu that has been overclocked, that seller might just be lying.
 
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