[NOTE: Following the broadcast of today's episode, faithful viewer Bruce McLaughlin noted that information on overclocking the QuickSilver Power Macs is also available in English. The usual caveats still apply, though.]

Lastly in today's "Expo No-Show" special, we've got a quickie for all you megahertz junkies out there still staring at your shoes in disbelief. Were you crushed when Steve announced that the clock speeds of the latest Power Macs top out at a mere 867 MHz, instead of finally reaching the elusive gigahertz level? Well, if you're the type who ill-advisedly plunges headlong into dangerous waters with nary a second thought for the safety of yourself or your equipment, dry those tears, order up a QuickSilver, and get ready to void your warranty, because an honest-to-goodness gigahertz Mac is finally within your grasp. (And no, we're not talking about Xtrem, whose increasingly late 1066 MHz XtremMac is also increasingly irrelevant-- and just as vaporous as ever.)

See, a bashful faithful viewer who wishes to remain anonymous tipped us off to a web page which tells you step-by-step how to overclock your 867 MHz Power Mac so that it runs at the magic number of exactly 1 GHz. At least, that's what we think it tells you how to do; our Japanese reading skills are sadly nonexistent, but our "look at the pretty pictures" skills are just as sharp as they were in kindergarten. Nevertheless, if you're daring enough to take the plunge and go messing with jumpers on your Power Mac's motherboard, we strongly recommend that you at least be able to read the instructions instead of making your best guess at each step. (Our favorite bit is the bright red text following the little yellow "caution" sign, which we imagine translates roughly as "DANGER: If you're nuts enough to try this, we can't be held responsible if you inadvertently turn your $2499 investment into a big, pretty doorstop.")

The last images on the page are screenshots of System Profiler revealing the doctored system's G4 to be running at 1000 MHz, and a benchmark program showing the G4/1000 running 12% faster than it did when it began its life as an ordinary, run-of-the-mill G4/867. There you have it; the world's first gigahertz Power Mac running outside of a secret Apple lab. Now that we've shown you that it can be done, we're duty-bound to urge you not to try this at home, kiddies; AtAT is not responsible for any harm that may come to you, your equipment, or your credit line if you choose to ignore our advice. Personally, we're just happy to hear that a gigahertz Power Mac exists; we don't actually need to own one ourselves-- at least, not until Apple sells one ready-made.