Hardware Gigabyte's Open Overclocking Finals 2009

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...-finals-2009/1

During Computex 2009, Gigabyte held the worldwide finals of its Open Overclocking Championship 2009. Winners from heats in Europe, China, America and Asia were competing against last year's champs for a $5,000 first prize.

[p3n]

Who gets lucky with freakishly overperforming silicon wins? These contests are silly

A whole floor of a skyscaper is pretty cool though!

[alpaca]

silly contest... a shame Belgium didn't win :d we did make a good start tough.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Glad to see some Aussies representing.

[FeRaL]

I kind of find it irresponsible that Gigabyte did not require the use of protective/safety gear by the handlers of the LN2. But, I guess until someone spills it on themselves and sues the host it's not an issue.

[Toka]

Originally Posted by FeRaL

I kind of find it irresponsible that Gigabyte did not require the use of protective/safety gear by the handlers of the LN2. But, I guess until someone spills it on themselves and sues the host it's not an issue.

Its a relativley easy substance to work with, the only real danger areas are getting some caught (ie pooled) in a loose piece of clothing (pocket, shoe etc). Otherwise it generaly boils off before it can do harm.

If you have ever managed to pour some on your shoe when transfering some to / from a dewar you know what I mean!

[FeRaL]

Originally Posted by Toka

Its a relativley easy substance to work with, the only real danger areas are getting some caught (ie pooled) in a loose piece of clothing (pocket, shoe etc). Otherwise it generaly boils off before it can do harm.

If you have ever managed to pour some on your shoe when transfering some to / from a dewar you know what I mean!

Ah, I see now. Thanks for the info.

[Burdman27911]

Shame to see the US Team having those issues. I actually bought my current system (QX9650) from Miahallen, so it was pulling for them to win. Even though these competitions may not mean much to the consumer, I still find them interesting to watch, and I'm sure they are fun to take part in.

[flibblesan]

I could be in the minority but what is the point of overclocking a system so much that is only runs for a short period of time before dying completely?

[Zero_UK]

Awesome, 5k for playing with PC parts and liquid nitrogen on a system that isn't your own awesome.

[Sifter3000]

Originally Posted by Zero_UK

Awesome, 5k for playing with PC parts and liquid nitrogen on a system that isn't your own awesome.

It's a tough gig

[manxminx]

Originally Posted by flibblesan

I could be in the minority but what is the point of overclocking a system so much that is only runs for a short period of time before dying completely?

I so totally agree with you.

Personally I'd like to see a hands off 12 or 24 hour stability test in OC championships. That would be far more real world.

[StephenK]

Originally Posted by flibblesan

I could be in the minority but what is the point of overclocking a system so much that is only runs for a short period of time before dying completely?

I guess it's kind of like sprints versus marathons. It's not so much about making something useful as seeing how fast you can go, even if just for a short amount of time. Sure, as consumers we want the marathon setup that runs for ages but it's interesting to see just how far our current tech can be pushed.

[Neil McLachlan]

Originally Posted by FeRaL

I kind of find it irresponsible that Gigabyte did not require the use of protective/safety gear by the handlers of the LN2. But, I guess until someone spills it on themselves and sues the host it's not an issue.

You won't have much luck sueing anybody in Taiwan for injuries, they ain't like the US; If you tried to file a lawsuit the clerk would probably shoot you dead for wasting his time.

You don't produce the cheapest electronics in the world if you have to worry about worker safety.

To the guy asking why this is worth doing - Because it's interesting and from Gigabytes point of view it's dirt-cheap advertising. The cost of running this comp, all up, would be many thousands of dollars but in return they get multiple pages in every major overclocking website, several times a year, for free. And considering how common it is now to see Gigabyte's products used, it's done a great job.

To the guy asking why they don't go for longer, more interesting tests: Well, there's nothing real-world about LN2 so once you start using it, the tests are irrelevant. They would have to step back to air-cooling to make the results useful to anyone, and even then the hardware is identical so it wouldn't be much use in determining what to buy.

Secondly, it's a competition, it needs to be over in a day or two, so running longer tests is just not going to happen - you think Gigabyte is going to put people up in hotels for days to do nothing while they run super pi for 2 days? If they did that, the marketing head at gigabyte would be found floating face-down in a river.

All in all, I like this stuff, it gives us overclocking nuts some credibility, and the guys involved get some reward for the money and time they have lost. I only feel sorry for the losers because it really just depends on the hardware you get given. I would like to see it take the form of several rounds, and for each round they rotate the hardware so everyone gets to use every board there.

But, compared to previous competitions(ie none) this is a massive improvement!