People want to know why these guys overclock. The answer isn’t quite as technical or surprising as you might think. More than half started overclocking to keep up with the more advanced video games which caused their frame rates to drop below what they felt were acceptable. The benefit of overclocking gave them the extra performance they needed and postponed the need to upgrade to a faster system.
A few of the top overclockers like this year’s winner, Jeremiah Allen, were simply interested in what they could squeeze out of their system in terms of frequencies and processing power. Once it started becoming more popular, some simply wanted to test their own prowess and abilities against others already in the circuit. They did a little research, ordered in some computer parts and started overclocking.
Ultimately, this spawned benchmark wars where everyone was consistently trying to surpass each other. The number of general overclockers has gone from a few enthusiasts to hundreds of thousands around the globe. Extreme LN2 (Liquid Nitrogen) overclockers aren’t as numerous but, they have set world record after world record looking for that next big overclock.
Extra Benefits of Overclocking
These guys are also helping improve things for the regular users whether they know it or not. Competition and enthusiasm push manufacturers of every computer component to produce higher quality products. This is not unlike what Formula One does for car manufacturers. By pushing their designs to the limit, the weaknesses are revealed, and improvements can be made. A good example of this hands on R&D would be the GIGABYTE EX58-UD4P motherboards used in the competition.
Although they cost far less than many top of the line boards available including GIGABYTE’s own GA-EX58-Extreme and GA-EX58-UD3R, the proof of concept is provided through the overclocking of Intel Core i7 965 CPUs that normally sit at 3.2 GHz, to an excess of 5.2 GHz. This is what these guys would call, “getting your money’s worth”.
Advice for the Newcomer
Before you go pouring LN2 all over your shiny new motherboard, there are a few things to consider before attempting this kind of performance. We asked as many participants as possible about how hard overclocking was and whether or not they felt that anyone could do it. We also asked them what the basics were to get started. Here’s what Jeremy Clifton aka “Sno.Icn” had to tell us about where he got started and what novices should consider when jumping into the world of overclocking:
Like Jeremy, everyone at the event said anyone can learn to overclock. “Start small with regular air cooled systems and/or water cooling“ said Jeremy. “Once you have the experience needed, move up to more extreme methods of cooling if you want to get in on the action”, he adds.
Other General Advice
Getting secrets out of these Pros is a tough gig, but it’s clear that everyone thinks that if you start slowly and be patient, you can be an Elite Overclocker too. This is probably why tips and secrets are so hard to come by. However, we did get these unanimous nuggets from the Pros.
Everyone suggested that spending a bit more money on CPU cooling and motherboards will yield you the best results. This is where picking that golden CPU that isn’t necessarily the most expensive comes into play as many of the less expensive ones can easily climb to the speed of their higher priced counterparts Some quick BIOS tweaks suggested included enabling Fan Detection and selecting a maximum CPU temperature setting. Both of which will protect your system as you begin to experiment with extreme voltages.
As far as getting that DELL special box and overclocking it, the unanimous piece of advice from everyone was to build your own customized system. Not only do you learn how things work together, but proprietary systems just don’t offer the same overclocking experience which is what you’ll need as you get in to more extreme methods of cooling like LN2 overclocking.
GIGABYTE’s Challenge
Extreme enthusiasts have never had computer components as good as we do today. Each competitor in attendance all have their own particular tastes in which motherboards and graphics cards they like to use and it’s nice to have so many choices these days. The experiences of overclockers is what ultimately pushes the components to break, thus allowing manufacturers like GIGABYTE to learn and improve on their designs.
GIGABYTE continues to produce some exceptional motherboards that have repeatedly set world records. They understand that quality platforms are essential if they’re to remain the top competitive motherboard manufacturer in the world. Their challenge is to give their platforms like the ones used in competition a shot at impressing you in your next computer. Perhaps, after investing a little time, you’ll have what it takes to compete next year?
To offer you a bit more encouragement to get out there and try it, we put together a special 2009 GOOC North American Regional Finals Music Video. We hope that it inspires you to see if you’ve got “The Touch”…
If you have any questions on overclocking anything, make sure you stop by Futurelooks Forums or our new chat room (irc.gamesurge.net #futurelooks) and let us know. Between our capable AMD and Intel people, you’ll find answers and suggestions you can apply.
Discuss This Article in the Futurelooks Community Forums