Live from Taipei - Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship 2010
15 contestants from all over the world have made it to the grand finals of Gigabyte's Open Overclocking Championship 2010. Who among them will emerge as the king of OC? Stay tuned for the live coverage straight from Huashan Creative Park in Taipei.
OC Battle Royale
33 national finals, 5 regional competitions later and we're now in the grand finals.
Yes, Gigabyte's Open Overclocking Championship is back for its third edition. Probably the largest overclocking event in the world, the number of contestants have been reduced to the top 15. Coming from you live in Taipei on 25th Sep, this year promises more of the thrilling LN2 action that you can only get from top overclockers giving their best.
Huashan Creative Park was decked out in Gigabyte colors as competitors filed into the competition venue.
The national flags representing the countries of origin for all 15 competitors created a very international, global feel to Gigabyte's competition.
Unlike the recently concluded , which features a team of two, there's no place to hide if you ain't up to it as every man is for himself in Gigabyte's version. The emphasis is on overclocking the motherboard and processor, so no graphics cards will be harmed this time round. Gigabyte has spared no expenses getting the top overclockers from all the world here and the many liquid nitrogen cylinders we saw should make for an exciting final.
The 'wall of fame' with their vital stats for the 15 competitors.
A demo system with Gigabyte's components that will be used in the competition.
A timeline of Gigabyte's achievements over the years.
These boxes are for visitors to vote for the competitor that they think will be the GO OC champion 2010. You can also vote online at the GO OC website at http://gooc2010.gigabyte.com/en/default.aspx
Each contestant will receive a set of similar components, including Gigabyte's top X58A-UD7 motherboard, a top of the range, 6-core Intel Core i7-980X processor and AData's XPG Plus Series DDR3-1866+ v2.0 6GB triple channel kit. Seagate has provided its latest Solid State Hybrid Drive, the Momentus XT and of course powering it all is Gigabyte's own Odin series 1200W PSU. Envision LCD displays are used for all the systems.
Sponsors like ADATA also gets a chance to show off their products, like this demo system using the same triple channel kit used in the competition.
Seagate's Momentus XT solid state hybrid drive was the main focus at its booth.
We'll be updating this article constantly as new updates come in. You can also check out the GO OC website for live updates and even vote online for your favorite contestant.
Setting up
While the official opening of Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship (GO OC) 2010 is scheduled for 11pm, the competitors have been busy setting up their systems since their arrival. Here are some candid shots we took.
Controlled chaos is the norm at such overclocking contests.
The LN2 section is probably the most crucial area for this competition. Here is where competitors get their cooling agent for their crazy high overclocks.
Competition Mechanics
CPU overclocking is the focus of this competition, so while every competitor gets a Core i7-980X processor, the graphics card is merely a Radeon HD 5450. Not only that, the graphics card cannot be modified in any way, and the 10.5 Catalyst drivers cannot be changed. Competitors are provided with a custom BIOS and other relevant software on a thumbdrive and their benchmark scores will be saved onto thumb drives. They have to run four benchmarks on a Win XP SP3 system and generate scores (or not) within the time limit of 4 hours and 50 minutes. It doesn't matter which benchmark they run first.
- SuperPi mod 1.5 (32m)
- MAXXMEM
- Pifast
- Wprime 32m
Tools allowed for all competitors include Gigabyte EasyTune 6, SetFSB, CPU-Z and CPU Tweaker.
The top eight scores for each individual benchmark from the competitors will get points, ranging from 2 for eight to 20 for the best score. SuperPI also gets a heavier weightage, with 30 points for the top SuperPI score. Competitors with the highest aggregate scores will be the champion of GO OC 2010. In the event of a tie, the competitors with the highest Pifast score will be the winner.
Keep track of who's the current leader on this large scoreboard, which will be updated regularly. However, 30 mins before the end of the competition, Gigabyte will turn it off in order to build up the suspense.
With a top prize of US$5000 cash and products from sponsors, it will surely be an epic contest!
The Competition Starts Now
It's almost noon here in Taipei and GO OC 2010 has officially started. Competitors are all hard at work testing their overclocks but while we wait for the first scores to appear on the leaderboard, here's what happened during the opening ceremony.
The hosts prepping up the crowd as we approach the official launch at 11am.
This is Taiwan! Well, nothing like a lion dance to start the competition on a good note.
Gigabyte's President, Dandy Yeh giving a welcoming speech for the invited guests, overclockers and the numerous foreign media.
The competitors taking the stage for a photo opportunity with the VIPs, including representatives from the sponsors like Intel, AMD and Seagate.
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Serbia's Nikocevic Dusan was the first to post a score on the leaderboard.
Of course, it's not who's first to post scores that matters now, just 25 mins into the competition. It's about who's first at the end of 4 hrs 50 mins.
For the public, there's plenty of eye candy in the form of an entertaining dance routine. This is in addition to the mini-games that are happening at the various sponsor booths now as we write. Like hula hoops.
Naturally, Gigabyte's products are thrust into the limelight.
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Romania's Matose is the current leader, with completed scores for all four benchmarks. Can he maintain the momentum?
Giving his motherboard and CPU the LN2 bath is mikeguava's (USA) setup.
China's speedtime,wing getting interviewed about his chances in the competition. He has only completed one benchmark at the moment.
Visitors mingling at the sponsors' booth.
And it's Heating up
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With around two hours of the competition left, things are heating up, both on the scoreboard and on the stage:
Matose retains a slim lead over second placed speedtime.wing from China. Even as we type this lead has been narrowed to just two points!
A lucky draw for the Facebook competition for the public. All handpicked by Gigabyte's Tim Handley, Deputy director of motherboard marketing.
The top prize for this first lucky draw is Gigabyte's UD9 board, which at US$699, was proudly hailed by Tim as the world's most expensive consumer desktop motherboard, and holder of 16 current performance world records.
And racheting the temperature of the venue even higher, there was a parade of young models in a mock beauty pageant format.
Two of the models performing a short, sexy dance routine.
Back to the serious part of GO OC. Who among the 15 competitors will lift the top trophy here? It's increasingly looking like a three way fight between Romania, China and HK, with just six points separating them.
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With slightly over an hour left, Matose from Romania has a slight advantage in the leaderboard, two points ahead of Indonesia's Jengkol and HK's stephenyeong, both of which are tied at 48 points. China's speedtime.wing meanwhile has slipped from second place to fourth, but he is just four points behind the leader. Anything can happen in the last hour...
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Matose has extended his lead over stephenyeong to eight points as we enter the last 45 mins of the competition. HK's stephenyeong has also slightly widened his lead over the third place competitors, speedtime.wing and Jengkol, both tied on points.
GO OC 2010 Champion
With less than 15 minutes to go, the champion for this year's GO OC is looking like Matose from Romania. His lead is 12 points over second placed stephenyeong of HK. China's speedtime.wing has retaken third place but can the two Asians stage a last gasp upset over Matose, who has been in the lead for most of the competition today.
The leaderboard with less than 15 mins to go.
The stage is set for the top three competitors at GO OC 2010.
With time running out, HK's stephenyeong is feverishly trying to finish one last benchmark - MAXXMEM, He currently has failed to score any points here but a decent score could upset the long running leader Matose.
And before we know, time's up and the results are coming in. Finishing third is China's Yu Meng Yao, aka speedtime.wing. He brings home US$1000 cash along with products worth around US$1300.
Alas, Stephen Yeong's efforts were unable to overtake Matose, so he takes home the runner's up spot, with US$2000 cash and up to US$1600 worth of hardware.
Leading almost from start to finish, Matose, or Mihatoiu Costin Matei, has emerged as the champion of GO OC 2010. Congratulations!
This lucky fellow who voted on Matose winning got his name picked by the champion. He takes home a Gigabyte X58A-UD7 motherboard.
They may be the ones heading back home with the cash and goods to show, but everyone's a winner at GO OC 2010.
And that's it for this year's GO OC. Five months of competition around the world has culminated in a worthy champion in Romania's Matose. Gigabyte's Tim Handley spoke of possible changes to next year's competition, including a return of graphics benchmarks, but nothing has been decided yet. So here's to looking forward to the next edition of this exciting overclocking competition.
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