Do Overclocking Tournaments Work?

May 21, 2009 | 14:23

Tags: #gooc #ln2 #moa #overclocking #tournament

Companies: #asus #dfi #gigabyte #msi

I'm confused.

I admire the people that take part in overclocking tournaments but I fail to understand why so much money is plowed into them by big hardware companies, presumably keen to use the event as a marketing tool.

Gigabyte has its Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship (GOOC), MSI has MOA, and Asus and DFI have also had a stab at running their own events, and I'm curious to understand if you, the readers, follow them, takes note of what happens and even cares?
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I find it strange that motherboard companies are pushing these events, considering that extreme overclocking is mostly limited by CPU quality and essentially the luck of the draw once you are skilled enough to know the process.

This is not to take away from those highly skilled individuals with the niche know-how, and having a bash at it is certainly fun, especially if you win, but from an consumer point of view, what is the relevance?

There's no "you are only allowed air cooling and the overclock must be 24hr stable" rule - instead, you just need to get the system to a point where it can benchmark using any means possible, which is clearly not what you want for your own PC at home or work.

When the tournaments are on it may generate coverage for a day or two, an interesting article to read, but does it make someone want to buy the product? I'm keen to know the relevance between LN2 and my next motherboard purchase.

Gigabyte is holding its GOOC finals during Computex in Taiwan at the start of June and MSI's next MOA is in Beijing in September. Will you be following either when we report on them?

Let us know your thoughts on the subject.
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