Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo

Today we will have a glimpse into the world of competitive overclocking as Deanzo takes part in one of these events.

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3 minutes & 57 seconds read time

Introduction


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 01




For this article we are going to jump into the world of competitive overclocking. Arguably one of the best overclockers in the business, Vince "Kingpin" Lucido has been hosting a 3DMark Vantage Competition at his home forum "Kingpincooling.com" over the last couple of weeks.



The rules are very simple:

- Any single GPU Video Card
- An i7 CPU with a capped speed of no more than 4750MHz
- 3DMark Vantage Performance
- No Cheating, which means no altering of the image quality in any way and the use of tools like SET FSB, Tweak IT etc. are banned
- Best Score Wins!

And win big you do; a very nice full set of sub zero cooling units (pictured above), which any serious overclocker would give their right arm for.

Though, you will need the skills of a mad scientist if you want a shot at the top prize. Soldering, temperature management and operating systems configuring are just some of the skills you will need to master.

Easy, right? Well, let's see which big guns come out to play.

Components




Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 02


Card preparation is KING.

With a restriction on the maximum CPU speed that can be utilised, the graphics card becomes the key component. This also opens the competition up to be more competitive.

Skills like card insulation, voltage manipulation and temperature management come into their own.

Below I've added some pictures of both my MSI 5870 and ASUS Rampage Extreme II being prepared, as well as a couple of pictures from other competitors.

Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 03

MSI 5870 with the heatsink removed


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 04

All taped up and ready for spraying


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 05

Insulating with kneeded eraser


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 06

Mounting the GPU unit to the card


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 07

ASUS X58 Rampage II Extreme


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All set up and ready to go


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In this picture, Andre Yang shows off his four fully modded 5870's


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 10

Here we see the 5870 that belongs to Patch. Unfortunately it did not last the whole competition

Test System Setup & Results - Yours Truly


Test System Setup - Deanzo

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage II Extreme (Supplied by ASUS)
Graphics Card: MSI 5870 (Supplied by MSI)
Cooling CPU: Dragon F1 Extreme Edition (KINGPIN COOLING)
Cooling GPU: Tek9 3.0 (KINGPIN COOLING)
Memory: OCZ Blades 2000MHz CAS7 (OCZ)
Hard Disk: 320GB Seagate (Seagate)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit RC7100
Drivers: ATI 9:11 WHQL - FM Approved

Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 11


With the card running at stock speeds of 850MHz/1200MHz (core/memory) and the CPU overclock to just under the restriction, this produced a score of P17714.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1640534

Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 12


Changing a setting or two and overclocking the MSI 5870 to 1380MHz/1350MHz produced a score of P24486.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1640144

Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 13


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 14


Overall, I'm reasonably happy with my result. The MSI 5870 overclocked to a very respectable 1380MHz/1350MHz (core /memory), which enabled me to pass the world record at the start of this competition of P23444 by 1042 Marks, even with a capped CPU. Unfortunately it wasn't without incident.

While trying to obtain a run at 1400MHz/1350MHz (core/memory), the card gave in under the strain of the clocks and voltages that I was utilising. This is a risk that all serious overclockers understand and have to take.

Now, let's see how well the competition did and if my score holds up to the onslaught.

Test System Setup & Results - Chispy


Test System Setup - Chispy

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage II Extreme ( ASUS)
Graphics Card: ASUS 5870 ( ASUS)
Cooling CPU: Single Stage
Cooling GPU: Water Cooling
Memory: Kingston HyperX 2000MHz (Kingston)
Hard Disk: OCZ SSD (OCZ)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit
Drivers: ATI 9:10

3DMark Vantage result: P21679

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1580988

Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 15


Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 16

Test System Setup & Results - Expat GriZ


Test System Setup - Expat GriZ

Motherboard: EVGA Classified (Supplied by EVGA)
Graphics Card: ASUS 5870 (ASUS)
Cooling CPU: Single Stage
Cooling GPU: LN2
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit
Drivers: ATI 9:10

3DMark Vantage result: P22842

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1612045

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Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 18

Test System Setup & Results - Andre


Test System Setup - Andre

Motherboard: EVGA Classified (Supplied by EVGA)
Graphics Card: ASUS 5870 (ASUS)
Cooling CPU: Dragon F1 Extreme Edition (KINGPIN COOLING)
Cooling GPU: Tek9 5.0 (KINGPIN COOLING)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit
Drivers: ATI 9:11

3DMark Vantage result: P23445

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1627620

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Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 20

Test System Setup & Results - xoqolatl


Test System Setup - xoqolatl

Motherboard: ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer (ASUS)
Graphics Card: HIS 5870 (HIS)
Cooling CPU: Single Stage
Cooling GPU: LN2
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit
Drivers: ATI 9:11

3DMark Vantage result: P23452

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1635545

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Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 22

Test System Setup & Results - Pro


Test System Setup - Pro

Motherboard: GIGABYTE UD4P (GIGABYTE)
Graphics Card: ASUS 5870 (ASUS)
Cooling CPU: Single Stage
Cooling GPU: Tek9 5.0 (KINGPIN COOLING)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit
Drivers: ATI 9:11

3DMark Vantage result: P23962

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1634244

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Kingpin Cooling Single GPU Competition with LN2 by Deanzo 24

Final Thoughts




One hundred and fifty litres of Liquid Nitrogen, one dead 5870 and countless hours later, my score of P24486 held up to the competition. It was a most enjoyable event that saw the 5870 Single Card World Record broken by no less than four competitors, which is great considering the CPU clock restriction. It was also good to see from a cross selection of 5870s that a fair percentage were capable of hitting up to and over 1300MHz on the core (when appropriate cooling is utilized).

After the highest score was posted by "Pro" with approximately one day to go, it was quite nerve wracking to see if my backup would hold up to any last minute submissions, as I was unable to launch a counter attack if needed. As it turned out, there was no need to worry, as the only submission to come after that was from myself with approximately five minutes to go, when I posted my highest score.

I would like to thank Vince "Kingpin" Lucido for hosting the competition and putting up such a wonderful prize, MSI and ASUS for supplying hardware, and congratulations to everyone that took part in achieving such a high standard of results.

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Deanzo has been involved in overclocking for many years, venturing into the extreme side of cooling in early 2007. Since then he has taken part in numerous online and live competitions with a high level of success. Dean provides extreme LN2 (liquid nitrogen) based overclocking results on the latest processors, motherboards, video cards and so on with fancy pictures, video and the all important insanely fast benchmark results!

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