Introduction
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.