CPU Guide
Event: MSI MOA 2011 APAC Finals – The Campaign For Domination Begins
Troopers Fall In!
On July 07, 2011, one sunny day in Jakarta, Indonesia bore witness to an intense battle between top overclockers from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Vietnam for the APAC finals of the MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2011. Each country was represented by a team comprised of two members who will test the limits of the latest Intel CPU and NVIDIA GPU by using some of the best computing hardware that MSI and its partners could provide to see who the best overclocker is in this part of the world.
Each team was provided with a set of components that included an Intel Core i7-2600K processor, MSI Z68A-GD80 (B3) motherboard, MSI N580GTX Lighting graphics card, Kingston HyperX Genesis Special Edition Grey DDR3-2133 memory modules, WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower 1350W, Tt eSPORTS Challenger Pro, Tt eSports Black Gaming Mouse, and a CHIMEI LED monitor.
The Battle Begins!
The battle commenced at 1000 hours as the competitors were ushered into MSI’s chosen battle ground inside a hall in the Le Grandeur Hotel in Jakarta. Each team carrying with them their standard hardware provisions as well as a few non-standard issue OC gear that would come in handy in the long battle ahead.
The teams that competed were Team Overclockzone from Thailand, Team Indonesia, Team Merlion from Singapore, Team Malaysia, Team Katana from Japan, Team Au with members from Australia and New Zealand, Team China, Team OCQQ Junior X Capital from Hong Kong, Team_MPBK from Korea, Team Coolaler from Taiwan, Team OCXPH from the Philippines, and Team Vietnam.
Round 1: Super PI
The first half of the competition involved overclocking the CPU and getting the most out of its computational power. This was measured using Super PI, a program that calculates for the value of PI to a specific number of digits after the decimal point. Teams will then submit the fastest time of completion of running one round of computation to the marshals to earn points. Teams were given ample time to setup and troubleshoot their systems. The first result to be posted went up around two hours after the competition started and was posted by our very own Team OCXPH from the Philippines.
At the end of the first half, the scoreboard showed Team Coolaler from Taiwan leading with a Super Pi result of 6 minutes 26.225 seconds, followed closely by Team Malaysia with 6 minutes 26.32 seconds, and Team Thailand with 6 minutes 26.562 seconds, with Team China taking up fourth place with a result of 6 minutes 28.485 seconds. Looking at these results, it is strangely similar to watching a MotoGP 500 racing match where mere seconds spelled the difference between defeat and victory.
Round 2: 3DMark 11
As the dust settled from the skirmish from round one, the teams then began to prep their systems for the second half of the competition. This time they will need to overclock their NVIDIA GTX 580 graphics cards and achieve the highest benchmark score possible on 3DMark11 on Performance Preset. The teams were again given some time to make some adjustments before the 3 hour and 30 minutes countdown timer commenced.
Operation Jakarta: Mission Accomplished!
After a day long and hard fought battle, the top four teams emerged from the carnage with heads held high. Leading the pack and imbued with the samurai spirit is Team Katana from Japan. The second place went to Team Korea comprised of oc_windforce and Littleboy, followed by Team AU who despite early problems with their system managed to pick up the pace in the second half. In the fourth place is Team Thailand comprised of K.ZoLKoRn and K.Audigy.
The champions took home USD 1,500, the second place received USD 1,000, and the third place brought home USD 500. All of the top four teams also took home OC weaponry and tickets to the MOA 2011 grand finals that will be held in Taiwan.