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[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
During CES (Consumer Electronics Show), which took place between January 6 and 9, 2011 in Las Vegas, MSI promoted its big overclocking competition, the MOA (Master Overclocking Arena) 2011 – Americas Finals. The prize for the winning team: a trip to the grand finals in Taiwan, plus USD 1,500 in cash.The top ten teams of the Americas had been previously selected via online competitions and headed to Las Vegas in order to fight for the grand prize. Hardware Secrets was there to check out the machines and their "pilots".
Figure 1: The competitors
Each team received from the organizers a set of components that were provided at the event and some that were provided earlier, such as the motherboard and video card. All teams received exactly the same components, making the competition fair.Competitors could adjust the equipment according to their needs, but it was not allowed to change the BIOS of the motherboards or video cards. It was also not allowed to use any hardware or software not supplied by MSI for the occasion, including hard drive, optical drives and flash drives. Each team could take its own overclocking equipment (coolers, etc.) and tools (multimeter, thermometer, etc.).
Figure 2: Each team was responsible for their own cooling techniques
[nextpage title=”The Equipment”]MSI has provided the following components and tools for each team:
- MSI Big Bang-XPower Motherboard (A7666IMS.148 BIOS)
- Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition CPU
- MSI N580GTX M2D15D5 video card (263.09 driver)
- Patriot Viper II Sector 7 PC3-16000 2 GB x 3 memory kit
- Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS HDD
- Antec CP-1000 Power Supply
- Tt eSPORTS CHALLENGE Pro Keyboard
- Tt eSPORTS Black Mouse
- Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
- Software: CPU-Z 1.56, GPU-Z 0.48, CPU Tweaker 1.5, Cinebench 11.529, wPrime 1.55/2.04, MSI Afterburner Setup210MOA (2.1.0 MOA)
Figure 3: Assembly
There were two rounds of testing: the processor was the first, trying to achieve the highest score in SuperPi 32M; the second was video card, which aimed at achieving the highest score in 3DMark 11. SuperPI 32M is a relatively fast way to test the stability and performance of the processor and memory. 3DMark 11 is the world’s most popular reference test to measure graphics performance of PCs.On site, the contestants have worked hard to try to get the best scores possible with the available material. We saw excellent overclocking results in really low temperatures and the competition was fierce.
Figure 4: Adjustments
[nextpage title=”The Results”]
For a few hours there were made several adjustments to settings and hardware configurations, and there were used lots of gallons of liquid nitrogen. Overclocking world records were established to be broken soon after.
Figure 5: Gallons and gallons of liquid nitrogen
The final results were combined into a single score, with the result of SuperPi worth 40% of the total score and the outcome of 3DMark 11 worth 60% of the total. The team with the best total score was declared the winner.The official results were as follows:1. OCAlliance (USA): Slave and RomDominance – Super Pi 32M = 6:31.795 / 3dMark11 = 92132. Over the Edge (USA): Patch and Dentlord – Super Pi 32M = 6:26.257 / 3dMark11 = 88933. Team Pure (USA): G H Z and Gautam – Super Pi 32M = 6:40.437 / 3dMark11 = 89384. 1213 Xtreme (Brazil): Rbuass and Fugger – Super Pi 32M = 6:48.518 / 3dMark11 = 89265. Team XS (USA): Chew* and ZenEffect – Super Pi 32M = 6:33.651 / 3dMark11 = 85796. Team Vaseline (USA): Robert and ocgmj – Super Pi 32M = 6:56.224 / 3dMark11 = 87787. Team Overclockaholics (USA): steponz and Kal-EL – Super Pi 32M = 6:55.865 / 3dMark11 = 84778. Overclockers Anonymous (USA): Brian y and Chris – Super Pi 32M = 7:18.688 / 3dMark11 = 81889. 1213 Overclocking Team (Brasil): Gnidaol e Joe90br – Super Pi 32M = 7:9.406 / 3dMark11 = 416110. Hardcol (Colombia): E-Killer and Nestorky – Super Pi 32M = 0:0 / 3dMark11 = 7852
Figure 6: Ranking on the screen
With the end of the competition, the stage of the Americas MSI Master Overclocker Arena got to know the team finalist that will represent the continent in the grand finals of the MOA to be held in Taipei, Taiwan later this year.
[nextpage title=”Awards”]
The team finished the competition in first place – OCAlliance – won USD 1,500 and a trip to Taipei, Taiwan, to take part in MOA’s world finals.
Figure 7: 1st place, OCAlliance (USA)
The team placed second – Over the Edge – took USD 1,000 in cash.
Figure 8: 2nd place, Over the Edge (USA)
Third place – Team Pure – got USD 500 in cash.
Figure 9: 3rd place
, Team Pure (USA)