K|NGP|N’s CORNER:
MY PRO
OVERCLOCKING
POINT OF VIEW
A
s I sit here catching my breath
and giving my back a rest from
overclocking two-way SLI
3DMark Fire Strike all day, I can't help
but think, “Here I am ten years later
sitting in this lab so far from home
still overclocking, still going for it.”
“Still pushing it" as our friend Ollie
from Denmark always says. So many
different components and systems
over the years it’s tough to remember
them all. Whether it’s all out lab
extreme overclocking, preparing for
and doing trade shows and public
demos ,working on and testing new
container designs and everything else
that has to do with running KPC. It’s
been a 24/7 ceaseless commitment,
a way of life really. From time to time
I have lost a little bit of the passion,
but it usually doesn't last long. A new
graphics cards, CPU, motherboard
or new 3D benchmark always cures
this. Why the overclocking bug bit me
so hard I will never know, only that it
will continue as long as this industry
exists. In this and maybe the next few
editions of The Overclocker rather
than do prep guides, I will switch it
up and do editorials on relevant and
maybe not so relevant topics.
The whole business of overclocking
has really evolved from its humble
beginnings. The overclocking
capabilities of hardware components
as well as BIOS and software features
are heavily marketed by all the major
motherboard and graphics card
16 The OverClocker Issue 24| 2013
manufacturers. Companies have
hired extreme overclockers for R&D
to help design and test new products;
as such hardware world records are
so commonly used for marketing
and millions of dollars are spent on
organizing global competitions. This
is all great for extreme overclockers
as well as mainstream PC enthusiasts
for one reason or another. However, I
always keep asking myself. “Why has
extreme overclocking not caught on
with more mainstream PC enthusiasts
at a faster rate?” After all this time,
why is it still so very niche? Why
does it seem like more overclockers
are leaving the game then getting
into it? Mainstream users trending
away from larger, bulkier, power
hungry desktop systems to mobile
and compact solutions is part of it.
Cost of the components needed for
achieving competitive results and a
sluggish global economy in recent
years has contributed for sure.
These are things that can and will
happen and that we cannot control.
However, how about top level extreme
overclocking just not being as exciting
anymore? No matter how much I love
extreme overclocking, it will always
will be a rinse and repeat with a new
piece of HW in the same benchmark
or a new one. The formula doesn't
really change. To make it worse,
mega binning of CPUs to get the best
scaling/result possible has changed
the game a lot from just putting it all