ANOTHER YEAR,
ANOTHER ISSUE – 33!
I
t’s taken a much longer than usual
for to write this. Then again it’s taken
significantly longer for us to get Issue
33 of the magazine to you. There’s are
plenty reasons (or excuses depending
on where you are sitting) which resulted
in this but the good thing is that we are
finally here for what has already been a
very interesting year not only in overclocking,
but gaming and just the PC industry as a whole.
As always with the first issue of every year,
we are past CES and are looking forward to
COMPUTEX 2014. No idea yet what we will see
(certainly no Skylake), but it’s sure to be the
defining trade show event of the year for all
enthusiasts and power users alike.
In the more immediate future though, we’ve
had, if for lack of a better word, a comical
time with X99 motherboards. I’ve probably
written more about the various boards than I
care to recall, yet I find there’s still something
to be said in general about how the platform
has transformed the motherboard or at least
overclocking landscape. It would be incorrect
to say that this, unlike with the previous high
end platform X79, is a one horse race. I may
have felt that way last year when it was all
new, but courtesy of some truly phenomenal
motherboards or perhaps better, a
phenomenal motherboard, we have at the very
least a two horse race. My personal, subjective
opinions aside, the cover motherboard for
this issue (I hope that’s still the cover, don’t
quote me on that) is an extraordinary piece
of equipment. More about that in the formal
editorial piece, but I must state here that this
has been a surprising turn of events and if
anything it should inspire other vendors to give
their initial attempts a second look.
On to the overclocking scene, we’ve had
the OC E-Sports site come alive by ushering
in several competitions that are running as
you read this. I can’t state how impressed
I am to see overclocking taking on such an
engaging, but highly organized approach to
competitiveness. It’s a breath of fresh air and
has given legs to the scene that I’m hesitant but
inclined to say, the main HWBOT site could not.
Its slick, works relatively well (some teething
problems initially) and allows you to drill right
down to whatever competition you’re interested
in. Its participants, current standings, stages
and anything else one may be interested
in learning about. This is probably where I
personally will be spending more of my time as it is not
incumbent like its parent site for quick overviews. If you’ve
not taken a look at it, do yourself a favour and you’ll come
away impressed to say the very least.
To more consumer orientated issues, I’ve written to
a respectable length about the issue surrounding the
NVIDIA GTX 970 in another place, formally and otherwise.
It is however worth mentioning here as well. This was a
topic that went viral on the enthusiast sites, and one that
was explained in wonderful high level technical detail on
Anandtech. Unfortunately what it all means to the end user,
why it matters or doesn’t matter at all was not something
that I found on many sites covering or vested in the issue.
Part of it, has to do with the sensationalism that a topic like
this creates, and once it is past it’s sell by date, all swiftly
move along as if nothing happened. It made me wonder
what the fuss was about in the first place. Ultimately then it
seems it doesn’t matter at all, as long as the GTX 970 plays
all the relevant games at all the right settings, all is well in
the land of the PC gamer. The “moral” or ethical argument
that was presented doesn’t mean much. I had doubted if this
would sway a large of portion of would be buyers away from
the GPU and it turns out that it wouldn’t. After all, the GPU
performs exactly the same way if not better (courtesy of
driver updates) than it did when the initial reviews came out.
Be it the specifications were right or wrong. One or at least
the vast majority of people do not “play” the specifications,
but actual games, where nothing has changed.
On that note, here’s to another issue of TheOverclocker
Magazine. I do hope you enjoy your read through. Until
then, do remember that when in doubt, one should
always eat a pie.
[ Neo Sibeko - Editor ]
Issue 33 | 2015 The OverClocker 3