TheOverclocker Issue 34 | Page 7

anymore to bin 100’s of pieces of hardware. The joy of private health care in the UK, costs heaps of money. (The UK and a number of places I can think of as well sadly – Ed!) How often do you have overclocking sessions, attend competitions etc? Well right now I focus more on the management and organisational side of events. I host Team Great Britain, or TeamGB events like the MSI OC Academy event we held at Cambridge and the schools/university road show stuff. You never know where the next 8pack is going to come from so you keep looking. What is your single greatest or most memorable overclocking event and/ or achievement? Hmm that is very difficult to answer actually; I am very proud of what 8pack has been able to achieve from a UK scene perspective and really enjoyed the two year journey while he was learning his trade – at heart I am more of a mentor than the bloke standing centre stage, but on a personal level it is between taking the AMD 32M Super Pi stage of a HWBOT pro-league a few years ago and building up the midlifegamers.co.uk benching team to where it is now. The highest ranked UK based team on HWBOT. Not that I posted many results for the team to be honest. But what a blast working with that bunch of guys and they have really grown into the role of the top UK team. Overclocking as an eSports of sorts, what is your opinion on that? Five years ago I argued that overclocking is a proper sport, and that view has not changed. I do not agree with how it is run or how rankings are decided but that is the only game in town for now. My argument against the current system is simple. Outcomes that are achieved without competition, and real competition as in head to head stuff are simply results achieved in practice and as such have no value beyond the statistical for me. Let me try and explain. You have a sprinter who can break the world record time in training, time after time she/he does this. However come a competitive track meet and suddenly things are very different. All world records for athletics are achieved at official sanctioned competitive events, they are achieved in the heat of battle if you like. So the person who breaks the world record for fun in training might not even place because they cannot deliver on the day. All competitive events or sports are about performing on the day. But not overclocking and benching. There you sit in front of your rig with no pressure and you pump out scores that are not really verified in any meaningful way and you can be a world record holder. OK if you say so… Personally I want to see head to head benching, I want to see folks have to produce the goods under pressure. That way you will really see who has the bottle and who is truly a world best. What about overclocking do you think has changed the most over the years, be it for the good or the bad? Issue 34 | 2015 The OverClocker 7