Bene11660 and marc0053 Shined in ROG Camp and HWBOT Championship 2016

Following the online qualifications, the finals of the ROG Camp took place in Berlin on December 2nd and 3rd. The top eight overclockers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland were competing to win their ticket to the HWBOT Championship happening the following day. 

ROG Camp - First, learn!

On December 2nd, der8auer, the second best extreme overclocker worldwide, introduced the basics and vital techniques for handling liquid nitrogen (LN2). Starting from the main overclocking features in the Maximus VIII Extreme, he then demonstrated how to insulate the motherboard using liquid tape or vaseline. 

• 
  Maximus VIII Extreme with a layer
  of liquid tape
• 
  der8auer showing how to insulate
  with vaseline
• 
  That's what we call vaseline protection

Insulation is one of the key steps in order to prepare the hardware to be benched on cold - in fact adequate insulation is a key concern for extreme overclockers. As the difference in temperature between the liquid nitrogen (LN2) and the ambient is massive (~160°C), some ice will form and condensation will begin. The goal of liquid tape or vaseline will be to create a layer of protection between the component and the water to avoid short circuits.

Then Roman (aka der8auer), explained the advantage of delidding Z170 CPUs and replacing it with thermal paste between the IHS (integrated heat spreader) and the die. This allows better heat transfer.

• 
  Core i5-6600K delided
• 
  Application of thermal paste on the CPU's die

After that, the eight overclockers were ready to learn how to prepare their CPU pot and the safety precautions for handling liquid nitrogen which exits the tube at -196°C!

• 
  Backplate to support the heavy 2kg CPU pot
• 
  Blue paper towel for additional absorbtion
• 
  Connecting the temperature controler
  to the OC Panel II

Once their system were set up, it was time to push the start button and the delete key to enter BIOS. Each of the overclockers were giving suggestions for the settings they could use for their memory and CPU profiles; voltages, timings, frequencies.   

• 
  Let's get started!
• 
  Entering Maximus VIII Extreme BIOS
• 
  Pouring liquid nitrogen into
  the copper CPU pot

For the rest of the day, they learned how to play with the temperatures and push the limits of their hardware. They also got support from the top extreme overclockers on site who will be competing in two days' time in the HWBOT Championship. 

ROG Camp - Then Compete! 

After a good night's rest to help assimilate all the information and new skills they learned for extreme overclocking, the overclockers had to compete against each other.

They had to submit scores in three different stages: Geekbench3, Cinebench R15 and GPUPI for CPU 1B. 

• 
  When the temperature dropped too low,
  OCer need to warm up
• 
  Competing
• 
  Running Cinebench R15

From the start, Bene11660 took the lead by pushing his Core i7-6700K to an impressive 6,450MHz to score 7,074 points in Geekbench3. For stage 2 and 3, Bene11660 pushed the same CPU to 6,200 MHz and scored 1396cb in Cinebench R15 and 4min13sec817ms in GPUPI for CPU 1B. 

At the end of the day, Bene11660 won his ticket to the HWBOT Championship.  And since Hazzan, one of the extreme overclockers, was unfortunately not able to join, DSLREye, ranked second in the ROG Camp got his ticket as well! 

Christian (ASUS), der8auer, Bene11660, Eike (Thermal Grizzly), Nils (Seasonic)

HWBOT Championship - Compete against the best

As if competing for the first time in extreme overclocking wasn't scary enough, Bene11660 and DSLREye, had to head-to-head against the best overclockers in the world! In total, four overclockers competed on ROG) motherboards: Maximus VIII Impact and Maximus VIII Extreme. 

The day started early at 9am as everyone prepped their hardware. Each of the overclockers had to first go through some qualifiers. Three hours to submit scores in SuperPi 32M - Full Out, Cinebench R15 - Full Out and 3DMark Fire Strike Physics limited to 5GHz. marc0053 and pxhx ended up at the top of the rankings. Bene11660 managed to take the 5th position while competing against the seven other participants! 

For the next step, the overclockers needed to compete in 1vs1 matches (30 minutes each match). Below are the final results from the competition. 

For more info about each of the 1vs1 matches, you can hit this link.

marc0053 won HWBOT Championship 2016

marc0053 won his ticket for the finals back in march during the Lan ETS event. A year ago he was just starting with extreme overclocking and he is now at the top. From qualifiers to Semi-Final to Final, he used the same Maximus VIII Impact. The board has been stable during the 3 hours qualifiers, and also during the 3 x 30 minutes matches. He shared with us his experience during the 1vs1 against DrWeez and Xtreme Addict. 

Semi-Final: marc0053 vs DrWeez

Five minutes before the start of the match, the overclockers receive a i5-6600K processor each. They needed to delid it, replaced the thermal paste and mount it in their system. They were ready to start. For the majority of the time, DrWeez was leading the competition with faster scores. After 25 minutes, marc0053 finally got the temperature of his system right and he was able to squeeze in a 5sec 907ms submission in the final second of the match. DrWeez did his best and got a score of 5sec 969ms. An incredibly tight match that allowed marc0053 to proceed to the final to go up against Xtreme Addict.

• 
  marc0053 and DrWeez shaking hands after the match
• 
  marc0053 focused on his benching

Final: marc0053 vs Xtreme Addict

For the final, the two best overclockers had to compete on HWBOT x265. marc0053 decided to stay conservative, and post scores early to allow a step by step improvement of his scores. On the other hand, Xtreme Addict decided to go full pot, this mean cool down his CPU very quick to allow a higher voltage and frequency from the start. However, that strategy didn't help Xtreme Addict as he ran into stability issues with his system. Five minutes before the end of the match, marc0053 submitted his final and best score of 40.33FPS while Xtreme Addict finished with 36.35FPS.    

• 
  marc0053 and Xtreme Addict
• 
  Pouring LN2

Watch the replay of the final on Overclocking-TV Youtube channel.  

The key secrets of marc0053

For months, he has been preparing for that competition. He ran different benchmarks, noted down his memory timings and refined his tweaks. Another key element is that he trained on how to dry in 30 minutes his system and remount it quick without forgetting any key elements. He also brought his innovative ideas to the competition; his closed drying box. It was proven helpful since between the 1vs1 matches, the overclockers only have 30 minutes to dry their system and prep for the next. 

The magic closed drying box

Another component for his success was the Maximus VIII Impact. The motherboard ran brilliantly during the 3 hours of qualifiers as well as the three 30 minute 1vs1 matches. marc0053 was also able to push memory timings and frequencies higher than his competitors, the board was rock-solid as it withstood serious OCing to deliver prize-winning performance. 

Let's congratulates him and the other participants. marc0053 has been crowned the first HWBOT World Champion for 2016.  

marc0053, Pieter (HWBOT), der8auer