Maximum PC overclock RSS Feed

MSI Wind Invities Overclocking with BIOS Update

Paul Lilly — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:20:15 -0500

Notebook manufacturers might be finding it difficult to separate themselves from the competition in what has become an extremely crowded netbook market. It's gotten to the point where we can recite a netbook press release without having ever read it - Atom processor, solid-state drive (SSD) or hard drive, 1GB of RAM, Windows XP or Linux, and so forth. So how do you stand out from the crowd?

If you're MSI, you release a new BIOS that offers overclocking controls. With the v1.09 BIOS released this week, Wind owners can push their Wind netbook's Atom N270 processor in increments of 8 percent, 15 percent, and 24 percent over the stock speed. As is always the case with overclocking, you'll have to analyze the risk-to-reward ratio, and according to ElectricVagabond.com, the reward of a 24 percent overclock can equate to as much as a 30 percent increase in performance.

Anyone Wind owners plan on playing with the new BIOS? Hit the jump and give us your impression.

Evga's New 790i Motherboard to Support Aggressive Overclocking

Paul Lilly — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:29:26 -0500

Evga, the company best know for its position as a top-tier Nvidia partner, continues to try and build a reputation as the go-to vendor for overclocking enthusiasts. The videocard manufacturer was the first to officially support overclocking its GPUs without invalidating the warranty (only XFX has since followed suit), and Evga's FTW branded motherboards look to live up to the three-letter moniker with all the right marketing bullets.

Adding to the FTW series, and specifically the 790i SLI FTW, Evga has announced the 790i SLI FTW Digital PWM designed for aggressive overclocking. In addition to the usual assortment of high end goodies (1600MHz frontside bus support, DDR3 2000MHz support, SLI certified, PCI-E 2.0), the long-winded FTW Digital PWM edition bumps up the reference design from a 6-phase to an 8-phase design. The board also comes with 100 percent solid state capacitors and ferrite core chokes, both of which purport to offer improved signal-to-noise ratios and ultimately lead to a higher overclocking ceiling.

Overclockers comfortable mucking around with advanced voltage controls will have the ability to disable Vdroop in the "enhanced" BIOS and avoid sagging voltage at higher overclocks. And for those that are more apprehensive when it comes to advanced level tweaks, Evga's BIOS will include several pre-validated voltage settings.

The board is available now for $340 direct from Evga.

AMD's Fusion for Gaming Beta Now Available

Pulkit Chandn — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:45:49 -0500

AMD recently unveiled its Fusion for Gaming application with a lot of tawdry grandiosity. The utility, currently in beta, provides a software-based crude overclocking solution by closing all background apps and services to optimize the system for gaming. The utility also tinkers with some other system settings to provide enhanced performance during gaming. Once in expert mode, the application can even overclock the GPU.

The chipmaker claims that Fusion for Gaming can enhance a computer’s performance by up to 10%. Although it might actually prove to be handy, the chances of it being worth as much as AMD’s rhetoric suggests are slim to none. The beta is only meant for Windows Vista 32 and can be downloaded here.

Overclockers Break 4GHz Barrier for AMD Processors

Paul Lilly — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:44:31 -0500

Intel fans be polite and stifle those snickers, but at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, members of AwardFabrik.de managed to breach 4GHz on an AMD Phenom 9950 processor using liquid nitrogen cooling. Not without controversy, the feat failed to pass CPU-Z's validation.

Running at precisely 3952MHz, the team recorded a 19.954 second SuperPi 1M time, setting a new record for AMD processors. Other hardware used in the endeavor included a Foxconn A79-S motherboard and an OCZ 1KW power supply.

On a related side note, SuperPi may find itself being replaced as processor technology moves forward. While the world record for AMD CPUs now sits at just under 20 seconds, the record for an Intel processor is 7.14 seconds using an E8600 overclocked to 6376MHz, leaving little headroom for future record breaking attempts.

Overclocker Builds Folding@Home Farm with 51 GPUs!

Paul Lilly — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:44:20 -0500

Overclock.net forum member nitteo claims to have built a Folding@Home farm with no less than 51 GPUs, and he has the pics to prove it. In them are a mixture of 8800GT and 8800GS videocards spread out across a variety of MSI and Gigabyte motherboards. Final numbers are still be tallied, but nitteo estimates he'll pull in over 250,000 points per day on his new setup, and things only look to get better with the CUDA-based folding client.

That's all well and good for Overclock.net (and the Folding community in general), but that also means Team Maximum PC has to keep it kicked up into high gear. Maximum PC currently holds the 4th spot in team rankings and could use your help. If you want to Fold for your favorite magazine, add team 11108 to your client's profile, and drop by the forum for tips on how to optimize your production.

Team China Wins Annual Advanced Overclocking Championship

Paul Lilly — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:10:55 -0500

Beating out 38 other contestants representing 19 countries, Chinese duo Xu Gang and Susie have won the title of AOCC 2008 Champions. Over 3,000 people attended the two day Advanced Overclocking Championship in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and saw the Chinese team take first place in all three categories of the competition.

"It is a great honor for us to win the Championship, and we think that constant practice and upgrading on overclocking knowledge are key factors that contributed to our victory," Xu Gang and Susie said. "In addition, the components that were used for overclocking were vital, and we found that Asus' hardware, and all other components from the different sponsors of AOCC, were exceptionally stable and top-notch in terms of quality. Overclocking is increasing in popularity back in China, and we think that 1-2 percent of the whole population are currently overclocking today!"

While the team gave Asus the biggest shout-out, components from Intel, Nvidia, Kingston, FSP, and Western Digital were also part of the event. Xu Gang and Susie were awarded $5,000 for their efforts.

Not on the ticket was a side competition involving LN2. Catch the YouTube video here, and definitely do not try this at home. Or anywhere else.

Daily News Brief: EVGA Owners, Rev Your GPUS!

Paul Lilly — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:49:08 -0500

EVGA releases new graphics overclocking utility, new bling for your D-Link router, enter to win a $10K PC, see who's turning 30, and more!

March 2008: Windows Hacks & Tips

The Maximum PC Staff — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:53:41 -0500

The complete PDF archive of the March 2008 edition of Maximum PC, every article included, every page posted! Download it now!