OcUK Staff
Many on these forums will know I spent the week prior to Christmas at GOC, Galaxys overclocking competition which was held this year in China. Galaxy is branded KFA2 in the UK and the HOF range is one of the most popular enthusiast level ranges we sell.
The GOC competition this year was two days with twenty of the worlds best clockers competing.
Day one based around hardware limits of KFA2 GTX 780 HOF graphics card, 4770K, ASrock Z87M Formula board and Corsair 2400 memory, With Galaxy HOF 1200w PSU. With points scored for 3D Mark 11P, 3D Mark 11E, 3D Mark Firstrike and 3D Mark Firstrike Xtreme. Software limits where in place on this day with only Galaxy GPU tool and Asrock board tools allowed.
Day two was based around the Galaxy GTX 760 HOF card and then any hardware the competitor wished to beat as many 760 world records as possible on Vantage all presets, 11 all presets and 3D Mark all presets. For day two I chose ASUS Rampage IV BE MB, 4930k, Corsair 2666 C10 Dom plats and two Galaxy PSU. On this day overclocking software of choice was allowed.
On day 1 I am pleased to report I came third. I managed to get the 780 HOF card to well over 1800mhz core and round 1800 mems too for both Firestrike and Firstrike Xtreme. I had a strange issue with the rig though for both 11 P and 11 X presets the system could complete all but the combined test at these very high clocks. Each time I tried it would fail on combined, I tried a lot of times!!!!. CPU over clock was 5.7 and memory 2600 which passed physics every time and the GPU could run all the GPU intensive tasks no problem. With the Galaxy software which was the only one permitted having no profile system I could not use hot keys to switch the clocks down for the combined test. So had to run at around 1700mhz GPU for 11 to get any scores at all. Had I had these hot keys or profiles undoubtedly I would have won the entire contest.
For me the issue with the rig was one PSU only with split rails. The combined test being the only test where CPU and GPU is at the maximum current draw. At home had I been benching this I would use single rail PSU and two of them at that, this was not an option though on day 1's closed competition rules.
The scores achieved on 11 was 17279 for P and 7060 for X and Firestrike was 13114 for P and 6743 for X. Below are the associated 3D mark validations.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7695312
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7695302
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1336732
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1336714
Day two was even more successful with a win by taking 4 world records. The next best achieving two. 4 world records in 4 hours benching in competition environment!! Not bad
!!These records where in 11 Entry Preset, Vantage Entry, Vantage Performance and 3D mark Cloud Gate. For these records the 760 HOF was clocked to over 1900mhz with around 1850 on the mems for all benches. The ASUS RIVE BE was rock stable with 4930K at 6.150ghz and the mems at 2700 C9-12-12-21 1T. On the second day as was permitted I played it safe with two PSU and reaped the rewards.
Here are the 3D mark links to these WR's
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/1135315
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7665893
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4897542
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4897543
I have to say a big thanks to Galaxy / KFA2 for inviting me to such a prestigious event. I really enjoyed myself and gained valuable further experience of competition benching.
Here is further coverage on Galaxys website:
http://www.galaxytech.com/Areas/__EN_GB__/events/2013_GOC/highlights.html
The GOC competition this year was two days with twenty of the worlds best clockers competing.
Day one based around hardware limits of KFA2 GTX 780 HOF graphics card, 4770K, ASrock Z87M Formula board and Corsair 2400 memory, With Galaxy HOF 1200w PSU. With points scored for 3D Mark 11P, 3D Mark 11E, 3D Mark Firstrike and 3D Mark Firstrike Xtreme. Software limits where in place on this day with only Galaxy GPU tool and Asrock board tools allowed.
Day two was based around the Galaxy GTX 760 HOF card and then any hardware the competitor wished to beat as many 760 world records as possible on Vantage all presets, 11 all presets and 3D Mark all presets. For day two I chose ASUS Rampage IV BE MB, 4930k, Corsair 2666 C10 Dom plats and two Galaxy PSU. On this day overclocking software of choice was allowed.
On day 1 I am pleased to report I came third. I managed to get the 780 HOF card to well over 1800mhz core and round 1800 mems too for both Firestrike and Firstrike Xtreme. I had a strange issue with the rig though for both 11 P and 11 X presets the system could complete all but the combined test at these very high clocks. Each time I tried it would fail on combined, I tried a lot of times!!!!. CPU over clock was 5.7 and memory 2600 which passed physics every time and the GPU could run all the GPU intensive tasks no problem. With the Galaxy software which was the only one permitted having no profile system I could not use hot keys to switch the clocks down for the combined test. So had to run at around 1700mhz GPU for 11 to get any scores at all. Had I had these hot keys or profiles undoubtedly I would have won the entire contest.
For me the issue with the rig was one PSU only with split rails. The combined test being the only test where CPU and GPU is at the maximum current draw. At home had I been benching this I would use single rail PSU and two of them at that, this was not an option though on day 1's closed competition rules.
The scores achieved on 11 was 17279 for P and 7060 for X and Firestrike was 13114 for P and 6743 for X. Below are the associated 3D mark validations.
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7695312
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7695302
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1336732
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/1336714
Day two was even more successful with a win by taking 4 world records. The next best achieving two. 4 world records in 4 hours benching in competition environment!! Not bad
!!These records where in 11 Entry Preset, Vantage Entry, Vantage Performance and 3D mark Cloud Gate. For these records the 760 HOF was clocked to over 1900mhz with around 1850 on the mems for all benches. The ASUS RIVE BE was rock stable with 4930K at 6.150ghz and the mems at 2700 C9-12-12-21 1T. On the second day as was permitted I played it safe with two PSU and reaped the rewards.Here are the 3D mark links to these WR's
http://www.3dmark.com/cg/1135315
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7665893
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4897542
http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4897543
I have to say a big thanks to Galaxy / KFA2 for inviting me to such a prestigious event. I really enjoyed myself and gained valuable further experience of competition benching.
Here is further coverage on Galaxys website:
http://www.galaxytech.com/Areas/__EN_GB__/events/2013_GOC/highlights.html
