GIGABYTE rolls up a 962 ‘Gold Cup’ submissions at HWBOT in 2012

So just out out curiosity, I went and had look at exactly how many overclockers are winning awards, specifically Gold Cup awards at HWBOT using our motherboards. Let’s just say the results were pretty damn impressive. In 2012, which of course isn’t quite over yet, exactly 962 1st place ranking hardware submissions – i.e. Gold Cup awards - on HWBOT.org were made by from people using GIGABYTE motherboards. That’s not a total submissions number, nope. That’s just Gold Cup submissions! Unbelievable!

Here’s the permalink so you can check it out for yourself: http://url.hwbot.org/VBtJJK

Gold Cups are awarded at HWBOT when a submission beats an existing highest score on a particular piece of hardware and a particular benchmark. Gold Cups are also league-agnostic, so Pros, enthusiasts and amateurs compete side by side.

As we move into 2013, we are seriously considering having monthly prize draws for these Gold Cup submissions that use GIGABYTE motherboards. I reckon it’d be a great way to give recognition to the hundreds of overclockers who might not be contenders for the heavyweight world records, but nonetheless, deserve recognition for their efforts. If you have any opinions on this, feel free to chime in below with comments.

Image source – Tony McCoy…. real Gold Cup legend in his own right. Not sure he can overclock hardware too well though.

GIGABYTE launch ‘Winter OC Whiteout’ competition at HWBOT

That’s right folks. GIGABYTE is launching a brand new month-long overclocking competition at HWBOT, and this time we’ve invited Cooler Master to chip in with prizes too, making sure it’s a real temptation for overclockers everywhere during this festive period. The winner of each of the three stages will win a GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H motherboard plus a Cooler Master Seidon 120M liquid cooling kit.

As well as three benchmark stages (outlined below) we’ve also added a bit of festive cheer in the form of a bonus prize for the most wintery and festive submission photo. So crack out the LN2 and let the snow and ice collect on your pot! We’ll post the ten best photos on our Facebook ten days before the competition concludes, the one with most ‘Likes’ gets a GIGABYTE Z77-HD4 motherboard, plus a Cooler Master Sirus S-5.1 gaming headset.

‘Winter OC Whiteout’ Stages:

Stage 1: 3DMark11 "No 2011"- Any Non-Socket 2011 Intel CPU; Single GPU only

Stage 2: 3DMark Vantage “Dual core” - Dual or Single core Intel CPUs only; Single GPU

Stage 3: Heaven DX11 “Full Out” – Any Intel CPU; Single GPU only

GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H

Competition Rules

Entrants must use the official competition background (available on the HWBOT competition page). Verification screenshots are required and must include; benchmark score plus CPU-Z CPU/Memory/Mainboard tab. Entrants must include a picture of the rig used. All submission photos will be considered for the bonus prize. Usual HWBOT submission and verification rules apply.

For full contest rules, scoring and more details, please visit the contest page hosted at HWBOT

http://hwbot.org/competition/gbt_winter_whiteout

Handy tool to disable/enable ULPS (Ultra Low Power State) by youngpro22

James from the Australian Xtreme Overclocking team called TeamAU (www.teamau.net) is feeling the Xmas spirit and gave away one of the tools he made for TeamAU boys to control power state for ATI graphics cards. Basically the tool disables power throttling and forces the graphics cards not to fall asleep. It also lowers frequency and voltage on GPUs to save power.

This tool is handy to both gamers and overclockers as it helps with some stuttering issues in games and instability in AMD/ATI Crossfire (Xfire) that some experience while it also helps overclockers disable power state which can affect score efficiency. Downside is that you will have a warmer PC and use more power if you are a gamer so make sure you have adequate case cooling. Overclockers don’t normally have to be too concerned about this as they test on open platforms generally. You can try and see if it helps and revert back to original state by enabling ULPS with the same tool however. Worth a try!

This tool basically does what some of us had to do manually and it’s hard work I’ll tell ya as I've found out during my 7970 Xfire testing with hundreds of registry entries that need to be changed manually.

Here is what the tool looks like and you can find more information about how it works on James’ blog http://blog.metasplo.it/2012/12/amd-ulps-ultra-low-power-state-disable.html.

Give it up for James and TeamAU!

A Sin0822 guide to CPU and memory overclocking on the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7

 

Power user Sin0822 has been busy once again, this time he’s written an in depth guide to getting the absolute most out of our flagship Z77X-UP7 motherboard in terms of both CPU and memory. As well as details about how to push an Intel 3770K on air and LN2, plus sound advice on pushing high-end memory kits from Corsair and G.SKILL, Sin also shot a short video that focuses on our UEFI BIOS which you can catch below. He’s even providing a link to download his OC profiles…awesome job.

If you own or are thinking of owning a GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7, then I highly suggest you go take a look at Sin’s guide over on Overclock.net

More info and specs on the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 can be found here.

I think YouTube is trying to tell me something today!

Got your GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 yet?

Global #3 3DMARK05 by TeamAU today using Z77X-UP7

Team Australia Extreme OC team just put up a new 3DMARK05 (global 3rd fastest) score on HWBOT sporting the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 and an Intel Core i7 3770K running at a whopping 6.75GHz on liquid nitrogen.
 
CoolerMaster 1500W PSU seems to be a good match with this benching rig and multiple graphics cards. Plenty of power on tap!

TeamAU attend Atomic’s Perfect PC giveaway and do some overclocking, also freeze a Samsung smartphone with LN2

Atomic Magazine in Australia held its last event and gave away a perfect PC with a host of cool hardware including GIGABYTE Sniper 3 gaming board. TeamAU was in attendance with some overclocking and freezing of other stuff, namely some grapes, apples, pizza slices and a Samsung smartphone which was captured on video.

The boys also managed to pickup a global #3 3DMARK06 score with a GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7, 3770K CPU clocked at 6.55GHz and a pair of 5970 GPUs!

Yup, a Samsung smartphone was frozen with liquid nitrogen and torched for good measure, epic!

Dave’s Tech Table specs out some pro rigs using GIGABYTE Dual Thunderbolt motherboards

Dave Helmly is a specialist working for Adobe, specifically working with system integrators and builders creating digital audio and video hardware solutions for Adobe's pro creative applications. Check out his DAV’s Tech Table blog here. So the kind of applications we’re talking about are pretty demanding when it comes to both raw computational performance and storage mediums. Apps like Adobe Premier Pro, After effects and others often need to stream very high def, very heavy video content on the fly, with tons of processing going too, so let’s just say that Dave knows how to spec out a machine that will suit today’s professional content creators.

So here’s a great video that Dave posted which explores a couple of different builds that feature Thunderbolt on Windows. This is a relatively new scenario for content creators as Thunderbolt, prior to few months ago, was an Apple-exclusive feature. So it’s easy to see why Thunderbolt on Windows is clearly something that excites many users of Dave’s ilk.

It’s great to see that Dave has opted for GIGABYTE boards, and in fact has found suitable homes for all there of our TB offerings. Actually, being the only solution on the market featuring two TB ports, it’s easy to see why GIGABYTE got the nod. If you want to check out the details regarding specs etc hit the links below.

• GIGABYTE Z77X-UP5 TH
• GIGABYTE Z77X-UP4 TH
• GIGABYTE Z77MX-D3H TH

Here’s Dave’s blog ‘DAV’s TechTable.

Introducing the ‘The Ultimate OverClockers Dream Giveaway’

Fancy winning some seriously sexy hardware? I’m talking about a pretty damn nice OC setup that includes a GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H motherboard, an Intel core i7 3770K CPU, a G.SKILL Trident 2600MHz CL10 8GB memory kit and some nice memory cooling gear from KINGPIN. Well, if you d fancy the chance to win all that and more, then pop over to this page:

You’ll be asked to ‘Like’ us (as if you don’t already) and share the event with your buddies. It really is that simple. What are you waiting for?

Ultimate Prize:

· Intel® Core™ i7 3770K Processor

· GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H Motherboard

· G.SKILL TridentX 2600MHz CL10 8GB Memory Kit

· KINGPIN Memory Cooler

· GIGABYTE Key Chain and G.SKILL Lanyards

Runner-Up Prize 

· GIGABYTE Z77-HD4 Motherboard

· G.SKILL RipjawsX 2133MHz CL9 8GB Memory Kit

· KINGPIN Memory Cooler

· GIGABYTE Key Chain and G.SKILL Lanyards

3^rd, 4^th and 5^th Places

· KINGPIN Memory Cooler

· GIGABYTE Key Chain and G.SKILL Lanyards

Again, the competition page: https://www.facebook.com/kingpincooling?v=app_154581087931912

Good Luck!

windwithme checks out Intel i3-3220 performance on B75 and H77 chipsets

 

windwithme (and his signature wee glass cat) has once again come up with the goods, publishing an in-depth article on the lower power Intel i3-3220 processor. While it might not always be the best choice for overlockers or real high-end gaming systems, the lower 55w TDP and of course, better affordability makes it a great choice or mid-range systems based on Intel’s B75 and H77 platforms.

windwithme puts the entry level Ivy Bridge Core i3 CPU through its paces using a GIGABYTE B75M-D3V and GIGABYTE H77-DS3H, two affordable boards that make good economic sense for a build that might not break world records, but nonetheless still makes a pretty awesome everyday PC.

You can find the full article here on Overclockers.net

More info about the GIGABYTE H77-DS3H and GIGABYTE B75-D3V can be found at their respective product pages.

GIGABYTE UEFI BIOS Survey: Winner announced!

A few weeks ago we launched a new survey hosted on our Facebook page centered around UEFI BIOS; a simple and fun way to help us understand the opinions and thoughts of our loyal Facebook followers when it comes to an important issue such as motherboard BIOS.

All submissions were entered into a prize draw to win  a GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3 motherboard, and today we are delighted to announce that Mr Peter Bennet from the UK is the official winner. Mr Bennet my old mucker….Enjoy!

We plan to have many more competitions, polls and surveys throughout 2013, so there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future to win fantastic GIGABYTE motherboard prizes. Also a big thanks to all who entered the GIGABYTE BIOS Survey. We had a fantastic response of well over 1,5000 submissions…. giving us unprecedented insight into our customers opinions on BIOS.

Cheers to all who took part.

SniperOZ from TeamAU sets a global Unigine Heaven DX11 world record

I knew SniperOZ, Carl, had a bit more room in his setup sporting a GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 running 4WAY 7970 and sure enough went to global number 1 spot today after a productive bench session overnight. Benchmark in question is Unigine Heaven Xtreme Preset.

Legendary work Carl, keep pushing mate! I’m feeling patriotic today, go Australia!

GIGABYTYE “UP7, strong 4WAY board” he says! Good to know

SniperOz from TeamAU takes #2 Unigine Heaven DX11 on UP7 4WAY

SniperOZ from Australia has been putting together some impressive scores lately. After setting the single card world record in 3D11 he set his heart of something a bit more challenging, 4way Crossfire 7970 on GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7! He took second place overnight with a sky high score of 8248.3 points in the Xtreme Preset, Unigine Heaven. He was a mere 7 points behind MTECH from Ukraine.

Well done Carl, good to see you putting the UP7 through its paces properly mate and keep pushing!

Dino

GIGABYTE brings HDMI and DVI to value segment motherboards

HDMI has been around for ages, but it is still not found on entry level systems – until now that is. Yesterday we announced the new HD series of motherboards featuring HDMI with an entry level price tag. You could see this as a sign that HDMI has finally become mainstream, and of course we’d like you to see it as GIGABYTE adding value to our higher volume products.

Some models include HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort connectors while others have only HDMI and DVI, plus of course the standard DSub (aka VGA or RGB) connector that is normally found on entry level boards. The main benefits of having digital video out connectors like HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI are that they allow for higher resolution signals and of course HDMI and DisplayPort combine hi-def audio so that you only need one cable between your system and TV/monitor.

Here is what the new HD motherboard series I/O panels look like:

If you’re interested in learning more about the new HD series of GIGABYTE mobos be sure to check out our microsite or the product launch announcement.

GIGABYTE Attends AMD OC Event, Takes Records Home

I’m proud to say that last week I took part my first ever live overclocking event. AMD invited us to the AMD Extreme OC Show in Taipei, an overclocking demonstration event to officially launch their new Piledriver and Trinity platforms. As a relatively novice overclocker, this was my first taste of a live OC event and I can honestly say that thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Several other motherboard vendors were also in attendance. Although the OC teams were not officially representing their respective companies, touting names such as ‘OC Style’ and ‘Boundless OCer’. HiCookie, John Lam and myself (a.k.a. S.Dougal) used the moniker ‘The Killers’ in homage to the GIGABYTE G1.Killer gaming motherboard series.

AMD had made efforts to stress that the event was an OC demonstration, not a competition. However the presence of several motherboard vendors under one roof inevitably ensured plenty of good natured rivalry and a thoroughly competitive atmosphere. The idea was simple; each team had both AM3+ and FM2 platforms on the bench, tasked with pushing the clock speed as high as possible. In terms of motherboards we came equipped with GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 and GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3 motherboards.

AMD FX-4320 CPUs hit over 8GHz with GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD7

Looks like AMD is coming out with some hot new entry level CPUs called FX-4320. There is nothing overclockers like more than an entry level CPU (reads INEXPENSIVE) with monster overclocking potential and that is exactly what these new FX-4320 CPUs are all about.

AMD has just put out a monster and I have no doubt people will buy large quantities to find the golden silicone capable of the magic 9GHz barrier. Only time will tell but judging by the latest couple of overclockers from some German enthusiasts, the CPUs are already hitting past 8GHz. Motherboard of choice for top 2 scores is GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD7.

Can’t wait to try a few myself on LN2!

Congrats on first place HIBBLE!

GIGABYTE leads 4K Ultra HD revolution - First to support 4K displays with Dual Thunderbolt ports

When we first showed off our Dual Thunderbolt motherboards several months ago, the message was pretty simple. Two ports are better than one, allowing you to connect double the number of devices you can daisy chain as well as giving you the option of dual DisplayPort monitors at the end of each chain. Pretty neat.

However, yesterday we announced one other major advantage of packing dual TBT ports, and is that it also gives you enough raw bandwidth to pump out enough pixels for 4K displays – the next revolution in HD entertainment.

Although 4K resolution content and displays are still some way off in the consumer segment, the technology is gaining momentum and will eventually become the defacto HD standard – branded Ultra HD for consumers. Right now of course 4K capable screens are still very expensive, but rest assured, the technology is destined for eventual ubiquity.

We currently have three ‘Thunderbolt’ capable motherboards – aptly featuring a TH suffix. Two full ATX boards in the form of the Z77X-UP4 TH and Z77X-UP5 TH, plus the Micro-ATX sized Z77MX-D3H TH. All three boards support our dual Thunderbolt implementation, a GIGABYTE exclusive as we currently are the only board vendor that has passed Intel certification for dual ports.

TeamAU take 3DMARK03 world record with Z77X-UP7

TeamAU guys from Australia put up a new world record in 3DMARK03 today with a GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 and 4WAY 7970 ATI Crossfire. Slick looking setup this one, check it out!

That sweet looking piece of copper sitting on the GIGABYTE Z77X-UP7 motherboard socket is Kingin Venom 6.66 Liquid Nitrogen CPU cooler.

Custom PC build like no other!

It’s Friday and hobbyist are coming out, no doubt, to do some projects in the garage this weekend! Some guys take it to the extreme like this particular PC mod I’m about it show you. It’s mind blowing to say the least…

CoolerMaster is running a cool mod competition and have received some sweet entries. One that really stood out for me was done by an end user calling himself “Paslis” with an incredible PC desk mod. Here is the thread with lots of photos. I’ll leave you with a couple of interesting shots and a video showing off the hydraulics.

He’s got a good taste in hardware, I spy a GIGABYTE X79-UD3 motherboard!

GIGABYTE X79S-UP5-WiFi Featured in Tom’s Hardware 2012 Gift Guide

I always enjoy seeing the latest “tech” in Tom’s Hardware’s yearly gift guide. This year Tom’s truly outdid themselves, both in terms of beauties holding tech, and Tom’s recommendation for the GIGABYTE X79S-UP5-WiFi motherboard! Click to here to see the rest of Tom’s 2012 Buyers Guide.

GIGABYTE USB Blocker now available on AMD Platforms

Good news today ladies and gents, our exclusive USB Blocker utility that has been available on Intel platforms since August is now also available on both AMD FM1/FM2 and AM3+ platforms. For those of you who have missed it, the GIGABYTE USB Blocker is very simple utility that you can download and install for free on the gigabyte website that allows you block certain USB device types on your PC. This is a simple way to control what kind of devices can connect to your PC over USB, useful for example when you want to block USB thumb drives and hard drives on a public computer.

The GUI (above) is simple to use. You simply select the class of USB device that you would like to block, enter the password, select to block or unblock and you're done. Devices classes that are blocked will subsequently be ignored by the Windows 7 OS.

To start using the GIGABYTE USB Blocker:

• Go to your motherboard’s download page on the GIGABYTE website
• In the drop down menu, select ‘Utility’
• You’ll find the download link for USB Blocker on the list of available utilities
• Right click on the destination closest to your location
• Save to a specific folder on your hard drive
• Click on the installer and follow the on screen instructions

Note: USB Blocker requires that you have Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (full Version) installed. You can get that directly from Microsoft here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17718

AMD Trinity Overclocking Guide on GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 by der8auer

Hi guys,

Man, do I have a great read for you today! A friend from Germany who goes by the nickname der8auer on the forums has put together a fantastic AMD Trinity based overclocking guide which I wanted to share with you all. This one’s a MUST READ, check it out!

Excellent work Roman!!!

On the 2nd of October AMD published the Trinity APUs. In my review of the brand new GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 I already provided a more detailed look on the new performance and features. In this guide I'd like to show to you how you can get a lot of free power using these APUs.

Index:

AMD Trinity basic knowledge
Overclocking Basics
Basic Overclocking Step-by-Step

Step 1: Voltages
Step 2: Reference clock and CPU multiplier
Step 3: Turbo & power saving options
Step 4: Memory settings
Step 5: Test your settings

Advanced Overclocking

Detailed voltages
Loadline calibration
RAM-Overclocking
Overclock the iGPU
BCLK Overclocking

AMD Trinity basic knowledge:

AMD Trinity is part of the Virgo platform. This includes the said AMD APUs and a appropriate Mainboard. You can find them with the chipsets A55, A75 and A85X. The latest A85X chipset was published with the AMD Trinity APUs and provides the best features and OC-configurations for Trinity. Therefor I am using the F2A85X-UP4 from GIGABYTE for this OC-Guide with an AMD A10-5800K. This APU includes the HD 7660 D graphics.
Reading this guide you might realise that the overclocking of these APUs is quite similar to the Llano or Bulldozer CPUs.
Here you can see a small overview of the Trinity APUs:

Enter the GIGABYTE UEFI BIOS Survey and win a GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3 motherboard

Today we’re asking all you guys and gals to contribute your thoughts on a very important issue; motherboard BIOS! In order to better understand the personal preferences of today’s DIY builder and PC enthusiast when it comes to BIOS, we’re conducting a short survey on the subject. Once you’ve completed the survey below, you will be entered in a prize draw to win a GIGABYTE 99FXA-UD3 motherboard. Good luck!

You can find the GIGABYTE UEFI Survey here on our GIGABYTE Motherboard Tech Column Facebook page.

Christian Ney breaks global RAM frequency world record on GIGABYTE A75-UD4H!

Champion Swiss overclocker Christian Ney is at it again with his insane memory frequency overclocking. He’s set the global memory frequency world record in the past and hasn’t let up hence a new bar has been raised to 1950.3(3900.6)MHz. CRAAAAYZEEE!

Christian used a GIGABYTE A75-UD4H, Gskill TridentX & AMD A8-3870 Llano CPU. Killer RAM clocking combo.

More info can be found at OCAHOLIC forum and result itself is at HWBOT.ORG.

HiCookie takes out Intel memory frequency W.R. with GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H

GIGABYTE has a new Z77X-UD4H board coming out next week and it’s a bit of a RAM clocker some might say .

HiCookie just posted the Intel Z77 world record frequency and highest clock on any Intel platform to date. The rig was running dual channel at 3353.8MHz with G.Skill TridentX modules and GIGABYTE Z77X-UD4H. Score was validated at HWBOT and CPUz website.

Christian Ney still holds the overall global ram frequency world record on GIGABYTE A75-UD4H.

Correction: Some keen-eyed members over at HWBOT let us know that there was a higher RAM frequency on Intel platform that does not seem to be on HWBOT database done by blue ant on GIGABYTE P55-UD6. Here is that score for reference. Trouble we have sometimes is referencing all the scores and HWBOT tends to be the website to go to for anything and everything OC related and still will be. The Z77 based score is nonetheless impressive and once again highlights GIGABYTE’s ability to take RAM OC world records no matter the platform whether Intel or AMD chipset, old or new!