A group of motherboard enthusiasts working for GIGABYTE, sharing their insider knowledge and general ramblings of the motherboard business, the tech industry, latest technologies and trends, and other random odds and ends.
Tech Yes City YouTuber did a roundup of Z370 motherboards and really liked the Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming board. He found it had the best auto OC functionality in bios and was the only one of the roundup to reach 5GHz. He also said he "loved the RGB lighting on the motherboard as well as audio." Grab yourself a bargain gamer board based on Z370 chipset and frag away!
It's that time of the year again, HWBOT Country Cup 2017 is upon us and we are about to find out who the best overclocking nation in the world is very soon. If you haven't seen these overclocking competitions in the past, it's basically the world cup of overclocking. Nations get together and complete in numerous stages set by HWBOT. There are six stages this year ranging from SuperPi, Cinebench, X265, GPUPI, 3DMARK11 and 3DMARK Time Spy. It's a mixed bag of 2D and 3D stages with some even dedicated to the latest AMD platforms. The top10 leaderboard is looking interesting at this point. USA is in the lead and we can see last year's winner (Greece) and running up (Australia) down in 9th and 8th places respectively. These competitions are tend to change rankings considerable, particularly near the end of each stage but it's good to see a nice mix of countries. Germany is always a bit performer as is France. Good to see Ukraine and UK pushing up rankings. I wonder if Indonesia will make a play this year as they always have a strong showing. Prizes never disappoint and this year we see some awesome GIGABYTE Z370 boards up for grabs, alongside Intel CPUs, Kingpin cooling and Seasonic. Keep an eye on the competiton via this link. First stage is due in about 9 days. It should get the party started: http://oc-esports.io/#!/round/country_cup_2017!
We've noticed that Techcity did some good testing on the AMD Ryzen 3 1200 paired with a GIGABYTE AB350 gaming board. It turns out that overclocking the CPU really gives it a serious performance boost, check it out!
The new Intel Core i9 16-core, 32-thread monster is out and about. We noticed
a whole bunch of overclocking records being set in the 16 core processor
category and 7960X is the new king. GIGABYTE X299 board was once again the go to
weapon to help achieve these records. The craziest part was that it ran as high
as 5.6GHz in a multithreaded benchmark (all cored loaded). Liquid nitrogen was
obviously needed to keep this bad boy cool.
TeamAU is back at it with 3DMARK01 world record going down today. They also broke a historic 72K points in 3DMARK06 to retake the world record in that benchmark as well.
GIGABYTE X299 and Intel Core i7 7740X powered these records and we want to congratulate TeamAU on this achievement.
Yes, you've read that right, Overclockers Australia forum is hosting an overclocking competition with a bit of geek rap in the mix as well! We've seen these before and they were hilarious, ended up in some seriously funny (and a little foul) roasting rap sessions between OCers.
Here is a link to the forum for those interested: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=1226743
With Summer temperatures soaring in many regions around the world at the moment, it’s an apt time to take a look at how the GIGABYTE Beat the Heat contest is panning out over on OC-ESPORTS. The contest is GIGABYTE’s fifth contest of the year so far and as with previous contest, the company is not shy when it comes to offering attractive prizes. Winners can expect to walk away with really nice hardware that in total amounts to more than $2,500 USD. Let’s a take a quick look at the standings and scores as they stand at the moment with around eleven days to go:
GIGABYTE Beat the Heat: July 1st to July 31st 2017
The GIGABYTE Beat the Heat contest runs throughout the month of July here on OC-ESPORTS and is centered on 2D benchmarks and the latest non-HEDT platforms. All contestants must use a GIGABYTE motherboard. The contest is divided into the following four stages each featuring a 5GHz CPU frequency limitation and a specific benchmark:
We have a video for you guys if you are looking to install the new Intel Optane memory to accelerate your HDD speeds and responsiveness. You will require a few steps to get it working properly so have a good look at the video before you go about it!
We noticed that sofos1990 has broken the almighty 6GHz barrier with a multithreaded benchmark called HWBOT Prime to retake his record with GIGABYTE X299 board and Intel Core i9 7900X CPU. We are talking about all 10 cores and 20 threads running past 6GHz stable, using liquid nitrogen to achieve the frequency OC! New HWBOT Prime reword with a 10 core CPU is now at 12,189.52pps!
GIGABYTE X299 platform is looking incredibly strong with 5 World Records broken as well as 27 Global First Places! Sofos recently posted the Big Mac of all records, XTU World Record, using Intel Core i9 7900X and a GIGABYTE X299 board.
GIGABYTE is setting the bar very high for its competitors with a dominant five world records and twenty seven global first places on GIGABYTE X299 platform well over a month from original platform launch. This means that the scores have reached a peak and by this time we get to see the scores solidify and gives us an opportunity to see who's got the best platform available on the market.
Enthusiasts worldwide who expect the best performance are now pushing the X299 platform to the max and while overclocking isn't for everyone, the records do show GIGABYTE X299 motherboards are leading the way and are best choice of hardware to power your next overclocking, gaming, video editing, VR and any other high performance PC you dream of!
The records set on the new platform are both 2D and 3D in nature. The 3D scores have all been set with Intel Core i7 7740X, while the global first places are 3D based with multi-threaded performance CPUs in 6 Core (Core i7 7800X) 8 core (Core i7 7820X) and 10 core categories (Core i9 7900X).
We just noticed newlife from Australia reached a memory frequency record on the latest AMD Ryzen X370 Gaming K7 motherboard. Over DDR4-4000 wow. Congratulations my man!
It looks like Greek overclocker Sofos1990 has been getting deeply acquainted with Intel’s latest Skylake-X processor series. Using a Core i7 7820X and a Core i7 7800X he managed to claim seven Global First Placed scores in the octa-core and hexa-core rankings, all within the space of just a day or so. Good going. Let’s take a look at the scores.
In the GPUPI for CPU 1B rankings Sofos managed to break the record score for an octa-core CPU, completing a run in just 2min 8sec 953ms using a Core i7 7820X clocked at 5.5GHz (+ 52.7%) with DDR4 configured at 1,800MHz (13-13-13-28). The rig used a GIGABYTE X299 SOC Champion motherboard and its X9c revision BIOS.
He used the same configuration to attack the wPrime benchmark. In wPrime 32M he finished a run in just 1sec 797ms while in the wPrime 1024M preset he scored 52sec 853ms – both are records scores for an octa-core chip. Using the same rig Sofos managed to also break the Global First Placed score in HWBOT Prime with a score of 10,779.23 pps. In this case the Core i7 7820X was pushed even further to hit 5.9GHz, a massive +63.89% beyond stock settings.
Turning now to the six-core Core i7 7800X processor we have three more Global First Place scores. Sofos managed a score of 9,429.56 pps in the HWBOT Prime benchmark with the Skylake-X chip pushed to 5.5GHz (+57.14%), also using a X299 SOC Champion motherboard. Using the same setup he also took down two wPrime GFPs. In wPrime 32M he managed a run of just 2sec 281mswhile in the wPrime 1024M he completed a run in 1min 10sec 890ms – both scores are the fastest ever using a six core chip.
Finally we should probably also mention that Sofos currently holds the record for he highest CPU frequency on an Intel Core i7 7820X, hitting a very tasty 6,400.08MHz which is exactly +77.78% beyond stock.
With the points earned from this session Sofos1990 now sits in 16th place in the overall HWBOT league rankings with a points haul of 1,780.8 points. You can find all the scores mentioned in this article in the links above. You can also check out the Sofos1990 profile page here.
Last week GIGABYTE hosted an X299 OC gathering which broke numerous launch day world records on the latest Intel® X299 platform.
With overclockers from around the world, led by the Senior GIGABYTE overclocker HiCookie, this team of 5 gathered at the GIGABYTE OC Lab. Sofos, GIGABYTE’s veteran overclocker and Team AU’s: Dinos22, Youngpro, and SniperOZ worked throughout Computex to produce four new 3DMark world records and a global first.
In order to push past the 7.5GHz barrier, the team of overclockers employed liquid helium to drop temperatures to a mind numbingly low -250° Celsius. GIGABYTE now dominates the world record in 3DMark03, 3DMark06, and Aquamark. The 3DMark06 world record was broken not once but twice over the past week, using different hardware configurations, subsequently making one of those scores a global first. Each of the 3DMark records were broken using the latest GIGABYTE X299 AORUS motherboards, AORUS graphics cards and G.Skill memory.
Here is a video with some good OC action!
Below are the detailed hardware and benchmark that the records were achieved on.
From these scores it's obvious to see that the GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Motherboards excel in pushing the limits of performance. With their commitment to overclocking, GIGABYTE has continued to develop motherboards that can satisfy the needs of overclockers, gamers, and enthusiasts alike.
Greece's best overclocker, $@39@, has done some serious benching with our X99 SOC Champion motherboard to take down two global first top scores in GPUPI benchmark (Score_1, Score_2).
We have some exciting news today. We've worked with a map developer, Luke Matilla, best known for this weather changing CSGO maps. This time Luke's had his eye on arena like aim battles with various themes including rails, plywood, construction and arches.
The intention of these custom aim maps is to help to improve player aim and reaction speed. The maps are set within a arena-like environment and come with a cheering crowd. The only question you have to ask; will the crowd be cheering for your defeat or for your victory?
To play the maps, you can subscribe to custom maps on steam workshop under The AORUS collection http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=919880957.
You can also connect directly to maps via a server we are hosting in various regions (open console in csgo and type connect (Australia would be connect 108.61.227.7:27065)
- Australia: 108.61.227.7:27065 - North America: 173.199.87.234:27035 - Europe: 108.61.122.185:27015
The first GIGABYTE sponsored contest of 2017 came to a close just a few days ago on OC-ESPORTS. At the end of a month long contest that attracted some of the world’s most potent overclocking talent, we find US overclocker Splave sitting at the top of the table. In second place we have World Champion 2016 marc0053 from Canada, while in third place we find Belgian legend leeghhofd. Let’s take a look at all the scores from the contest, the $2,500 USD prize pool on offer and the lucky prize draw winners.
GIGABYTE March Madness: March 1st to 31st, 2017
The March Madness contest from GIGABYTE, was open to Overclockers from all leagues on HWBOT. It spanned four individual stages with benchmarks chosen with the emphasis on CPU and memory performance. To make things more interesting and reduce the effects of the silicon lottery, the contest implemented a frequency cap of 5,003MHz. This meant that competing Overclockers had to find ingenious ways to tweak their systems beyond simply pushing CPU frequency. In terms of hardware restrictions, it was all pretty simple; any single-core, dual-core or quad-core processor on any GIGABYTE motherboard. The following benchmarks were chosen for each of the four stages.
Contest Stages and Benchmarks
Stage 1: 3DMark Time Spy Physics
Stage 2: Geekbench3 (Multi Core)
Stage 3: X265 1080P
Stage 4: Intel XTU
Stage 1: 3DMark Time Spy Physics
In Stage 1 overclockers were tasked with squeezing as much performances from their system to score as highly as possible in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, using the Physics score. Splave made his mark here, earning a first place finish with a score of 6,978 marks. The score was made using an Intel Core i7 7700K and a G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 kit configured at 1,834.8MHz (13-13-13-28).
Here’s a great shot of the rig used by Splave which is based around an GIGABYTE Z270X-Gaming K7 motherboard:
Second place goes to marc0053 with a score of 6,962 marks while Germany’s Nik arrived in third place with 6,911 marks. Check out the Stage 2 contest table below:
In Stage 2 of the contest we turn to the Geekbench 3 Multi-Core benchmark. Once again the fastest overclocker proves to be that man again… Splave took first place with a score of 22,506 points. On this occasion he configured his G.SKILL DDR4 kit to 1972.1MHz using 12-12-12-28 timings. In second place we find marc0053 is the bride’s maid again, arriving in second place with a score of 22,501 points, while in third place leeghoofd makes an entrance on the scene with a score of 22,385 points.
The rig shot below comes from marc0053 and is also based on a GIGABYTE Z270X-Gaming K7 board:
The HWBOT in-house developed x265 benchmark and its 1080p preset is the focus in Stage 3. This time the Belgian master leeghoofd makes a big splash with an outstanding score of 42.76 fps, quite a bit ahead of Splave who managed a score of 42.73 fps. Leeghoofd used a GIGABYTE Z170X-SOC Force board with his G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 kit pushed to 2,012.4MHz (12-12-12-28). Third place goes to Indonesia’s IvanCupa who managed a score of 42.7 fps.
Here’s a rig shot from Nik of Germany who also opted to use a GIGABYTE Z170X-SOC Force motherboard:
In the final Stage we’re focusing on the Intel XTU benchmark. The scoring was a little odd however with all submissions earning one point, regardless of score. For what it’s worth we find marc0053 finally arriving in top spot with a score of 1,787 marks. Nik arrives in second place with 1,785 marks while Splave has to make do with 1,783 marks and third place.
At the end of the month we find Splave in a commanding position at the top of the table with 149 points. Marc0053 arrives in second place with 141 points while leeghoofd makes third spot with a haul of 139 points. Here’s the table at the end of the contest:
A total of 60 overlockers took part in the contest, which might not seem the highest participation numbers for an OC-ESPORTS contest. The GIGABYTE March Madness contest did however involve some the biggest names in overclocking with several of the world’s top Elite players taking part. This is great to see.
A big thanks to all the overclockers who took part, and also to GIGABYTE for their valued support. We leave you with a mouth watering look at the great prizes that GIGABYTE are sending the contest winners. These winners also include Prize Draw winners, so if you took part, take a look. You might still be a winner.
Tech Yes City YouTuber did a roundup of Z370 motherboards and really liked the Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming board. 
It's that time of the year again, HWBOT Country Cup 2017 is upon us and we are about to find out who the best overclocking nation in the world is very soon. If you haven't seen these overclocking competitions in the past, it's basically the world cup of overclocking. Nations get together and complete in numerous stages set by HWBOT.
In the GPUPI for CPU 1B rankings Sofos managed to break the record score for an octa-core CPU, completing a run in just 2min 8sec 953ms using a Core i7 7820X clocked at 5.5GHz (+ 52.7%) with DDR4 configured at 1,800MHz (13-13-13-28). The rig used a GIGABYTE X299 SOC Champion motherboard and its X9c revision BIOS.
