Overclocking:Going Down the Rabbit Hole

IntroductionWho am I and why am I here

Hi, I’m Pieter• Belgian, 27y, male• I live in Taiwan• Build first PC at age of 13• First overclock at age of 13• HWBOT

• 2006: Volunteer – Moderator• 2009: Employed – Project Manager• 2014: Co-owner – Director

I’m here to talk about overclockingTip of the Ice Berg Down the Rabbit Hole

What we’re covering today• Part 1: Introduction• Part 2: Brief introduction to overclocking• Part 3: HWBOT and overclockingShort break• Part 4: Going down the rabbit hole• Part 5: Challenges ahead• Part 6: Start overclocking today – HWBOT narrative• Part 7: Q & A

A Brief Introduction to OverclockingAnswering the Who, What, Why and How’s

Overclocker in Focus: Joe and Steponz

The Art of Overclocking• Overclocking is increasing the operating frequency of the processor,

graphics card, or memory to increase its performance.

• Different people have different overclocking goals• Overcome performance deficit due to system cost• Increase performance for free• Achieve higher performance than available on market

Performance / Cost

Lowest SKU

Top SKU

Match performance of more expensive part

Core i7 Up to 10 coresUp to USD $1650

Core i3 / i52 to 4 coresUSD $100 to $250

Core i5 / i7 4 to 6 cores USD $250 - $600

Product offering

Have more performance than the most expensive part

“I need more than what you offer”

“I want to spend less for this performance”

“I get more out of what I paid for”

The Overclocker’s Mind-set

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q12012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Pentium Core i3 Core i5 Core i7 - DT Core i7 - HEDT

Growing Overclocking Activity

500% increase in active user base

Brief Historical Overview

History Lesson – Some thirty years ago

How to Overclock NecV30 from 8 MHz to 10 MHz

History Lesson – Some twenty-five years ago

Landmark System Speed Test v6.001993

Wolfenstein 3D benchmark1992

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=46406

History Lesson – Some twenty years ago

http://holicho.lib.net/

Muropaketti

History Lesson – Some fifteen years ago

January 6, 2000Northwind Gold Fingers Device (GFD)

October 18, 2000SuperPI 32M Leaderboard

http://www.anandtech.com/show/457http://holicho.lib.net/pi3355/pi3355.htm

History Lesson – Some ten years ago

History Lesson – Some five years ago

GIGABYTE GOOC 2010 MSI MOA 2011

HWBOT and OverclockingWhat’s HWBOT and how do we fit in the overclocking space?

HWBOT History – Part 12005 2016

HWBOT Portfolio

Supporting the overclocking ecoystemHWBOT

News Hub

Discussion Forum

World Records

Overclockers League

Hardware Rankings

Benchmark

integration API

Embed Function

Intel XTU Integratio

n

World Tour

Amateur Workshop

Gathering

Competition

World Champion

ship

OC-ESPORTSCommunit

y Competiti

on Task Force

Road To Pro

Pro OC & Challenger

World OC Ranking

Competition

Schedule

Overclocking

Tournaments

Open Benchta

bleOpen Source

Blueprint

Support for 3D Print

Projects

Benchtable Product

Overclocking .gui

deTutorials

Advanced Guides

Product Tests

Pro OC Program

Pro OC Content Creation

Pro OC Cash

Prizing

Road To Pro

Challenger Division Support

HWBOT X

Online Event

Repository

Workshops

Gathering

Competitions

Demonstrations

Skatter Bencher

Video Guides

HWinsights

Quarterly Reports

Analyst Reports

Opinion Pieces

Consultancy

OtherOC Game Software

Wiki

Overclocker in Focus

The OC Show

Information Community Competitive OtherProduct

Legend

Motives and ScopeScience, Technology, Problem-Solving

Overclocking and Basic Science

Overclocking and Technology

Key Skill: Problem-Solving Logic

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3d516w/new_improved_cpu_overclocking_flow_chart/

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?264300-Sandy-bridge-OC-Guide

Recognition for Work and Effort

Scope of OverclockingEasy

OnlineCasual

SoloEducation

ProductCommunity

Affordable

Advanced Offline CompetitiveSocial EntertainmentServiceIndustryExpensive

--------

Easy – AdvancedEasy Advanced

Online – OfflineOnline Offline

Casual – CompetitiveCasual Competitive

Solo – SocialSolo Social

Education – EntertainmentEducational

Entertainment

Product – ServiceProduct Service

Community – IndustryCommunity Industry

Affordable – ExpensiveAffordable Expensive

Short break

Going Down the Rabbit HoleWhat does it take to be a competitive extreme overclocker?

Introducing K|ngp|n, Legendary Overclocker

Rabbit Hole – Pick the ChallengeChallenges

• Personal rig performance improvement• Improve my personal bests in

benchmarks• Improve in the league• Join an online competition• Join an offline competition• Aim for benchmark world records

Choice: World Record Attempt

Rabbit Hole – Pick the BenchmarkBenchmarks

• CPU benchmark• Single threaded: SuperPI• Multi threaded: Cinebench• Frequency: CPU-Z

• GPU benchmark• Single GPU• Multi GPU• Current-gen or Legacy

• Memory benchmark• Frequency• Bandwidth

Choice: Current-Gen Single GPU

Rabbit Hole – Pick the HardwareHardware: Processor

• Processor• Architecture / platform• Core count• Hyper-threading• Binning / batch

Binning CPUs

Rabbit Hole – Pick the HardwareHardware: Motherboard

• Motherboard• Memory trace lay-out• BIOS• PCIe lane configuration• OC buttons• Debug LED

PCIe Lane Configuration

Rabbit Hole – Pick the HardwareHardware: DRAM

• Memory• Bin• ICs• Frequency • Timings• Training

Rabbit Hole – Pick the HardwareHardware: Graphics Card

• Graphics Card• GPU• Memory• PCB• BIOS• Driver

“Zombified” graphics card

Rabbit Hole – Pick the CoolingCooling

• Ambient: air to water• Subzero: chilled water to dry ice• Extreme: cascade to liquid

helium• Hardware: cooling pots• Insulation

Design of CPU LN2 Pot

Rabbit Hole – Bringing Things Together

Other Choices

• Operating System• Power Supply• Temperature issues• “Coldbug”• “Coldbootbug”

• Liquid Nitrogen Storage

Test Procedure

1. Determine hardware capability1. Processor2. Memory3. Graphics Card

2. Determine baseline scores3. Max out hardware4. Hope for Record

Rabbit Hole – It Continues …

Challenges AheadLet’s talk about the future of overclocking

It’s all about the money• Entry Cost Increase• $250 K-CPU + $90 Z-MB

• Top Competitive Cost Increase• $1700 X-CPU + $1200 GPU + $600

X-MB

• Binning• Industrial and commercial

Last budget overclocking CPU: USD $117Paired with H-series motherboard: USD $135

Source: http://hwbot.org/submission/1017589_kkwong_cpu_frequency_core_i3_530_6886.28_mhz

Pursuit of Perfection (or lack thereof)• Lack of competitive platform to

stimulate engineering race• Tour de France• Formula One

• Lack of appreciation for engineering effort• Cost-down vs add features

Cultural Relativism• Industry• Use overclocking as a mean to

promote component quality (2005)• Organizes large-scale overclocking

tournaments (2006-2010)• World records can be achieved

internally (2011-2015)• Gaming!

• Technical media• It’s not relevant• It’s a waste of time• It’s pointless

• Community• Used to be “king”, now sidelined• Hard to find new blood

Start Overclocking Today!The HWBOT Narrative

Amateur Workshops and Competition

XTU, Rookie League and Rookie Rumble

Start Learning and Experimenting

http://www.overclockers.ua/news/hardware/2016-07-05/118461/

Apprentice and Extreme

Join Gatherings and Competitions

The Overclocking World Championship

Projects• Today• World Tour 2017: 10 locations• World Championship

• Short-term• Educate and bring in new blood• Building the definitive oc wiki

• Long-term• Platform engaging all partners• Team of Professional “evangelists”• Ultimate ambient: South Pole

Summary• Overclocking is not something you can pick up and do, you need to grasp

the technology and science and apply basic problem-solving logic

• Overclocking is more than what meets the eye; extreme overclocking requires hard work, dedication and in-depth knowledge

• Honor the history and tradition of Overclocking

• HWBOT’s mission is to foster and support a healthy overclocking ecosystem

Thanks!