[Cecil]

Originally Posted by Chuchnit

First off, it's cool to see so many people throwing around ideas. The feedback is greatly appreciated and I take it this means you guys like what we got going on over here.

Now to the problems I see.

Everybody seems to want to have a contest that is so "fair" that almost nobody here will be able to compete. What do I mean by this? Well we are a benching community. That means that more than the majority of the members here have more than $600 in a motherboard and ram. Really with as many classified owners here, just the motherboard almost. So what, are we gonna have a contest where 2 or 3 members even have the goods to meet the requirements?

Ponder on this for a minute. If we held a $xxx hardware limit contest, what are you gonna want next when the "pros" spend the money just to have hardware to compete? Then we would be hearing about it not being fair again. See how hard it is to hold a contest where everyone thinks it's "fair"?

I say we all take these contest as good motivation for practice and personal betterment in that particular bench. Maybe you'll learn something that works for the first time, or even gain the respect of someone who might give you a tip or two. Either way, if you compete, these contest are a win for all.

Thats why there would be two catagories. One for people who cant afford all the high end stuff, and one for those that can.

[Kal-EL]

Lotsa puzzle pieces but no complete picture.

[Cecil]

Then limited and unlimited class.

Limited class.
CPU, Mobo, Ram, Vid card must not exceed $600 using newegg prices. If it doesnt appear on newegg, tuff luck.

Bench, Crysis benchmark. Can be gotten for free here,
http://downloads.guru3d.com/Crysis-B...load-1791.html


Test,
1280x1024 all high settings, no AA, DX9 64bit runs only
timedemo, benchmark GPU
Time of day (9)
3 loops to eliminate SSD advantage.


Unlimited Class.
Anything goes

Test,
1920x1080 all very high 16xAA, DX10 64bit runs only
timedemo, benchmark GPU
Time of day (9)
1 run only to avoid HDD caching, giving advantage to higher end HDD setups.




EDIT
To follow up on Bones post, have a similar benchoff for vintage stuff, using Far Cry 1 as the bench of choice. No dual cores, and bassically, if it uses DDR2, its too new.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by Cecil

To follow up on Bones post, have a similar benchoff for vintage stuff, using Far Cry 1 as the bench of choice. No dual cores, and bassically, if it uses DDR2, its too new.

Only problem I see right now is that the newest GPU's can still be used with many of these setups. It's possible to go out and pickup a $500 card and PWN the class in the literal sense.

Limitations of the GPU model used would have to be in place to keep things on a more even playing field. Also as an example, AMD 939 DC systems use DDR so it would have to be restricted to single core chips for that class if keeping it single core only.

Again, it's up to you guys on how to handle this.

[Cecil]

Originally Posted by Bones

Only problem I see right now is that the newest GPU's can still be used with many of these setups. It's possible to go out and pickup a $500 card and PWN the class in the literal sense.

Limitations of the GPU model used would have to be in place to keep things on a more even playing field. Also as an example, AMD 939 DC systems use DDR so it would have to be restricted to single core chips for that class if keeping it single core only.

Again, it's up to you guys on how to handle this.

I figured using a year restriction on GPUs, or generation at least.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by Cecil

I figured using a year restriction on GPUs, or generation at least.

I'd say any GPU based on DX10 or newer is out such as my 8600GTS for example.
All 7 series GPU's made by Nvidia are DX9 based and affordable nowadays.

[Bones]

I can see your point Chuchnit and it's a good one.

Maybe this can be based on something that could be called "Vintage" hardware, the exact parameters to be decided by you guys.

Something you could get cheaply or maybe have in the closet collecting dust you could put to use again. Best thing is you woudn't need alot of $$'s to compete and most of you I believe have some of this stuff just lying around anyway. Finding the parts to build one of these shoudn't be difficult since you can browse places such as Ebay and others to find these parts and believe me, they're out there.
This would allow those of us without the $$'s to have a shot at competing directly with the "Big Guys". In this case, it would take more skill than $$'s to make a good run since as stated, parts for these are affordable and if something should go "Poof", it's not a huge loss for most of us that would hurt so badly.

Extreme cooling is still an issue to be worked on regardless of what's ultimately decided but it's one way I can think of to limit the $$ investment so the little guys can play too and newer OC'ers can feel like they have a chance to test their skills and learn about OC'ing in the first place.

[69_Goat]

Not a bad idea, Bones. I've got some P4 stuff around here that I would like to figure out how to clock properly. I never could get SetFSB or any other software utilities to work for me. It would give me a chance to learn on these older platforms and capture more points on the bot.

[Splave]

cool ideas, this thread has

[DrNip]

Cinebench is a good bench to hold a contest on. use the CPU part of it and set a limit. Last one I was in was pretty fun.