True, those who invest in up-to-date materials can join, pitty for all those who can't join compo after compo after compo... the number of left out peepz outnumbers the amount given here few posts earlier.

you can also reverse the ball big G... Who's able to bench older hardware ? those that bench regularly will have updated hardware for sure, plus the competition seems to cover all sorts of classes... if you want to win it's logic you need enthousiast hardware

those who can afford 2x295GTX and Core i7 EX can easily afford a second hand older setup to bench for fun.

Round 3 will be high class too... requiring €200 CPU
Round 1 was with CPUs $320+
Round 2 is with CPUs $280+
Last round is with CPUs $999+

you could have benched a Q6600 too in round one, eg Skull had a 170 euro CPU... if you wanted the max yes, get that Q9650 and that P45 mobo...

It's like I said IF you want to win , you will need to have the high end version...

In Round 2 you can bench with a 920 too, no extreme or 950 or so required... the competition is set up, to get the overclockers form one country in some sort of alliance... not an individual ranking or show..

If I don't have the hardware I don't bench it not will I buy anything special for it...

Btw Last round is 2001... will be Core2 for sure... no 99999999 cpu

Think you guys are really missing the point here...

You can create something which doesn't require +-5 months old hardware or younger. No fun for those without hw-lab. Manuf. want good economics and sell their new stuff, I understand that, would be quite a disaster if A64 rig would take the gold, how do you bring something like that to the news :)

You only have one week to get ya gear together. Even if you buy a new cpu it could be you have only got one day or so to bench it...

if you are reversing to older hardware and have to look on Ebay and co you will never ever make it... you can only bench with what you have G, not with what you could get... I understand ya frustration abit, but I will also be able to make it maybe one or two rounds...

I'm not saying that one should look for elder stuff, I'm saying that there are ways of combining new and elder hw in the same compo. Let them bench with what they have, keep costs low, competition high and it will sure be as fun as this.

$170
no I think you don't even got my first point AT ALL.

Spending $900 for a competition to bench in some of the rounds != spending $100 on CPU/RAM/MOBO of an older generation; same fun, less expensive, broader audience, more competition, lower instep level, more spectators, more extreme cooling, less fear to break stuff, etc.

if earth was "the point", you would be seen crashing into the sun. :p
ROUND 1 $170 CPU $100 MOBO $50 RAM
ROUND 2 $280 CPU $150 MOBO $100 RAM
ROUND 3 $200 CPU $100 MOBO $100 RAM
ROUND 4 3DMark Vantage. This won't be a cheap VGA card and requires a quad core CPU , Core i7 even, to score high = $200 CPU $100 MOBO $100 RAM + VGA
ROUND 5 Wprime 32m; *hope*
ROUND 6 SuperPi 32M; *hope*
ROUND 7 $$$$$$$ NO LIMITS $$$$$$$$$$ 295 GTX, E8600, LN2.

*hoping* that R5/6 will be with TOTAL SYSTEM COST <$150.

hence why I suggested 2 weeks per round but was voted down :(
2 weekends per round would offer a lot more people the chance to participate.

They just want you to bench with the hardware that you have... I can only participate with what I have lying around here.. if I don't have it, so be it, then it's up to someone else to do the job... Tests have been chosen based on the number of submissions, then some rules applied to give everyone a fair run (I would have liked an 8 multi lock in round one too)... I really don't see ya point John

Sadly for Belgium we have only a dozen active overclockers... but most of us at OC Team BE all have I7 at home, so we give it our best shot in this round !!

Whan going with two weeks, it will allow users to go for LN2 and more extreme stuff, note that most scores are H2O and SS based...

They want to keep it simple and limit each round by a certain rule (like this month with 20X and last month with no Extreme CPU's)

Reason I created this thread is to get everyone in it... don't analyse stuff like this, as it will get you nowhere... if you have issues with the way things are run , talk to other Hwbot crew...