Tom's and AMD Overclocking Contest Opens!

Listen up, AMD overclocking enthusiasts, Tom’s Hardware’s next big competition is for you!

Starting Today, those of you with AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition processors will have the opportunity to push your CPU to the limit for a shot of being crowned the winner of the AMD CPU Virtual Overclocking Contest.

For this month’s contest, we’ll be sticking with the Phenom 9950 Black Edition, but those of you with the Phenom II 940 will get your chance in March.

As long as you have an AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition and are a U.S. Resident (sorry international folks, but those are the rules we’ve been given), then you’re qualified to compete! Here's the kicker though: you can enter even if you're not going to overclock! Non-competing entries will be placed in a weekly random drawing for prizes, but if you don't compete, you can't get dibs on the grand prizes.

To get started, you will need to prepare and then send us some information. When you enter, you'll automatically be emailed a copy of the requirements and rules.

For starters, we’ll have to know about the rest of your system besides just the requisite CPU. Tell us your motherboard model, memory configuration, graphics card, and any hardware and software modifications. We’ll also need to know your cooling method (e.g. air, water, liquid nitrogen, or, for the brave, liquid helium; where appropriate list any non-stock heatsink and cooling fan manufacturers and models).

We want to see what your bad ass rig looks like too. The winners of the Phenom 9950 Black Edition and Phenom II 940 will be flown out to our offices here in Los Angeles, all expenses paid for, to receive the prizes and have an opportunity to replicate or even exceed the winning overclock! Best of all, you'll get to hang out with us and AMD.

ENTER THE COMPETITION HERE.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • sacre
    Don't you mean Liquid helium? no? Anyways, i'm gonna go grab my secret stash of athlon chips and liquid nitrogen out of my closet and start OC'in..

    man, wish i could though, im stuck with a Q6600 @ 3GHZ watercooled (28 celcius idle, 40 celcius load)... which isn't THAT bad.. i dont think.. this P5N-D motherboard blows though, so unstable.. like me when im mad..
    Reply
  • joex444
    Huh, 3GHz with water? I have my Q6600 at 3.24GHz on air, and I'm using a GA-965-DQ6, sort of an outdated chipset. Of course this is stable, over a year with no problems to report.

    And yeah, liquid helium would be better. I mean it is 4-5K as opposed to liquid hydrogen's
    Reply
  • adrianmk2
    heh i got my Q6600 @ 3.6 on air Xigmatek cooler i hit 60-65 on full load idle around 38-42
    Reply
  • adrianmk2
    adrianmk2heh i got my (400x9)1.53volts Q6600 @ 3.6 on air Xigmatek cooler i hit 60-65 on full load idle around 38-42 also running a GigaByte X48 DS5 mobo with 8 gigs of Geil PC6400 Dragon ram 5-5-5-18
    Reply
  • NuclearShadow
    I wonder how many of us actually have that CPU and are actually willing to competitively overclock which may end up with a frying a few CPU's. Also its clear that very few will use liquid nitrogen or liquid helium and its really no point in competing with those that will.

    I have to be honest I don't think this was the best contest idea you guys could have come up with.
    Reply
  • sacre
    lmao whoa whoa whoa, i wasn't bragging lol.. I have it on water cooling because the CPU I had before was older and seriously OC'd, but now i stick with the water because.. you can't go wrong.. unless it leaks.. then you can go VERY wrong. depending on the liquid really.. Anyways, i had it at 3.6GHZ, but it was heating up to 75 under load WITH water.. voltage was raping the CPU i think
    Reply
  • "Don't you mean Liquid helium?"

    LN2: -196C
    LH2: −253C
    LHe2: -269C

    They probably did mean helium, tho its not really any more dangerous then liquid nitrogen. So long as you have ample ventilation anyway, wouldn't want to suffocate if the concentration got too high. Liquid hydrogen however would be quite dangerous because its flammable, so hydrogen would definitely be for the brave.....there would just be no practical reason to use hydrogen tho.

    What im wondering is why no one ever uses a sealed box when they do super cooling. Stop wasting time trying to protect the board form condensation.

    Throw the mobo in a sealed container and replace the air inside with nitrogen or argon or something so you have no moisture to worry about in the first place. That would be much easier to setup then trying to screw around with vasoline, or whatever they want to spread over the board to protect it.
    Reply
  • trainreks
    dfgdgdfg"Don't you mean Liquid helium?"LN2: -196CLH2: −253CLHe2: -269CThey probably did mean helium, tho its not really any more dangerous then liquid nitrogen. So long as you have ample ventilation anyway, wouldn't want to suffocate if the concentration got too high. Liquid hydrogen however would be quite dangerous because its flammable, so hydrogen would definitely be for the brave.....there would just be no practical reason to use hydrogen tho.What im wondering is why no one ever uses a sealed box when they do super cooling. Stop wasting time trying to protect the board form condensation.Throw the mobo in a sealed container and replace the air inside with nitrogen or argon or something so you have no moisture to worry about in the first place. That would be much easier to setup then trying to screw around with vasoline, or whatever they want to spread over the board to protect it.
    and the cables would come out from where ?

    Anyways the 9950 like all phenoms suffers from the cold bug, so I dont expect there to be much of a competiton.
    Reply
  • megabuster
    dfgdgdfgLN2: -196C
    LH2: −253C
    LHe2: -269C
    A small correction He doesn't form He2 since it's an enert gas
    Reply
  • @megabuster
    Actually, at very low temperatures (ie, 4 degrees above absolute zero), helium exists as a diatomic molecule.
    Reply