MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2010

MSI Master Overclocking Arena 2010 - 3DMark 05 and Vantage

Now it was time to tweak those GTX480s with the afternoon session focussing on Futuremark's 3DMark 05 benchmark. However, with some teams having lucked out with better CPUs, they still had an advantage in 3DMark's CPU test.

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Everyone used MSI's AfterBurner software to overclock the graphics card and many teams had their GTX480's super-chilled from the outset using GPU pots whilst other teams, the UK included attempted to coax more out of their CPU as well in order to keep up with the likes of Finland. There were plenty of GPU mods on show too although this spectacular one by team Denmark only saw them claim 12th place behind the UK.

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After an hour or so, Sweden had the lead with a score of 51,183 followed by Poland on 50,287 and Finland close behind on 50,277. The UK team were hampered by a slightly flaky system and lacked the CPU clock speed they craved to post a score in excess of 50,000, managing 46,957 after an hour.

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There were some changes at the top too with Russia claiming third place, pushing Poland into fourth. The UK held on to 10th place until the final moments but the second Swedish team, Seed, claimed third place ahead of Russia dropping the UK to 11th. At the final whistle Sweden claimed the top slot with their original score of 51,183 with Finland in second on 50,880 and team Seed in third on 50584.

The following day the teams set to work on 3DMark Vantage which made up a builk (40 percent) of the score weighting of all three tests. The night saw teams decide whether to use their spare kit or stick with their tried and trusted hardware which they'd already tinkered with.

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With the demanding CPU test in Vantage, many teams would decrease the CPU frequency on the fly to reduce the risk of crashing, running it at the highest stable overclocked speed for the rest of the test.