[Blog + Contest] Intel Recon // Challenge: 2nd Generation Core i7 Unlocked Processors7 Comments By parelemcloseAuthor: parelemName: Julie Gierald Email: julie.gierald@gmail.com Site:http://techaggregate.com About: 20 something tech enthusiast from ChicagoSee Authors Posts (3) on May 23, 2011
There was a knock, and a large box left at my door. What could this be, we were not expecting any deliveries? Ah…it has been a while, but we were once again entrusted with a mission from Intel.
Large box at the door.
Unboxing
In the box was an Intel core i7-2600k processor, an Intel DP67BG Extreme Series motherboard and a 4GB (2×2GB) kit of Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, Division 2 Edition PC3-17066, and another box? Hmm…interesting box. Upon closer inspection, we realized it was ...
[Blog] Gaming in Tight Spaces…..mini-ITX (featuring Gigabyte, Silverstone, and Prolimatech)14 Comments By miahallencloseAuthor: miahallenName: Jeremiah Allen Email: miahallen.ironmods@gmail.com Site:http://www.ironmods.com About: Well, I was playing with computers ever since my Dad got a Commodore 64 when I was 6 years old (1986), when I was 10 (1990) he bought a custom build 486DX33, and I was in love. Mostly back then I was just a kid playing games, but my fascination with computers had a start. Because I had no money of my own, I was stuck playing with my Dad's computers, and really couldn't "play" too much. So in 1998, the year I graduated, I spent some of my college savings to by a "computer for school", haha. It had two Voodoo2 12MB 3D accelerators in it, so you can imagine how much school work was done on it ;-) It had an AMD K6-233 that I had a really mild OC on, but my custom computer builder friend Aaron had done all the work. So I can't really take the credit there. My fascination with graphics just kept growing and growing over the years, and I was constantly in a struggle to keep my games looking as sharp and smooth as possible. OCing played a big role.
My whole world was rocked in 2004 when I was deployed to Iraq as a US Army soldier. The whole year I was there I had a cheap IBM Thinkpad R40 with a 2GHz Celeron, 1GB DDR-333 RAM, a 60GB 4200RPM HDD, and ATI Radeon Mobility graphics (same technology as a 7000 series with only 16MB of memory). It started out rough as I was really into Command and Conquer Generals at the time, and the machine would only play the C&C slide show LOL. So, I downloaded PowerStrip, and OC'ed the GPU by 40%...amazingly, the game was playable!
Things changed dramatically in 2007 when I met a guy named Matt while I was stationed in Japan. He introduced me to www.ocforums.com, and the "Benchmarking Team" there. I had not had much interest in benchmarking previously, I always though of myself as more practical. But, I thought I'd play along and I joined the team. My first introduction to an actual competition was was is "The Raptor Pit", "Forum Warz 2008" in the spring of 2008. I was running a Q6600 and an 8800GTX. With air cooling I was able to bench my Q6600 at over 4GHz, and tore up the competition in my class. Overall OCF won the Forum War in 2007, Winter and Summer of 2008, and 2009...that means five in a row. I was not part of the first one in 2007, but the four since then, I have participated in. After winning the 2008 Winter and Summer Warz, Tom's Hardware Guide announced they were looking for nominations for individuals to compete in their first ever international overclocking competition, called "Overdrive". I was nominated, and chosen to compete in the North American semi-finals in Los Angeles in November 2008. I was placed on "Team IRONMODS" as they only had two guys, yet three man teams were allowed. We won the semi-finals in LA, and our prize was a trip to Paris the following month, to compete with the best in the world.
The following month, Ton, Jake, and myself flew to Paris as "Team USA" to face off against the best from Taiwan, France, Germany, and Italy. It was a very intense competition, but after two heated days of battle (16 hours of benching), we emerged the victors. Amidst our celebration, Ton and Jake officially invited me to join "Team IRONMODS" on a permanent basis, and I graciously accepted. Ton, aka "TiTON", is a world renown case moder, and is also very well known for some of the AMD overclocking he has done. Jake, aka "CPT.Planet", is a genius overclocker, and a really fun guy. The team has a great synergy when working together, we really have complementary styles.
After winning the world championship in December 2008 things were a bit quite for a couple months, then in the spring of 2009 I received an invitation to the 2nd annual Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship "GOOC". I would compete in the North American semi-final in LA, where the winner would win a ticket to the world championship in Taipei Taiwan during CES in June 2009. The competition was tough with 14 of the best from North America gathering for a 1 on 1 competition of OCing. But once again, I completed the competition well, and rose above the others. I won 1st place and the trip to the world finals in Taipei.
My luck ran dry in Taipei where I started off with a bad motherboard, and went through 5 more during the course of the competition due to various reasons. Despite the poor finish in Taipei, I have high hopes to redeem myself next year.See Authors Posts (24) on August 13, 2010
History of mini-ITX
I was sitting in my office, browsing tech news online almost a decade ago when I first saw the mini-ITX form factor. My mind immediately started fantasizing about the possibilities such a small system would afford. Thoughts of internet terminals built into kitchen cupboards, or car PCs entertained my imagination for years. As the early VIA based systems got into reviewers’ hands and performance results started hitting the press, like many others, I was left wanting. ...
My upgrade: Lynnfield (1156) based rig0 Comments By saintbodhisatvacloseAuthor: saintbodhisatvaName: Dino de los Santos Email: dino.delossantos@gmail.com Site: About:See Authors Posts (1) on December 23, 2009
I remember the first time I got my very own PC, it was a gift from my sister about 5 years ago, an Intel P4 2.8Ghz northwood cpu. I canvassed for the other parts, paid ~$5 to have it assembled, and have been using the old clunker since.
Fast forward to the holidays of 2009, with so many applications that I install and use these days, the old clunker just can no longer cope. So as a gift to myself this Chrismas, I bought an i7 860, a Gigabyte motherboard, team xtreem memory and a budget A...
There was a knock, and a large box left at my door. What could this be, we were not expecting any deliveries? Ah…it has been a while, but we were once again entrusted with a mission from Intel.
Large box at the door.
Unboxing
In the box was an Intel core i7-2600k processor, an Intel DP67BG Extreme Series motherboard and a 4GB (2×2GB) kit of Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, Division 2 Edition PC3-17066, and another box? Hmm…interesting box. Upon closer inspection, we realized it was ... 
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