It makes tech head’s blood pump faster. Fierce battles for speed go on behind closed doors and are rife with competition, scandal and big money sponsorship. Wired enthusiasts gather to rev their engines and push their gear to the limits as heroes rise and fall in clouds of smoke and dry ice. It’s global and it’s fierce. We enter the world of the overclocker.

To some, overclocking is the Formula One of computer culture. To others, it’s the track. But one thing is for certain – overclocking is about pushing your computer the hardest, the fastest – pushing the limit. It’s not underground, but those in the know are few.

Overclocking is to a computer what tuning is to a car: it makes your computer go faster, perform better. Computers contain components that run at rated frequencies which, put simply, indicate speed. Overclocking is forcing the component to run above-spec at a higher frequency, usually by injecting more voltage. Heat becomes a limitation. The solution: exotic forms of cooling such as dry ice or liquid nitrogen.

Local talent, A.H., who is a fixture in the Hong Kong overclocking community and insists on being credited only by his initials, has been tinkering with computers nearly his entire life. “I started messing around with computers when I was about five or six years old. I’ve been benching since the year 2000.”

Benching, or benchmarking, is the process of measuring an overclocked system’s total performance via bespoke software; a yardstick so that comparisons between computers can be made. It’s the limit to some – the high score to smash to others.

Jody cools his CPU with some liquid nitrogen.

Renowned Canadian overclocker Jody “3oh6” Bailey is known the world over for his ever improving benchmark scores and is no stranger to setting the bar. Seriously benching since 2005, Jody is part of team PURE, arguably the world’s top overclocking team comprised of a star-studded international cast. You might initially scoff – a team of computer tuners? But make no mistake – overclocking is fiercely competitive.

“I know some guys that are competitive to the point of flaw in this community,” Jody says. “I tend to compete with myself and the hardware, not so much against others as that can lead down a path that ends ugly.” The aim of the game is to push your computer the hardest, hitting higher frequencies, scoring better on benchmarks.

To many, it’s as exciting as a professional sport. Just as how the competitive gamer is driven by having the number one spot in the high score list in his sights, overclocking is about pushing yourself as hard as you push your hardware and fiercely topping the competition.

It’s also on the brink of becoming a full-time profession. Competitions are held, sponsors inject serious money while teams and individuals battle it out, both live and via meticulously regulated submissions to online databases, to see who can squeeze out that last morsel of performance. World records are made and broken in matters of weeks, sometimes days – fame is fickle.

A.H. is part of the inner circle of HK overclocking. “In the past 2 years I’ve been very publicly active, participating in Gigabyte’s overclocking competition as well as their P45 Plug-fest and various other local competitions and overclocking shows. I’ve been in very close contact with almost all the big names, we’re all good friends,” he says. He tells us of the integrated nature of components in a computer: “The older generation of overclockers are more into the tweaking factor and gaining true performance by eliminating bottlenecks in the whole system.” Benchmarking programs punctuate this whole-greater-than-sum philosophy, where total efficiency is paramount – not a drag race but a Nürburgring lap.

“Generally younger overclockers do it because it’s ‘trendy’ and it makes them seem clever among their friends,” he comments, and to some extent, Jody agrees. “It is always funny to see newcomers talking about how easy it would be to break world records with access to the hardware the top guys have,” Jody says. “Picking up a professional quality golf club does not mean you will shoot a 70. Overclocking is like any other sport. Endless hours, days, weeks, months, years of testing and learning go into every single bench session, every single benchmark run. Overclocking is all dedication, 100% and then some. It is a lifestyle that requires tremendous sacrifices from those competing at the top level.”

That top level consists of those few keen minds that turned a field of interest into a field of expertise. An inner circle was formed and knowledge was selectively shared. Though growing media attention on the international level is slowly breaking down the walls erected by the inner elite, Hong Kong seemingly lags behind.

“Overseas, if you show passion then people will accept you,” says A.H. “However, in Hong Kong it’s quite different, I think it’s due to the culture. You really need to prove yourself before you get accepted, which overall lowers the standard of overclocking in Hong Kong.” “There are definitely people in this community that like to put up walls,” Jody tells, disapprovingly. “They like to draw divisions. A lot of it is garbage and completely childish.”

But it’s not all bad. Jody is teamed up with an international cast including two big names out of Taiwan: Nick Shih and Andre Yang. Even Hong Kong’s “TinTin” of OCQQ.com is on team PURE. “The gap between Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America is non-existent in the community we have built,” Jody says. Technology’s always going to get better, get faster, and people are always going to push the limits. As sponsorship and big money comes into play, Jody sees parallels with another cultural explosion: “This new beginning, I like to equate the overclocking community right now to the skateboarding community of the 70s and early 80s. It is definitely an exciting time and I look forward to seeing how it plays out.”

Like skateboarding, overclocking also has its superstars. “Guys like Nick are absolutely tearing things up. Andre Yang is like a god walking among men. Asia has always had a bright future.”

Many of the top Asian overclockers come out of Taiwan, and Hong Kong is little represented. “You would expect a bigger overclocking group to come out of the country but it just hasn’t happened. It really is surprising,” Jody remarks.

A.H. lends insight: “In Hong Kong the support we get from manufacturers is close to zero, and everything needs to be self funded. Hong Kong has potential to become a top ranked country – there is no reason why we can’t. We just need more support from manufacturers. Taiwan has a large number of overclockers mainly because of the manufacturer support they receive.”

So things boil down to the same, tired problem: funding. While in Europe and the US, top overclockers are often commissioned by big-name companies to do promotional overclocking and receive free hardware, in Hong Kong most overclockers are self-funded, sacrificing anything to buy a bit more liquid nitrogen cooling, a better clocking RAM stick. Perhaps that’s why the Hong Kong overclocking community is not so embracing of newcomers – because reputations are established with the blood, sweat and tears of self-funded individuals – the top-heavy hierarchy doesn’t help.

“Hong Kong has the potential to be a top ranked country.” How often have we heard that before? We all know potential doesn’t necessarily translate to success, and it’s not for lack of skill or passion.

Words: Hugo Stanford

Tags: competetive, computer, overclock, overclocking
Posted in Features