World Record Hardware

[Rossignol]

Hello there - I'm Jim Rossignol, a UK journalist. I'm researching a story about Record Breaking hardware and thought that my first port of call for such things should be here. So if it's okay with the mods I'd like to ask if anyone here can nominate some hardware hacking records.

I'm looking for: the most overclocked CPU, the biggest RAID array, the most impratical case mod, the most expensive case mod, the most outrageous cooling system. I'll take nominations for any of these and any other ideas for World Hardware Records you guys can think of. Needless to say of the OC community wants to try and set some records, well, I'd be interested in that too!

I looking forward to your responses.
cheers,

-jim

[Vrykyl]

Am I to assume that you are the jim rossignol, of the UK arm of PCGamer magazine?
Check around the forum for some awesome examples of some of the best overclocking and modding you will ever see,
but to be honest, for the most overclocked cpu/outrageous cooling you'd be better off over at xtremesystems... and bit-tech for extreme/expensive case mods...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56
http://www.bit-tech.net/

However you wont find a wider knowledge base or center for enthusiasts anywhere else in the world :)

:welcome:

[Sentential]

Its mostly about endorcements. We dont have the money to buy such setups to break records however guys at XS get that stuff for free since they work for said compaines

[Gnufsh]

I would imagine the biggest RAID array is in a server sitting somewhere. As far as "cool" case mods go, take a look at this one:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=368361&highlight=edelbrock

edit: If you really want the world's fastest computer, you can go here:
http://top500.org/

You'll find it's the BlueGene/L with 32768 0.7 GHz PowerPC 440 processors.

[RoadWarrior]

Maybe you want to define what you mean by the most overclocked CPU, if you're going on percentages, and define it as stable, useable overclocks, then all the records for that were set a few years ago, with celeron 300As hitting 600mhz (100%) a few duron 600s and celeron 600s hitting around 1200Mhz (100%) These were often overclocks with sustainable cooling that could be used for something. Todays stable overclocks are somewhat less impressive with sustainable cooling, 50% is quite something these days, 80% is remarkable and the most regular recent attainers of that honor have been 1433Mhz Thoroughbred B core Athlon XPs hitting just north of 2.6Ghz on sustainable cooling. I personally have an old P75 somewhere that I managed to run at 166 with an oversized heatsink, 121% ! :D So as you can see, on a percentage basis, the maximum overclocks have been slowly sliding over the years. We've been losing about 20% of the maximums every 4 years I think. The XPs at 80% are 2 year old news, so we might be looking at 60% as as much as anyone will ever get, useably, out of the next generation. That's only being from the lower end chips, so if the performance spread of a CPU manufacturers range is quite large, we won't be seeing anything getting too much more an impressive a speed than the top end model in the range.

Absolute speed records are hard to define ground rules for also. IMHO the numbers don't really mean anything until you can run the PC 24/7 like that. Sure you can get a P4 to display that it's running at 6Ghz while boiling off a gallon of liquid nitrogen, but that's about all it can do. I can probably push my minivan up to 200mph if I can arrange for a nitro-injected truck (UK: lorry) to be going fast enough to "draft" (UK: slipstream) behind. :D

regards,

Road Warrior

[mtb856]

I think Fugger holds the world record for the highest overclock.... he's made it into BIOS at 7.2 gigs, but problems with his HDD's prevent him from getting into Windows. I believe it's a 100% overclock on a 3.6E.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=53037

[Rossignol]

Great, thanks guys. The point about percentages is one I'll have to take into account.

And yes, I am UK PC Gamer's Jim Rossignol

[TimoneX]

How about biggest bang for the buck gaming PCs? That'd allow alot more "average" joes into the mix.

[Gnufsh]

Here's another interesting PC mod:
http://www.exaflop.org/docs/x86still/
This person used his K6 as the heat source for a still.

[RoadWarrior]

Ahh, just found out, there's been some activity on a CPU that's a bit of a dark horse, people are gaining more interest in it now, looks like the next "celeron A" "duron" or "Tbred B 1700". The chip is the P4M mobile and some guys are getting 3Ghz out of 1.6-1.8Ghz models in stable useable overclocks, without going overboard on cooling. It's possible we could see some people with phase change cooling systems push this one over the 100% mark, in 24/7 rigs. Actually, it's sounding like watercooling could do that. Probably this chip would qualify as the most impressive overclocker of the minute, and with some enhancements over desktop P4s will outperform them at the same clockspeed. I'm gonna try to send someone who knows more about the scene with these chips over to fill you in a bit more....

regards,

Road Warrior

[pcgamer4life]

Someone on another forum I visit claimed to oc his 1.8ghz mobile p4 to the 3.2 ++ range, not many believed him.

[skou]

Someone on another forum I visit claimed to oc his 1.8ghz mobile p4 to the 3.2 ++ range, not many believed him.

I would tend to believe it. I have an IC7 Max3, and a 3.0C. I also have a 1.5M and 1.8M Both of the mobile chips are sitting on IT7 boards, but I did experiment with the 1.8 on the Max3. I didn't record anything, but if memory serves, I was in excess of 3.1. Those mobile chips have a SERIOUS overclocking ability.

My 1.5 and a 1.6 were both capable of running well in excess of 2.5, on an IT7

I'm not talking a "screenshot" test, but more of a 24/7 Folding test.

One of these days, I'll pull the Massive LEGO case apart, and do some testing, again. All 3 of these boards are currently in this case.

steve

[skou]

Here's another interesting PC mod:
http://www.exaflop.org/docs/x86still/
This person used his K6 as the heat source for a still.

Now, where is the ATF??

You know, distilling ethanol, is against Federal law?

It is legal to brew your own wine and beer, but to distill it is highly illegal. :D

steve

[mortimer]

Hello there - I'm Jim Rossignol, a UK journalist. I'm researching a story about Record Breaking hardware and thought that my first port of call for such things should be here. So if it's okay with the mods I'd like to ask if anyone here can nominate some hardware hacking records.

I'm looking for: the most overclocked CPU, the biggest RAID array, the most impratical case mod, the most expensive case mod, the most outrageous cooling system. I'll take nominations for any of these and any other ideas for World Hardware Records you guys can think of. Needless to say of the OC community wants to try and set some records, well, I'd be interested in that too!

I looking forward to your responses.
cheers,

-jim


For the biggest RAID array, did you mean anything *practical* for the consumer? If not, how about one of the offerings at www.storagetek.com/products/disk_storage.html. It is possible to connect them to a desktop PC. At huge expense of course.