The first OCForums Benchmarking competition sponsored by Deadeyedata.com and Tankguys.biz concluded in grand style on the 30th of May. Entries flew in thick and fast, competition was intense and most importantly, everybody had fun! Prizes were a Silverstone Strider 850W unit (built by Enhance Electronics) and a Corsair HX520 (built by Seasonic) put up by our sponsors respectively. Members had to submit one of each of Pi32M, Pi1M, 3DM 05, 3DM 06 and Hexus PiFast. Winners were drawn by random lottery. You can find the details regarding the contest
HERE.
Benching tourneys are usually a one sided affair with the top end systems walking away with the prizes. Often, there is one rule too many, complicated scaling parameters have to be included to make it fair for everybody and a host of other issues that need to be addressed. Often, the fun factor is lost in all of that.
If you noticed, the benching talent pool has shrunk by quite a bit over the years and this seems to be a universal phenomena plaguing several forums. Our goal was to increase the benching pool on OCForums and tap into the vast talent base on offer. We have an active core of ultra high end (read LN2) benchers and tweaking gurus who would like nothing more than share their expertise with you.
This competition certainly seems to have provided an impetus in the right direction. Our Benchmarking team (nascent in its formal avatar) saw an almost 100% jump in memberships and we had several new members contribute (thank you!). To meet this rather simplistic goal, this contest was decided by a draw of lots. In order to provide an incentive for people to give their best, we decided to use these scores in the upcoming “Forum Wars” contest organized by Raymo’s forum. We will be competing against teams from all around the world! To join our official Benchmarking squad, please contact me on the forums.
The winners turned out to be two members with diametrically opposite submissions. Our first winner jivetrky stayed up till 5.00 AM, put up with the incredulous look on his girlfriend’s eyes and turned in his scores on the very last day. In contrast, sno.lnc, our second winner turned in his scores within an hour of the contest going live. If you can make everybody around you roll their eyes upon encountering a 3DM or Pi32M screen, you sir/ma’am have just been knighted a Bencher!
Before I conclude this report, I’d like to say a word or two about our generous sponsors Jennifer of Deadeyedata and Ben of Tankguys. Both are small business owners who have carved a niche in the enthusiast community. What sets them apart from the giant e-tailer? Let’s find out!
Deadeyedata is located in Texas and was started by Jennifer as a one woman enterprise, which was an offshoot of for-the-family tech support. Business grew and soon she was joined by her husband along with more on-site service employees. Their main thrust is PSU’s because of the large number of repairs they did on PSU’s due to the heat and humidity in TX, but also due to a flood of crappy PSU’s being used by businesses (I’d bet most of them were Deer units!).
Most of their selection is shipped out directly from the manufacturer, but 95% of the support is personally handled by Jennifer – yes, by Jennifer, the owner. When I sent out an e-mail, informing her about the conclusion of the contest, the first thing she asked for was the address of the winner. Why? To register him with Silverstone for warranty purposes! That is what I call personal attention and service at its very best! Although, Deadeyedata have come a long way from a single person operation, this kind of service is what one can expect. Thank you!
Tankguys are located in Michigan and was started by Ben as a family owned business. The first time somebody pointed me to their website, I was surprised because I could pick out my CPU stepping! Who the heck does this in the retail world?
Ben, an avid enthusiast himself, has the perfect store catering to enthusiasts. From an offering of hand-picked steppings, to esoteric parts like the DDR Maximizer, this would be the store to check out! On the service front, impeccable would be the most appropriate word. I have referred members on the forums to Ben for support and he has responded within the hour. Tankguys are no longer a one man operation, but that does not diminish the excellent service support offered in any way. Again, Ben the owner, personally handles most of the support. Thank you!
Last but not the least, a huge round of applause and thanks goes to LutaWicasa, the forum admin for really kick-starting Operation Refresh, my fellow moderators, the Benchmarking team leaders/members and every single member who took the time to post their scores.
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