Event Report: GIGABYTE Open Overclocking Championship 2009

Last week, on June 3rd, GIGABYTE hosted the final worldwide event of the GIGABYTE Open Overclocking Championship 2009 competition. After countless country qualifiers and four regional finals, this event would be the climax, bringing together many of the world's very best overclockers for a one-day showdown event. The final was once again held in Taipei, Taiwan but this time during the Computex 2009 exhibition week, which definitely added another layer of excitement to the proceedings since most of the industry and media heavyweights were in town.

As with the very first GO OC final event last year, Hardware Canucks was on hand to report and bring you an in-depth look at the competition like no one else can. So grab a drink, sit back, and see what it is like to compete in a world-class, high stakes overclocking competition.

Ready? Let's get started!

GO OC 2009 differed from last year's event most notably by its more aggressive country and regional competition, which assured that only the very best from each region would make it to the final event. Now obviously there were no undeserving competitors last year, but the sheer number of competitors (46!) was obviously a logistical nightmare. As a result, this year's competition was paired down to 12 individuals, forming 6 teams.


Team USA 1, comprised of Fugger and Vapor, got a free pass to this event because they were the winners of the Freestyle Contest last year. Likewise, Elmor & SF3D of Team Sweden were invited because they won the Best P45 OC Contest. Those of you who are members of any enthusiast forums, such as XtremeSystems or OC Forums, should already be familiar with many of these usernames. As you can see, there are quite a few competitors who made it to this event who competed in last year's final, which shows tremendous talent and preparation on their behalf. Every single attendee proved themselves by beating the best overclockers from their respective regions, but how would they fare against global competition?

Here some gratuitous glamour shots of each team:


Team Sweden is M.I.A simply because they kept delaying their photo shoot, and I'm not entirely sure if/when they finally got their pictures taken. Don't worry though, you will catch quite a few glimpses of them in the coming pages...