Xtreme Grand Prix rules

If you want to join the competition then please visit the registration booth HERE
For any feedback please post in the competitions discussion thread HERE


The competition:
The competition consists of a set of benchmarks, and your results in each of them will be used to colculate your overall points in this Grand Prix, your Xtreme Mark score.(the final set of benchmarks and formula to calculate the Xtreme Marks is not decided yet)

Each week we will run another benchmark and you will have 1 week for each benchmark to tweak your system to the max for that certain bench.
The highest result you reached in that week and posted a link to in the weekly results thread will be locked and will be used to calculate your overall score in this competition. (here is the results thread for week1 wich will be opened when the competition launches)



1. Can i take part in the competition with two videocards or two systems?
NO, you can only compete with one system and only one configuration!


2. What if a part of my system dies?
If your CPU/Mainboard/Videocard/Memory dies you can only replace it with the same piece of hardware or you get disqualified.
you could use hardware that performs better in the early benchmarks at first and then switch hardware that performs better in later benchmarks to reach a higher overall score.
Any other parts of Hardware like the PSU, the HDDs etc can get replaced with other brands and models wich isnt a problem since it doesnt have a direct impact on the systems performence.


3. What categories will the field of competing members be divided into?
aircooling watercooling phase change cooling etc?
The final categories have not yet been set. yes we will use categories to make it fair for everybody, but we will decide what categories we split the contestans into after week1 while the competition is already running. that way we already know how many people would end up in each category and what categories make most sense for the overallgroup of contestants to evenly split them into categories.


4. When will the competition start and end?
The start and end dates are not decided yet, they will be anounced in the thread for the first week results HERE and on the front page once we settled for a date.


5. If i have a very good old run with the same hardware, can i use it or must i re-run the bench in the "one" week?
Sorry, the only valid results will be those that were achieved and posted in the 1 week time window for each benchmark.


6. What prizes can we win?
Atm we dont have any prizes, this is supposed to be a fun competition in the first place :D
...we will try to get some prizes though :)


7. If you find some prizes, how will they be arranged? what rank will win what?
I thougt that we would use the "Wheel of Fortune" system :D
the highest rank gets to pick one prize first, then rank 2 etc...
that way we make sure everybody is happy with his prize and gets the prize he wanted instead of winning the oprize for rank1 even though he would rather have liked to win the prize of rank 3 for example.
it also means that if you just want a small prize you have a higher chance to win it since the ones who pick a prize first are most likel going to pick the big prizes :)


8. What benchmarks will we use?
We havent decided yet what benchmarks we will use, but we will definately use the 3Dmark series and Aquamark.


9. How will you calculate the final score in Xtreme Marks?
The formula to calculate the final scores isnt finalized yet. we are doin our best to make sure each benchmark weights the same in the overall rating, and we are doing our best to make sure each benchmark scales equally in the final score. we are most likely going to use the current world records in each benchmark as a set point and will calculate the score in each category by calculating how close to the world record it is, that way a 10% higher score in 2k5 will have the same impact on the final rating as a 10% higher score in 2k1, despite 2k1 scaling much faster than 2k5 when it comes to 3dmarks.
thx a lot again to lilgator who came up with this idea! :toast:

10. Since dry ice isint something you can run every day, will there be an exception for the the weekly time windows for each benchmark?
Sorry, but no.... the idea of this competition is to have only 1 week to tweak the sysem to the max for each benchmark, im sorry if this makes taking part in the competition using dry ice tricky. if we get enough requests to change this rule we might do it though. this competition is for all of you and if you want something changed thats what we are going to do :)


11. Can we tweak our Cooling?
Of course, but only as long as you remain in the same cooling category we will set up. if you run one bench with dry ice and another one with watercooling you will end up in the dry ice category with all your results, even the ones you obtained with watercooling! otherwise it would be unfair for other members in the same category.


11. Is unreleased hardware such as CrossFire allowed?
I would love to see some CrossFire results, and im sure you would as well, but it would be unfair to let them compete with other rigs, even sli wouldnt be a match for CrossFire, so unreleased hardware will be allowed but you wont be able to win a prize with it. sorry... i hope this doesnt keep the people who have access to those new pieces of hardware from taking part in the competition and showing us some sweet numbers :D


12. Can we use any driver we want?
sorry, no. please only use futuremark approved drivers.


13. Can we change the operating system and driver we use during the competition?
sure, and you can switch from one os to another one during the competition and change the drivers, but only fm approved drivers are allowed.





About changing theese rules:
If we get enough requests to change a rule we might do it.
this competition is for all of you and if you want something changed thats what we are going to do :)
so please give us your feedback HERE if you want something changed or added :)