We probably need to start creating rules and charters that companies will engage themselve to sign up and respect them, the exact same way the F1 or all the technology sports do.
I can give a hand if the organizers of this contest, I can provide lawyer support to write a draft, and set up one time for all, some
public rules that the company participant, and Overclockers has to follow.
If you look at the Spec Web site, there are rules to be allowed to participate, rules about what you can use during the contest, and how you actually publish your result. They have rules as well on when the hardware you are using has to be released, and they have a verification commision.
SPEC.org is very much what you want to be inspired by, AMD, Intel, IBM and most of others industry players agreed to sign up on those rules, I know intel will sign up on similar rules if apply to overclocking.
It is time to move OC to an other level, as an organized sport/Hobby, not only a marketing tool.
Like every championship, the rules has to evolve over time, here is an example:
http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/Docs/runrules.html
Notice:
1.3.2 Obtaining Components
Therefore, it is expected that the components used in a published result can in fact be obtained, with the level of quality commonly expected for products sold to ordinary customers. Such components are required to:
be specified using customer-recognizable names,
be generally available within certain time frames,
provide documentation,
provide an option for customer support,
be of production quality, and
provide a suitable environment for programming.
The judgment of whether a component meets the above list may sometimes pose difficulty, and various references are given in these rules to guidelines for such judgment. But by way of introduction, imagine a vendor-internal version of a compiler, designated only by an internal code name, unavailable to customers, which frequently generates incorrect code. Such a compiler would fail to provide a suitable environment for general programming, and would not be ready for use in a SPEC CPU2006 result.
If we can inspire a "charter" out of the Spec example, we can establish a very fair and honest contest. :up:
Francois
