GF2 MX400 Challenge - Win a prize

[Holst]

Hi all.

EDIT This thread has got very long now so ill try and give newcommers the jist of whats going on.

There has been allot of discution about what card to use, the main problem is that we want everybody to use the same thing.

Saaya has found a place in germany that sells SIS Xabre 400 based cards very cheap, this card is a good performer, and is something new to everybody.

Cost is looking like around 45 including delivery.

It would be very helpfull if you are 100% definatley interested if you can register your intererst in THIS THREAD

Below is an edited version of my initial post, ive taken out some of the bits that are confusing and added in as much new info as I can.



Welcome to the first XS overclocking challenge.
This contest is open to anybody worldwide

The premise is a simple one, everybody buys the same cheap graphics card and tries to get the highest 3dmark2001 score they can with it...


The exact type of card and place of purchase has not yet been decided, please read the thread for more details on this
But they will probably be purchased in bulk by myself )or saaya) and ill post them out to the competitors.

Im trying to keep the cost of card + postage at around £30 or $45, making this some cheap fun that every member of XS can have a go at.
Allot of us have allways wanted to get out the dry ice and pelts but havent wanted to risk and expensive graphics card, this is the perfect oppotunity to get very Xtreme with less financial risk.

There are two prizes at the moment and 3 catagories.

1 - XTREME catagory.
Anything goes, any CPU type or speed.

2 -Athlon XP under 2.5gig
Any AMD XP,Tbread, palomino, duron, thorton or barton processor under 2.5gig (A64 boys need to enter the Xtreme catagory)

3-Intel P4 (or P3) under 3.2gig (clock speed may be changed pending discution as im not sure of what clocks people are getting.

Any modifications can be done to the graphics card.
(bar memory chip swaps that must enter the xtreme catagory only)

Prizes are as follows.

Xtreme catagory - no hardware prize but a big trophy.
AMD under 2.5 catagory - Epox 8RDA+ rev 2 mainboard
Intel under 3.2 catagory - Epox 8KRA2+ mainbard (sorry I dont have an intel board)

The idea of having 3 catagorys is that people with more modest systems can still compete against the big boys, competitors may enter all 3 catagories but can only win prizes in one (just in case opp or macci win all 3 :P)

Dispute resolution.
Obviously there is no sure fire way of telling what card people are using, so we are trusting the honesty of competitors to only use there supplied card.
If there is a suspicion of foul play it must be brought to myself or another judge for evaluation. Do not post accusations on the forum.
Hopefully the above sentence wont be necicary, but I dont want this to turn into a spam fest.
Judges will be chosen before the competition opens.

If you have any questions or suggestions please post them here.

Have fun

[Holst]

This thread was the inspiration for the contest

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...threadid=21744

[EdgarBaba]

how about the europeans wanting to compete ?? i'm thinking about payment and sending and so ??

[Holst]

This is worldwide if you pay the postage.

Ill have to calculate a euro cost, but postage to europe isnt expensive from the UK.

[faruquehabib]

I AM DEFINITELY JOINING

[faruquehabib]

holst, are the cards going to be the 32mb or 64 mb versions of the gf2 mx400?

[Holst]

Depends on the price, it will probably be 64mb ones as they are much more widely avalable, I dont want to run out of cards.

[lalPOOO]

uh, You should avoid the 64mb kind of like you'd avoid transexual strippers if they use SD, which I'm pretty sure most of them do. They don't go as high and probably won't even let you get the #1 mx400 spot.

edit: A good way to insure that everyone stays honest is to just ask for pictures of the card, you'll be able to tell by the way it looks, and by the FCC id.

Avoid the IOMAGIC cards.

[La1kr0diZ]

Hey, i live in Ukraine but i still wanna join. How much will the shipping to Kiev cost me? I think more then a card cost
I think that the best thing would be to let everyone buy the cards themselves and bench em. The cards that were manufactured the same week also differed greatly and you cant give everyone the cards with the exact equal basic overclocking potential. So why not just buy cards where we are and compete?

[Kunaak]

what do you win, and how long is this going?

[Holst]

Prizes are in my first post.

The contest will probably run for a month, although you can enter at any point during that month.

I might make it 6 weeks, depends on how long it takes for posted cards to arrive.

[STEvil]

Shouldn't cost a ton. I shipped an 8500LE to australia for $20cdn airmail.

EDITED--EDITED

What's your mailing addy, Holst? I dont have a CC or ebay or anything, so you get $$ via snailmail moneyorder... heh.

64mb ddr good, 64mb sdr bad.

EDITED: I'm gonna wait until this is all figured out... Dunno if I wanna format and stuff.. again... 8-/

[La1kr0diZ]

Holst, what about my previous post? Are you sure you should send out the cards?

[afireinside]

I'd love to do this but read my post :/

Are you going to do another one like this later down the road? I gota get my 8RDA modded and get a 1.4 duron and throw some dry ice on there if theres another later down the road As I'd say in warcraft:
gl hf

[Jeff]

Unless I'm dead before it starts... I want to join the contest! I'll be participating in the AMD under 2.5GHz division btw.

[afireinside]

Maybe I should throw the thing together and Vmod real fast and use one of my athlons... Where do I get dry ice

[saaya]

I want to join the contest

g2mx? i thougt a geforce 4mx g4mx cards are more fun to oc if you ask me and they only cost 10$ more than a g2mx.

arent g2mx cards agp 2x/4x and dont fit in a agp4x/agp8x slot? or was it the agp1x cards that didnt fit in agp8x slots?

[Holst]

I think the best bet may be to choose a manufacturer and card and all just buy the same.

Then to enter the competition you must provide a photo of your card, or if possible a before and after photo.

I think my prefered card will be this one -
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/v...text=MX440-T8X

Its an MSI card so its avalable everywhere, and if you cant get one I can buy and post it on.

Its about the cheapest MX440 I can find and its DDR so we should get some ok overclocks

It is a little more expensive than the original MX400's I was looking at, but I think this card will be more fun.

DONT BUY A CARD YET AS THIS CHOICE ISNT FINAL, im still open to suggestions.

Once the final choice on card is taken ill post a new thread with full rules and dates

[Major]

I WILL PARTICIPATE

Will Vmods for the boards be posted ?? or is it up to everyone to figure them out ?

[Holst]

Ill be posting all my mods on the forum, although you may be able to improove on them.

I would like to see what everybody has done with there cards once the competition has finished, although if somebody comes up with a killer mod that they want to keep to themselves untill its over then thats upto them...

[Major]

I guess cooling is up to us too ??

Holst what is your Paypal account ??? Is that how you want payment ?

[XtremepH]

Originally posted by Major Slaughter
I WILL PARTICIPATE

Will Vmods for the boards be posted ?? or is it up to everyone to figure them out ?

I think it would be best for everyone to figure it out for themselves. That way the real overclockers will shine just my .02 cents

[Holst]

MS - Read my post above about us all buying our own.

Although I dont want anybody to buy yet untill I post a new thread with the full rules and what card to buy.

I might keep my mods secret for the start of the contest, depends on what I come up with.. I allready have a 220watt watercooled pelt ready to go

Obviosuly I cant win the prize as im a judge...

[La1kr0diZ]

Ok, a great idea with buying cards where you live.
I`ll participate then

[Major]

That would be best IMO, but might be hard to get the same brand ??

Might need a list of OK cards to use, as long as they are all the same gpu and memory there shouldn't be major differences between them.