After a brief speech from an Asus rep, the teams grabbed their hardware and got to work. I followed the Benchtec team closely in their setting up and was interested to see them using fluid electrical tape as an insulant on their motherboard. Apparently it's much easier to remove once the overclocking session is over as it dries like a rubbery surface once painted on and just peels off when required. The German team, Award Fabrik, also used the same method.

 

 

It was also interesting to see the Swedish team modifying the voltage regulator on the Rampage Extreme. They were the only team to do so.

 

 

 

All the teams quickly got their rigs put together,  and decided which 9770 they were going to use for the competition. The set up process proved to be quite troublesome for the majority of the teams, and some minor electricity problems added to these. Although the schedule was for the teams to have a few hours setup, and then an hour or two benching for competing scores, this had to be abandoned. Some teams managed just one 3DMark 06 run before the end of the event due to the problems experienced. It definitely proved to be frustrating for those concerned, and it was massive credit to the guys that they just kept at it. I would have been getting the hammer out myself and losing my dummy.