The teams slowly started to get some results in, and it was looking doubtful that the world record was going to be broken. Most teams were averaging a CPU clock speed of  4.8GHz and were pumping some serious voltages through the CPU to attain that, with 1.9v the common figure. Watching the temps fall when the guys were pouring the LN2 was amazing, going from around 25celcius to minus 120 celcius in a matter of moments. I even got the opportunity to do some LN2 pouring for Paul ‘Sacha35’ Robinson & David '4QMan' Robinson AKA the BenchTec team. The problems mentioned earlier really did hamper most of the teams and their results, and the event winners were not immune either.

 

 

   

 

   

 

The technique for using LN2 is to pour a little at a time, trying to keep the temps at a constant figure. The LN2 quickly boils off when it hits the pot, and topping up is frequently required. Pouring too much can reduce temps too much, inducing the 'cold bug' on some CPU's. If this happens, the system will crash. When it did happen, Paul from Benchtec had a great way to raise the cooling pot temps to a usable level. He used an industrial 2000w paint stripper. It proved to be quite popular, with the other teams borrowing it often.

 

  

 

I would have liked to report on the full range of tweaks the guys used within the BIOS, but they were flipping through the settings pages almost as fast as the overclocks they were setting. Seriously, they must know the BIOS's like the back of their hands! I was stood 2 feet away from the monitor and I couldn't read as quick as they were changing settings. This is definitely testament to their skills and knowledge.