With the scent of spring in the air, GIGABYTE invites anyone in possession of an AMD processor and a GIGABYTE motherboard to tackle four uncompromising stages that will decide once and for all who rules the AMD roost, with top dog walking away with a top-of-the-range GIGABYTE 900FXA-UD7.

We're getting closer to the end of the HWBOT OC Challenge series, but until then we can still have our monthly competition. In the same spirit of all other HOC competitions, this month we're going to run various 3DMark benchmarks with old and even older hardware. The four stages are:

• #1: Allendale/Conroe/Kentsfield Vantage
• #2: S939 3DMark06
• #3: Pentium4 3DMark03
• #4: Intel and AMD-free 3DMark01

The point scheme is, again, different from the default distribution, but unlike previous competitions it's much more straightforward: 25-18-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. In other words: the only way to win is by being the best!

=> Click: HWBOT OC Challenge February 2012 <=

The GIGABYTE ‘Xmas and New Year Contest’ is open to all Overclockers using any AMD APU on any GIGABYTE socket FM1 A75 or A55 series motherboard, using any cooling solution. The contest winner will take home a GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 motherboard, with second and third place taking a GA-990FXA-UD3. Good luck everyone!

Link to contest: http://hwbot.org/competition/gbt_xmas_ny_contest/

Neither Romania nor Russia, the two big favorites for this year's cup, can call themselves HWBOT Country Cup Champions in 2012. Outsider Poland took the title with an impressive set of overclocking results. After getting close in the two previous editions (3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010), this year finally turned into a succes story! By winning four out of seven stages and finishing top-3 in all but one stage, consistency and quality was the foundation of their stunning victory.