The new Intel XTU benchmark application seems to be quite popular amongst the HWBOT crowd. Not only did we see the overclockers from Down Under have fun with the new benchmark at their annual OCAU meet in Cairns (more info here), overclockers are still hunting down the top scores of this Prime95 based benchmark.

Der8auer from Germany took down the previous top score in the 2xCPU ranking with a Core i3 3250 clocked at 3.6GHz, probably cooled with nothing more than a simple air cooler. The enthusiasm of overclockers to actually push the lower-end Core i3 SKUs already spiked an interesting discussion on what a Core i3 K-sku or even Pentium based K-sku product would affect the overclocking community. To quote,

"The idea behind the K sku from a marketing point of view is to create a halo product. Customers aspire to "one day" get a premium K sku for overclocking, but settle for a regular non-K for economical users. In other words, the idea is that non-K users will eventually move to the more expensive K-sku series. But what is the point of creating the Halo product if your customers cannot get familiar with the benefits of having a K-sku? Today, people know you can overclock with a K sku processor, but this idea is just in theory and not in practice. No budget "prospect enthusiasts" can get a real feel of what it's like to own a K sku. They cannot feel the benefit of having an overclockable CPU."

In any case, congratulations to Der8auer for taking that record: 384 points with Core i3 3250 at 3605.6MHz!

Within twenty four hours of the new 2xCPU record, NameGT from South Korea also broke an XTU record. This time, it is the 4xCPU and thus overall record. With a Core i7 4770K, he managed to outscore the Australian Fatboynotsoslim by a mere 3 points and increase the new top score to 1414 points. Congratulations!