I think it’s fair to say that although there are probably more online and live overclocking contests than ever before in 2017, the GIGABYTE Open Overclocking Championship (GOOC) remains fondly remembered by many HWBOT members. The contest was organized by GIGABYTE annually from 2008 to 2010 and in many ways set the standard for what a truly global overclocking contest looked like. Today’s Throwback Thursday is all about the GOOC 2010. Back in October 2010 we covered a roundup article penned by HardwareCanucks.com which stands today represents a great record of what happened in the contest:

During numerous local competitions and five regional finals, the latest of which was the North American final on August 7th, overclockers from 33 countries around the world competed to earn a spot at the GIGABYTE Open Overclocking 2010 Worldwide Final event on September 25th. Once the dust settled, 15 competitors distinguished themselves from the rest and were deemed worthy of an official invite to Taiwan and an opportunity to walk away as this year's GO OC world champion. Bragging rights aside, the competitors had an chance to enrich themselves to the tune of almost $8000 USD if they came in first, so there was certainly no lack of motivation to give it their all.

As you can see, to the delight of everyone most of those who made it to this year's final event were first timers, which just goes to show how difficult it is to consistently perform at a high level during live oveclocking events. Despite being novices at this event, chances are that you've seen everyone of these highly respected users before, either on overclocking forums, hwbot or even the ORB. Massman, Sno.lcn, and ZoLKoRn are 'veterans' at this event, but as you will see in the coming pages, when the stars are aligned against you all the experience in the world doesn't help.

The contest was of course eventually won by Motose (Romania) and will probably go down as one of the most memorable live contests of the era. Catch the full write up of the legendary GOOC 2010 contest here on HardwareCanucks.