MASTERS OF OVERCLOCKING: Finals Begin!

Finally, the BIG day has arrived.

After strong competition from across the country, the first ever ASUS: MASTERS OF OVERCLOCKING event in conjunction with KitGuru took place today at a secret underground facility north of London.

If overclocking tickles you in a special place – read on!

Sure, Asus may well be the world’s largest specialist component manufacturer, but its Republic of Gamers (ROG) division focuses on a much smaller section of the market – enthusiast overclockers. Time after time, products like the Rampage Extreme series lead the way in terms of overall performance, coupled with amazing stability. That kind of reputation needs to be brought to the masses.

Marketing Guru Miodrag Relic performs a final check before launching the first ever Masters of Overclocking Finals

To highlight just how amazing the ROG range is, Asus Marketing Guru Miodrag Relic devised a powerful competition. Working closely with Zardon and his team, KitGuru has helped bring the inaugural competition to the UK and, but this time tomorrow, we will now who the first ever winner will be.

Preliminaries over, Miodrag thanks the crowd and explains the simple rules that will define victory

Entrants from across the UK were encouraged to overclock their home systems, with the competitors who posted the biggest PERCENTAGE increases on CPU-Z from ‘stock’ to ‘O/C’ coming through to the very first finals.

KitGuru's gorgeously clock-tastic Henry Butt (left) discovers more about each of the finalists

Alongside the Asus team and KitGuru experts, competitors got to meet, greet and be briefed by Paul Watkinson – founder of the internationally renowned overclocking team, Benchtec.

Teams are randomly selected with help from Chenai Rochelle, Olympic hopeful for the 2014 Winter Games herself

On hand to greet competitors, confirm scores and make everyone feel a little happier on the inside were the KitGuru Ladies, Shorai and Chenai (who you can see in person when she competes on Sky’s Love Machine at 11:35 on Sunday 11th March!).

Presented with a huge array of identical CPUs, each competitor was invited to choose their own weapon

The combined might of Benchtec, KitGuru and Asus were on hand all day to ensure fair play and fun were had by all.

Paul Watkinson, Benchtec supremo, carefully checks all of the equipment

Competitors could ask general questions about the rules and set up conditions - but were otherwise 100% on their own

No room for manouever under the watchful eye of the KitGuru Ladies

Cheeky chappy (back - left) can't concentrate on his system as Chenai throws a pose

It was a cracking day of serious competition, great food, plenty of laughs, anguish and – ultimately – winners!

More exclusive pictures from the finals will follow shortly.

Remember, without support from Intel, Kingston, BeQuiet, nVidia, Multiplay and Benchtec – this amazing event would not have been possible – so a BIG THANK YOU goes to all of them for helping to deliver the ASUS: Masters of Overclocking Finals in association with KitGuru.

KitGuru says: Our own Love Machine, Henry Butt, was on hand to check for cheating and inspect the winning results. He’ll be ready to deliver the verdict shortly. Remember, the winner of this competition will be in the 3-way grand finale at Multiplay’s i45 for a chance to win two 3rd Generation Intel systems from Asus, each worth a small fortune!

Comments below or in the KitGuru forums.