BOXX Cranks Its 8-Core Haswell-E APEXX Workstations Up To Over 4GHz

Boutique game system builders routinely offer pre-overclocked systems to their customers. In fact, when Intel or AMD launch new flagship desktop processors, it’s not uncommon for some aggressive system builders to offer overclocked systems right out of the gate, on the first day of availability. One of the problems with this approach is that BIOS/UEFI bugs are typically still being ironed out during that early stage, since new motherboard chipsets commonly launch alongside the new processors. And because the sample size is relatively small or the builders qualified their systems with early engineering samples--potentially based on different steppings--when retail-ready processors arrive they don’t always behave in the same manner, which can introduce instability. Because of these issues, I’ve seen boutique builders offer overclocked rigs that are “guaranteed” to run at one speed at launch, only to be forced to reduce the overclock a short time later because a large number of systems in the field were ultimately unstable.