For this weekend, we have prepared an interview with one of a top overclocker of Argentina. His name is Mr Ignacio Arroyo, and under nickname nacho_arroyo at Hwbot.org.
Interview with nacho_arroyo
Please tell us about yourself.
My Name is Ignacio Arroyo, but my friends call me Nacho. I am married with my beautiful wife Nati. We don’t have any children, yet.
Can you describe your relationship with overclocking and computer hardware?
I always enjoyed messing around with hardware and after a while I leaned about overclocking. I’m not a gamer, my primary focus is on hardware and now extreme overclocking became my hobby.
How did you discover the Overclocking?
It’s a funny story actually. As I said, I was always fond of hardware. But it all began when I was a child – around seven years old. At that time, a doctor found a serious issue with my hip (Perthes) and for this reason I had to stay one year in bed and another year using a split to walk (sort of Forest Gumpish). Since I was dead bored, my father purchased my first PC -an XT- but curiously enough, I was drawn to hardware rather than games although my father had bought it for me to have some fun I guess.
Since how many years are you playing with Overclocking?
12 years If I recall correctly, but I started with extreme overclocking just two years ago.
What are the reasons of your started doing Overclocking?
I enjoy squeezing hardware components as much as I can. It has its difficulties and there is a lot of trial and error, but thats precisely why I enjoy it so much.
What kind of computer do you use every day ?
I use a laptop or MAC. For hardware reviews or overclocking I use PCs with components of many brands ( SeaSonic, Asrock, Msi, Asus, Corsair, G.Skill…)
What kind of overclocking do you prefer (air, water, Extreme) and explain us why?
Now right I’d say I’m doing Xtrem with LN2 for the most part. It’s a lot of fun but unfortunately in my country LN2 is very expensive and I tend to use L2N up to four times a month.
Nacho Arrayo bench setup
Have you ever tried Extreme Overclocking? What would be a special moment about using Extreme Overclocking?
The first run with LN2 was in Taipei, event of MSI in 2010, and I really like it, and my second time was in GO OC 2010LATAMQualify. And sure is special, you can go to much higher than the other cooling, best performance, best score and too much fun and we take all the juice of any piece of hardware.
What are you doing in your real life when you are not overclocking?
I enjoy practicing many sports, but due to my health issues, I had to quit doing some of them all in 2010 I started swimming and riding a bicycle, so that’s pretty much what I do nowadays and I really enjoy it. I go swimming with my wife Natalia.
What is your favorite brand ?
If I had go to choose one, i’d say my favorite is SeaSonic.
All Overclockers have their own way to bench, how does your favorite sub-zero benching rig looks like?
I use an eraser for the motherboard and liquid tape or eraser for the VGA too. I enjoy using LN2 for the VGA and CPU for the most part, but as I mentioned before, LN2 is not cheap, so I can’t just use it as if it was water.
What do you think about Overclocking events? Private ‘secret’ event, event with only a few overclockers, big competition…
I really enjoy attending Overclocking events, whether it’s here in Argentina or in other countries of Latin America. As of this year I went to San Pablo in February, to San Francisco in April, Colombia in June and to Uruguay in July. The farthest you go, the best the competitors you will encounter. I went to GO OC in 2010 and it was something else.
Could you share us the story of overclocking in your country?
Here is too hard because the cost of the hardware, cost of the LN2, but little by little the brand start supporting this, for example two years ago in any events u saw a demo of extreme overclocking, and now many event have it, so this is great, hope this make strong and bigger in the last year.
How expensive is it to do overclocking in your country?
Extremely expensive. The LT of LN2 costs like u$s 4 and for example a CPU INTEL CORE i7 3770k can go up to u$s 490/500.
Can you explain your problems about overclocking , and using new hardware in your country?
The main issue is without a doubt, prices. As our currency continues to fall and the fees of imported goods keeps increasing, it’s becoming ridiculously difficult to purchase hardware, let alone high-end hardware. For instance, when I went to MOA this year, no hardware store in my country had a single MSI 7970 Lightning in stock. Were I to ask the distributors to get one for me, chances were I’d have had to pay twice or even more the US retail price.
How are computer enthusiasts and overclockers like you are seen in your country?
It’s a rare and expensive hobby. The average PC user has a low or midrange rig are those don’t usually overclock -they are either afraid to damage a component are they just lack the knowledge. There are lots of enthusiasts and you will see many high-end PCs, but I mentioned before, government locks and our currency prevents us from toying with high-end stuff.
If you had to give an advice to a newby in OC, what would it be?
Even though overclocking consist of trial and error, it also relies on components, but if feel like you are walking on uncharted territory, you need to take it step by step. Visit forums, read reviews, don’t just jump into it if you have no clue of what you’re doing. Remember that hardware is not cheap and if you don’t have the resources and the knowledge you can mess up big time. Once you get the hang of it you WILL see results. When you do overclocking or extreme overclocking, nothing is guaranteed, you will always screw up from time to time. Messing around with hardware is the essence of it, so keep on trying and maybe some day you will be attending big shot overclocking tournaments.
Leave a Reply