• Stage 1, Nov 1 – Dec 15, Fire Strike Ultra: for this stage only the GTX 980, GTX 780 Ti and the R9 290X are allowed. Per country three scores are required, each with a unique GPU Model. The winner of the stage gets 30 points.
• Stage 2, Nov 1 – Dec 16, XTU: For this stage hardware with 2, 4, or 8 cores are allowed, limited to one CPU per system. Per country three scores are required, each with a different CPU Core count. The winner of the stage acquires 30 points.
• Stage 3, Nov 1 – Dec 18, Ice Storm: For this stage all CPUs are allowed. The following videocards are allowed: GTX 760, GTX 750 Ti, GTX 660, R7 270X, HD 7970. Per country five scores are required, one with each GPU. The stage is limited to Enthusiast, Novice and Rookie. The winner of the stage acquires 40 points.
• Stage 4, Nov 1 – Dec 20, Fixed Clock 5 GHz: For this stage only the following CPU architectures are allowed: Haswell-E, Haswell, Ivy Bridge, Sandy Bridge, Kaveri, Vishera, Richland, Trinity, Kabini and Gulftown. The CPU frequency may not exceed 5003 MHz, memory and uncore frequencies are not limited. Per country ten scores are required, one with each CPU architecture. The winner of the stage acquires 50 points.
• Stage 5, Dec 19 – Dec 20, Secret AMD 3D: For this stage only AMD CPUs and AMD GPUs (1xGPU) are allowed. The stage is open for only the last twenty-four hours of the competition. Per country one score is required. The winner of the stage acquires 50 points.

Stage 1 to 4 start on November 1 2PM UTC and end on their respective day at 2PM. Stage 5 starts on December 19, 4PM UTC and ends twenty-four hours later on December 20, 4PM UTC.

The overview of the stage details and requirements below:

The set-up of the Country Cup 2014 is similar to the previous editions. You can only contribute once per stage. For a stage that requires 5 scores to form an average, 5 different overclockers have to contribute. Every country receives a minimum of 1 point per stage it is active in, even if the minimum required overclockers for the average is not met.

Stage 1 to 4 start on November 1 2PM UTC and end on their respective day at 2PM. Stage 5 starts on December 20 4PM UTC and ends 24 hours later on December 21 4PM UTC.

Download the competition background HERE.

Awesome Overclocking Memory Prizes up to DDR4 3200MHz

To contribute to the international overclocking community, G.SKILL is providing its latest DDR4 memory kits at up to DDR4-3200MHz 16GB extreme kits to the winning team, as well as a series of high performance DDR3 memory designed for extreme overclocking.

Ultimate Prizes Powered by Performance Brands

“This year’s HWBOT Country Cup is shaping up to be the most exciting yet, but who will lead their country to OC glory,” commented Colin Brix, Marketing Director of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “With prize loot from GIGABYTE, G.SKILL, ENERMAX, GELID, and KINGPINCooling, the pressure is on, and reputations are on the line to prove who is the real OC Country Cup Champion.”