Bring up the topic of overclocking to the major system manufacturers and you’ll hear a variety of responses ranging from, ‘We’re plenty fast enough now – take a look at our _____ (insert benchmark here) that’s enabled by our use of ___________ (insert techno feature here)” to “It’s just not safe, son, and our customers need to be protected from this kind of thing.”

Even with their liquid-cooled systems, the big vendors they still push back against any notion of using that greatly enhanced cooling capability to wring more performance out of the system.

Gamers pioneered overclocking to both max frag counts and to have something to lord over their peers. It’s well established that Intel/AMD processors can often be driven significantly past their label speeds to deliver a third or more higher performance.

High-frequency traders can use the geek-inspired turbo boost to make bank. Their entire business model is based on exploiting pricing differences between exchanges and markets. Shaving milliseconds off of the time it takes to make a transaction is the difference between profit and loss. Arbitrage opportunities are fleeting, and only the fastest guns get the spoils; the rest get bupkis (nothing).

Appro is the first established HPC vendor to recognize and respond to this need. Their new HF1 system is a server grade, overclocked, liquid-cooled system that cranks an Intel x5680 3.33 GHz processor up to 4.4GHz. The key value from Appro is captured in the term ‘server grade.’ They’re using data center-quality parts and have optimized every component for speed.

Even more important is that the systems are rigorously tested for speed, stability, and durability. Stability is critical; some processors can take overclocking in stride essentially forever, while others get flaky fast. Appro culls through parts to ensure that every processor headed for an HF1 system can handle the higher frequencies.

Appro is also including a closed loop liquid cooling system to keep temps under control and increase durability. Closed loop is important because it means these systems don’t need external plumbing and can thus be placed pretty much anywhere.

But even with keeping temperatures down, overclocked parts are stressed parts, and these systems carry a one-year warranty as opposed to the standard three years on typical boxes. This isn’t a big deal for high-frequency traders – they routinely replace systems at a furious clip to maintain their technical edge.

In the accompanying video, we talk with John Lee (Appro VP of Advanced Technical Systems Group) about high-frequency trading and Appro’s high-frequency response. We also get a good look at the box, including the cooling hardware.

The HF1 is a good example of a vendor listening to their customers and responding with a product that is optimized to fit their unique needs. This is a pretty small and highly specialized market – not nearly big enough to make it a profitable opportunity for the larger vendors, particularly since it requires a not-off-the-shelf solution. But it’s just right for Appro.

In a lot of ways, their niche is addressing niches: designing systems and solutions that are tailor-made for unique segments, or customers who have unique needs. At SC10, I looked at a couple of other Appro products, including a system that combines four GPUs along with two conventional CPUs into a single 1U form factor – providing more GPU-riffic goodness per square foot than any other major vendor. Stay tuned for it…