Holiday Hardware Buyers Guide

Rob Williams · 11-14-2006, 09:03 PM

The holiday season can be a rough time if you are not sure what you buy, or ask for. We have taken out the hassle and delivered a comprehensive guide of our top picks that covers every type of component inside your computer.

You can read the guide co-written by Matt, Greg and Rob here and discuss it in this thread. Expect a gaming related guide in the coming days.

Greg King · 11-14-2006, 10:37 PM

Good stuff!

madmat · 11-15-2006, 07:54 AM

I actually had set my rankings as "Ultimate", "Great", "Better" and "Good" but somehow ended up with several double goods and a stocking stuffer

Rob Williams · 11-15-2006, 09:52 AM

"Better" didn't follow the scheme of things =)

AKA: I wasn't going to create a new color code for it.

Greg King · 11-15-2006, 10:09 AM

Where was my "Bestest" category?

Rob Williams · 11-15-2006, 11:15 AM

I had to remove it alongside the Betterer and Gooder category.

madmat · 11-15-2006, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

"Better" didn't follow the scheme of things =)

AKA: I wasn't going to create a new color code for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

I had to remove it alongside the Betterer and Gooder category.

ROFLMAO!!!

madstork91 · 11-17-2006, 01:23 PM

what is up with the 7200 hdd's? Nothing better in your opinion for the $ or what?

Rob Williams · 11-17-2006, 01:49 PM

I don't consider 10,000RPM drives to be "Ultimate" in any sense, simply because their storage capabilty is serously lacking. $300 for 150GB cannot be considered ultimate by anyone, regardless of whether the drive is a little faster or not.

As mentioned in the article, Seagate claims that the 7,200's beat out the Raptors due to the ability to use SATA II 3GB/s instead of 1.5GB/s. I don't have a Raptor here to test that fact, but I'd much rather have a single 7,200RPM 750GB drive over a 10,000RPM 150GB drive any day.

GeekGirl · 11-29-2006, 08:33 AM

Gadgets have now been added to the guide - have another look!

Rob Williams · 11-29-2006, 09:39 AM

What she said

11-14-2006, 09:03 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Holiday Hardware Buyers Guide The holiday season can be a rough time if you are not sure what you buy, or ask for. We have taken out the hassle and delivered a comprehensive guide of our top picks that covers every type of component inside your computer. You can read the guide co-written by Matt, Greg and Rob here and discuss it in this thread. Expect a gaming related guide in the coming days. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

11-14-2006, 10:37 PM	#2
Greg King I just kinda show up... Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 2,081	Good stuff! __________________ "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan System: Intel i5 2500K \| Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 \| 16GB G.Skill DDR3 \| Crucial M4 128GB SSD WD 1TB Black x1 \| WD 2TB Green x 1 \| XFX Radeonn HD 6850 \| Corsair H80 Water Cooler Fractal Design R3 \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 \| Dell 2410 x 3 @ 1920x1200 ESXi Host: Intel i7 920 @ 3.0 GHz \| Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P \| 24GB Patriot DDR3 \| WD 1TB Black x 2

11-15-2006, 07:54 AM	#3
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,636	I actually had set my rankings as "Ultimate", "Great", "Better" and "Good" but somehow ended up with several double goods and a stocking stuffer __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me!

11-15-2006, 09:52 AM	#4
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	"Better" didn't follow the scheme of things =) AKA: I wasn't going to create a new color code for it. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

11-15-2006, 10:09 AM	#5
Greg King I just kinda show up... Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Indiana Posts: 2,081	Where was my "Bestest" category? __________________ "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan System: Intel i5 2500K \| Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 \| 16GB G.Skill DDR3 \| Crucial M4 128GB SSD WD 1TB Black x1 \| WD 2TB Green x 1 \| XFX Radeonn HD 6850 \| Corsair H80 Water Cooler Fractal Design R3 \| Windows 7 Ultimate x64 \| Dell 2410 x 3 @ 1920x1200 ESXi Host: Intel i7 920 @ 3.0 GHz \| Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P \| 24GB Patriot DDR3 \| WD 1TB Black x 2

11-15-2006, 11:15 AM	#6
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	I had to remove it alongside the Betterer and Gooder category. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

11-17-2006, 01:23 PM	#8
madstork91 The One, The Only... Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: TEXAS! Posts: 1,434	what is up with the 7200 hdd's? Nothing better in your opinion for the $ or what? __________________ ..

11-17-2006, 01:49 PM	#9
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	I don't consider 10,000RPM drives to be "Ultimate" in any sense, simply because their storage capabilty is serously lacking. $300 for 150GB cannot be considered ultimate by anyone, regardless of whether the drive is a little faster or not. As mentioned in the article, Seagate claims that the 7,200's beat out the Raptors due to the ability to use SATA II 3GB/s instead of 1.5GB/s. I don't have a Raptor here to test that fact, but I'd much rather have a single 7,200RPM 750GB drive over a 10,000RPM 150GB drive any day. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

11-29-2006, 08:33 AM	#10
GeekGirl Coastermaker Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Dereth Posts: 134	Gadgets have now been added to the guide - have another look!

11-29-2006, 09:39 AM	#11
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	What she said __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

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