Aside from overclocked models, reviews I've seen have it pretty close. Is it better? Rarely. But I just see so many people hammering them over it, and it's really not that bad of a card. Where they screwed up is pricing. Base Fury should be $499, Fury X $599. At most.
Also AMD's drivers need more time to bake, especially to be as efficient as possible with only 4GB. Either way I think these clocks are out of the efficiency range for that architecture, at least until they can shrink the die. So something like Fury Nano has more potential, or a dual-GPU board built around those specs.
This might be a bit trickier for mobo & video card manufacturers. Where to draw that line between brand-promotion and having the best configuration for winning the contest? I would say so far Corsair would have an easier time than Zotac for picking out core components.
I see it as the opposite, as Zotac makes less components than Corsair. So they are more free to choose from different manufacturers. For a standard desktop, they simply choose one of their video cards and from there, choose whoever they feel like for every other component. Zotac video cards perform near the same as every other manufacturer or better (depending if you go with the overclocked models) and can be at a lower price. My last video was a Zotac and it worked great. I picked it solely as it cost less than the other manufacturers, even though they were all using the reference design.
Corsair is obviously going to stick to their components, so they are free to choose in the motherboard, cpu, and video realm, but are stuck with Corsair parts for memory, ssd, psu, case, etc. While I love Corsair parts, there are alternatives that provide similar performance at a lower price point.
Both builds are great, but I lean more towards the Zotac build. As long as I can get medium/high settings on any game at 1080p, I'm content. High storage is my main priority for a system, so I would have blew close to $900 for the system, while the leftover is dedicated to HDD storage.
Agreed, performance vs thermal constraints is always interesting. Having built 1u servers, 2u servers, mITX builds and full blown ATX builds each form factor has it's own challenges.
Very interesting indeed. I look forward to seeing what these companies come up with! I can definitely say that the selection of parts top to bottom as much as anything is what I love about computers, I'm sure these manufacturers will have some interesting builds indeed
This is shameless advertising and very very lame. Plus you don't actually get your readers involved. It serves your purpose of getting payed but makes the site worse not better. And that's always the case you prioritize something else over your readers. Sure lets see a Corsair based PC with as many Corsair parts as possible and a pointless articles and a review that can't be objective and where their names get mentioned a lot. This lack of integrity is really scary. Getting inspired by Top Gear is rather wrong too, that's how you see AT? What's next Big Brother?
It's a giveaway, an AT editor wastes maybe a day or two on it each quarter, hardly the end of the world or AT's integrity as we know it. I think it's interesting, putting DIY builds on the hands of those that supply a lot of the components, could lead to some interesting realizations...
I'm not really sure who loses with something like this. It's a side project for Ian, a couple of lucky readers get some pretty stellar systems out of the deal, and it's a bit of a lark for all involved.
The industry is freakishly tiny. Ian, Chinny, and I all know each other and are very friendly, so for us, this is a way to do something fun together, represent our respective companies to the best of our abilities, and give back to the readership.
As this is inspired by Top Gear, will Ryan punch one of the commenters who criticised him for being late with the Fury X review after a particularly long day?
The most common build I get asked to put together is a $500-$700 "gaming" rig. Obviously, at that price point there are a lot of corners that must be cut and probably some sides too but all the end user really wants is a computer that can play their games and they don't mind turning the settings down to minimum; they don't need fancy cable sleeves and platinum PSUs and colored LEDs. I realize this probably isn't what most Anandtech readers are interested in but I would love to see one extreme budget build that is still capable of light gaming on low settings. You could call it the "How low can you go" build.
At $500-$700 total I would think an AMD APU would be better performance for money for a gaming rig. That is the only area where I think AMD actually makes sense.
This is an amazing idea for a giveaway, and it seems like a win-win for Anandtech and its readers: a contest that generates content! I look forward to the interviews and the slim chance of winning!
*grabs torch and pitchfork* *begins another rant about another US-only competition* *stops being angry and feels sad* *puts down pitchfork* *holds torch so that my face is lit in the most dramatic way possible so that you can see my tears and you'll feel so bad that you start crying too*
Can't you guys please take baby steps intentionally? Like just the UK and South Africa first and then take it from there?
they won't even make it to rhode island because they created stupid hoops national companies don't want to go through. So I doubt it will ever go outside of the US.
I like the concept. The fact it was partially inspired by Top Gear makes it better.
You could take the Top Gear inspiration to another level: give the builders an old, off-the-shelf PC and have budget-constrained upgrade and give the rig "challenges" that are not direct performance measures (audio, website load times, OC, etc.)
Blah blah blah New Egg blah blah blah... I'm through with New Egg. I have been quite happy with Microcenter, B&H and Amazon, prices and availability are the same or better than New Egg and service and returns are far superior. New Egg has gone down over the years in every possible way but above all I don't want to deal with their customer service any more.
" New Egg has gone down over the years in every possible way but above all I don't want to deal with their customer service any more."
I have found their customer service to be second to none. Always top notch and bent over backwards to make me happy. They recently accepted my return of 2 970's (one that was past 30 days and they paid shipping and no restock fees). They've allowed me to return unreturnable items like MB's and CPU's. Their prices are also cheaper than all the others, sure you may find it cheaper somewhere else from time to time but generally they are the cheapest. I also don't get charged Tax. In short its their CS and pricing that keeps me returning.
This is kind of cool, really cool that you're setting up rigs to give away. I really like that you're going to review builds, too. I will be following this one for sure!
Well since there is no reader input (already establish budgets), then the builds won't be as exciting as I would like to see them. These builds should be geared toward the average build ($400-$1k budgets). I would have liked to see a $500, $750, $1k, & 2k builds. This would make parts choice even more critical (especially in the lower price brackets). I will be following these builds, but with the budgets already set in stone, they won't be quite as nice as they could have been.
Everything except the first $1500 set of systems is fluid, so we're welcome to suggestions. We still want to have one all-out system build round a year (the $2500) but input is appreciated!
Nice idea Ian, but will a Nanoxia Deep Silence 6, two Fury X2s (or whatever they are called,) five 34" 4K monitors (arranged in portrait mode for Eyefinity,) one or two 36 thread Xeons, 128GB RAM and four 6TB SSDs in RAID 0 fit inside a $2500 budget? ;-)
I can understand the "1500.00" being a part of it simply because that's level that allows all of us to put together some pretty wicked systems without cutting corners.. what people come up with can be vastly different.
I really do think you should consider the 700.00 range as well. For me that always presents a challenge for anyone passionate about putting together quality rigs. It's also likely the most common build range.
Well I hope you don't evaluate them on just bench numbers. Noise level, footprint and even looks should be considered too. And find a way to encourage some less conventional differentiators, like wake-on-lan pre-setup for home file servers, remote control or even phone/tablet app control for home theater setups, wiimote/kinekt/vidcam-based gesture control etc.
And my suggestion for a category, even if it may also get covered by your all-out category to some extent is what I'll call the "Wombo-combo" category - an always-on home file server/home theater/internet of things/home automation control center/nvidia grid/shield/steam streaming machine/gaming station/videophone/video surveilance/home security/quadcopter drone controller/ai core/deep thought supercomputer or something.
Ian Cutress said: "We still want to have one all-out system build round a year (the $2500)" That's not what I would consider "all-out." Expensive? Yes. All-out? No.
That's a great point. We have contacts at Oculus and HTC, I'll see if they're interested perhaps for Q1 or Q2 next year (including headset price of course).
There are some obvious issues with eight in one round, including time, man power and investment. This means a good few hours building, photographing, then a few days testing each system before writing a final report - we would need a dedicated staff member at the least. Perhaps a bigger issue is that with 8 per round, we would run out of companies very quickly, and trying to get eight of them to synchronise each round and execute on time would be an interesting exercise. Two or three per round is a bit more manageable, especially in the beginning.
Would a rule such as forcing the builders to only use other vendors' components be asking for too much? I feel it would take out any brand loyalty which would obviously exist, unless of course one of the main motivations is for everyone involved to maximize their marketing opportunity, which of course is OK i guess, you guys Are giving away the PCs afterwards right?
Anyone can use any gear, there's no rule saying you have use the others or even their own. Though through camaraderie, some will use the others anyway. The competition is designed to be a bit of fun rather than a hardcore battle. And yes, the PCs are being given away, as per the sweepstakes rules above.
Looking forward to this, especially if Asus jumps in and they want to go brand-loyal. Love to see them do something unexpected. It'd be everyday business to do an all-ROG high-end build. I'd like to see them do a mITX build with channel/mainstream parts.
Speaking of Asus and tiny industry, didn't I see someone from AT tweeting at bindibadgi, fomerly of bit-tech? I think the lesson to be taken here is, if you want to get on with one of the heavy hitters, get a job with a tech site, and eventually some tech company will headhunt you. Anand, Dustin, bindi, and I think a couple others I'm forgetting...
I probably shouldnt have put a question mark at the end of that last sentence. But thanks for the reply I just thought it would be even More fun if you, the builders of course, could not use your own companies respective parts as a hard rule. A company like ASUS produces very a many part that goes into a system build, having a participant like that having to only use Non-Asus parts would be interesting. Nevertheless I look forward to the competition and enjoy any new form of reader participation. I love Anandtech articles and appreciate the hard work and extreme detail you guys strive for, so I'd like to take this opportunity to Thank all of the writers at Anand for the Great articles throughout the years, you guys are definitely my go-to tech site.
This is AWESOME. Always enjoyed Top Gear's star in a reasonably priced car segment, and that was without prizes.
Kudos to the manufacturers and Anandtech for bringing us the goods. It'll be similar to system builder guides, only more fun. Really looking forward to seeing this inaugural contest. I own a lot of Corsair gear, but I'd love to see Zotac pull off an underdog win.
Though it might sound like yet another rant on the US-only restriction, I'm genuinely interested if the statement for different competition rules in each country is valid for the European Union. While I understand AnandTech and Newegg are US-based companies, I believe it is not uncommon for EU citizens to read AnandTech and order parts from the US. Probably Newegg keeps statistics for non-US visitors, but I myself have had my sister ship Newegg components from New York to Sofia, Bulgaria, so that would not be included in such statistics.
When I first saw this article I thought that there would be some way for us readers to submit our dream PC builds as part of the competition for the chance to win them. Unfortunately, on closer reading, that is not the case, we'll simply be able to win PCs designed and built for the competition.
Anyways, I might as well post what I would enter for the $1500 gaming PC build:
Rationale: Recently I've become fascinated with ITX gaming systems, and Silverstone makes some amazing cases that allow for a tremendous amount of power in a console form factor. This build takes into account not only traditional GPU bound games, but also provides a very fast CPU with a lot of overclocking headroom (courtesy Corsair H55 and 600W PSU) for some of the newer indie games (like Kerbal Space Program) that are actually CPU bound. The potent combination of an overclocked i5 and 980ti should allow for 4K gaming at reasonably high settings. This system is designed to be used in conjunction with a NAS/media server due to the low internal storage, but if the budget were flexible this case has room for another 2.5" and 3.5" drive.
Anyways, I know this won't help me in the least for actually winning anything, but I still enjoy planning a build so I figured I might as well put something up.
Interesting. But the 2500 level seems a bit wonky. I don't think that you should include the price of the monitors in that, as the cheapest 4k monitors drive the cost of the build down to the 2000 to 2200 range instead. I'd like to see a $2k build inatead, with strong recommendations on monitor layouts.
I'd also argue that mouse keyboard not be included in the budget, as most considering this can get by with a already an existing combo. That, and its nearly impossible to objectively evaluate their "value", given that they are so subjuctive in nature. The rest of the compoments, though, should be included.
As for why not include other countries, "impossible to satisfy all legal requirements outside of the US" is good enough for me.
This is going to be interesting. Companies will have to fairly evaluate themselves in comparison to the competition and say why they do better at their target. And if they don't, hopefully there's a chance to respond or take that back to their teams to improve the product. Everybody wins!
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Shadow7037932 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Nice. So it's similar to Tom's System Builder Marathon.jann5s - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
#Offtopic: Is Ryan ok, I know he caught a virus before/during the Fury review, but it seems to be a hardy virus. Anyway: to his health!Margalus - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
It's probably the reaction to the dismal performance of the fury x that caused the virus to hit him so hard...Alexvrb - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Yeah it performs similar to a lowly Titan X at 4k. How dismal! I daresay Nvidia and AMD both suck. A good Intel iGPU, now there's power!!Margalus - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
sorry, but every review I have seen so far show it getting soundly trounced by the 980TiAlexvrb - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Aside from overclocked models, reviews I've seen have it pretty close. Is it better? Rarely. But I just see so many people hammering them over it, and it's really not that bad of a card. Where they screwed up is pricing. Base Fury should be $499, Fury X $599. At most.Also AMD's drivers need more time to bake, especially to be as efficient as possible with only 4GB. Either way I think these clocks are out of the efficiency range for that architecture, at least until they can shrink the die. So something like Fury Nano has more potential, or a dual-GPU board built around those specs.
WinterCharm - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
"Soundly Trounced"*checks reviews*
So... 2~4FPS is "soundly?" lol.
extide - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Sounds interesting, hope to win something heh!Frodough - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
This might be a bit trickier for mobo & video card manufacturers. Where to draw that line between brand-promotion and having the best configuration for winning the contest? I would say so far Corsair would have an easier time than Zotac for picking out core components.khanikun - Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - link
I see it as the opposite, as Zotac makes less components than Corsair. So they are more free to choose from different manufacturers. For a standard desktop, they simply choose one of their video cards and from there, choose whoever they feel like for every other component. Zotac video cards perform near the same as every other manufacturer or better (depending if you go with the overclocked models) and can be at a lower price. My last video was a Zotac and it worked great. I picked it solely as it cost less than the other manufacturers, even though they were all using the reference design.Corsair is obviously going to stick to their components, so they are free to choose in the motherboard, cpu, and video realm, but are stuck with Corsair parts for memory, ssd, psu, case, etc. While I love Corsair parts, there are alternatives that provide similar performance at a lower price point.
Both builds are great, but I lean more towards the Zotac build. As long as I can get medium/high settings on any game at 1080p, I'm content. High storage is my main priority for a system, so I would have blew close to $900 for the system, while the leftover is dedicated to HDD storage.
DynacomDave - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
This is a great idea. I look forward to following this series.ryanjacoby2 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Glad to see a new contest that will provide us with a bunch of feedback for new builds. Thanks for the creativity guys.Sttm - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
$2500 Corsair PC next month go go go!Mr Perfect - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Lets see some mITX gaming rigs! Anyone can slap together an ATX, those are easy.bill.rookard - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Agreed, performance vs thermal constraints is always interesting. Having built 1u servers, 2u servers, mITX builds and full blown ATX builds each form factor has it's own challenges.Fujikoma - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
mITX, with case size restrictions, would be interesting. I'd like to see the thought that went into the build with the interviews.yh125d - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Very interesting indeed. I look forward to seeing what these companies come up with! I can definitely say that the selection of parts top to bottom as much as anything is what I love about computers, I'm sure these manufacturers will have some interesting builds indeedjjj - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
This is shameless advertising and very very lame. Plus you don't actually get your readers involved.It serves your purpose of getting payed but makes the site worse not better. And that's always the case you prioritize something else over your readers.
Sure lets see a Corsair based PC with as many Corsair parts as possible and a pointless articles and a review that can't be objective and where their names get mentioned a lot. This lack of integrity is really scary. Getting inspired by Top Gear is rather wrong too, that's how you see AT? What's next Big Brother?
Impulses - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
It's a giveaway, an AT editor wastes maybe a day or two on it each quarter, hardly the end of the world or AT's integrity as we know it. I think it's interesting, putting DIY builds on the hands of those that supply a lot of the components, could lead to some interesting realizations...Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
I'm not really sure who loses with something like this. It's a side project for Ian, a couple of lucky readers get some pretty stellar systems out of the deal, and it's a bit of a lark for all involved.The industry is freakishly tiny. Ian, Chinny, and I all know each other and are very friendly, so for us, this is a way to do something fun together, represent our respective companies to the best of our abilities, and give back to the readership.
Beany2013 - Monday, July 6, 2015 - link
As this is inspired by Top Gear, will Ryan punch one of the commenters who criticised him for being late with the Fury X review after a particularly long day?Fiernaq - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
The most common build I get asked to put together is a $500-$700 "gaming" rig. Obviously, at that price point there are a lot of corners that must be cut and probably some sides too but all the end user really wants is a computer that can play their games and they don't mind turning the settings down to minimum; they don't need fancy cable sleeves and platinum PSUs and colored LEDs. I realize this probably isn't what most Anandtech readers are interested in but I would love to see one extreme budget build that is still capable of light gaming on low settings. You could call it the "How low can you go" build.AndrewJacksonZA - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I'm with you on that one Fiernaq. But it'll probably be grabbing an (Intel) APU, 4GB of RAM, a 1280x1024 monitor and you're done.P.S. I'm still amazed that Intel launched such a powerful (graphics-wise) APU.
ingwe - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
At $500-$700 total I would think an AMD APU would be better performance for money for a gaming rig. That is the only area where I think AMD actually makes sense.eanazag - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I like the leeway to build with different priorities.OC'd Packrat - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
This is an amazing idea for a giveaway, and it seems like a win-win for Anandtech and its readers: a contest that generates content! I look forward to the interviews and the slim chance of winning!AndrewJacksonZA - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
*grabs torch and pitchfork**begins another rant about another US-only competition*
*stops being angry and feels sad*
*puts down pitchfork*
*holds torch so that my face is lit in the most dramatic way possible so that you can see my tears and you'll feel so bad that you start crying too*
Can't you guys please take baby steps intentionally? Like just the UK and South Africa first and then take it from there?
Pretty please?
Murloc - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
they won't even make it to rhode island because they created stupid hoops national companies don't want to go through.So I doubt it will ever go outside of the US.
AndrewJacksonZA - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
There's always hope Murloc... :-)losergamer04 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I like the concept. The fact it was partially inspired by Top Gear makes it better.You could take the Top Gear inspiration to another level: give the builders an old, off-the-shelf PC and have budget-constrained upgrade and give the rig "challenges" that are not direct performance measures (audio, website load times, OC, etc.)
NeonFlak - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Me likeyZak - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Blah blah blah New Egg blah blah blah... I'm through with New Egg. I have been quite happy with Microcenter, B&H and Amazon, prices and availability are the same or better than New Egg and service and returns are far superior. New Egg has gone down over the years in every possible way but above all I don't want to deal with their customer service any more.piiman - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
" New Egg has gone down over the years in every possible way but above all I don't want to deal with their customer service any more."I have found their customer service to be second to none. Always top notch and bent over backwards to make me happy. They recently accepted my return of 2 970's (one that was past 30 days and they paid shipping and no restock fees). They've allowed me to return unreturnable items like MB's and CPU's. Their prices are also cheaper than all the others, sure you may find it cheaper somewhere else from time to time but generally they are the cheapest. I also don't get charged Tax.
In short its their CS and pricing that keeps me returning.
Ram21 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
This sounds like a great idea, looking forward to the results of the first competition.Tchamber - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
This is kind of cool, really cool that you're setting up rigs to give away. I really like that you're going to review builds, too. I will be following this one for sure!jawknee530 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Awesome. My i7 920 is a bit long in the tooth at this point.Lunyone - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Well since there is no reader input (already establish budgets), then the builds won't be as exciting as I would like to see them. These builds should be geared toward the average build ($400-$1k budgets). I would have liked to see a $500, $750, $1k, & 2k builds. This would make parts choice even more critical (especially in the lower price brackets). I will be following these builds, but with the budgets already set in stone, they won't be quite as nice as they could have been.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Everything except the first $1500 set of systems is fluid, so we're welcome to suggestions. We still want to have one all-out system build round a year (the $2500) but input is appreciated!AndrewJacksonZA - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Nice idea Ian, but will a Nanoxia Deep Silence 6, two Fury X2s (or whatever they are called,) five 34" 4K monitors (arranged in portrait mode for Eyefinity,) one or two 36 thread Xeons, 128GB RAM and four 6TB SSDs in RAID 0 fit inside a $2500 budget? ;-)just4U - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
I can understand the "1500.00" being a part of it simply because that's level that allows all of us to put together some pretty wicked systems without cutting corners.. what people come up with can be vastly different.I really do think you should consider the 700.00 range as well. For me that always presents a challenge for anyone passionate about putting together quality rigs. It's also likely the most common build range.
stuli1989 - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
This is going to be so much fun to keep track of!Sushisamurai - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Oh this sounds amazing/fun! Gj Ian! I'm excited to see my recent build (and old) and how it'll stack up in the $2500 bracket (and 1500)danjw - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
This sounds awesome, let the battle begin! ;-)Visual - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Well I hope you don't evaluate them on just bench numbers.Noise level, footprint and even looks should be considered too.
And find a way to encourage some less conventional differentiators, like wake-on-lan pre-setup for home file servers, remote control or even phone/tablet app control for home theater setups, wiimote/kinekt/vidcam-based gesture control etc.
And my suggestion for a category, even if it may also get covered by your all-out category to some extent is what I'll call the "Wombo-combo" category - an always-on home file server/home theater/internet of things/home automation control center/nvidia grid/shield/steam streaming machine/gaming station/videophone/video surveilance/home security/quadcopter drone controller/ai core/deep thought supercomputer or something.
AndrewJacksonZA - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Hehe, see my comment about $2 500 potentially being a limiting factor above. :-)Margalus - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
it's supposed to be a limiting factor... This isn't a "build the most expensive PC" contest..AndrewJacksonZA - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Ian Cutress said: "We still want to have one all-out system build round a year (the $2500)"That's not what I would consider "all-out." Expensive? Yes. All-out? No.
just4U - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Maybe not for a enthusiast but for everyone else (sans apple lovers..) it likely is.Superheroguy89 - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
I recommend that you do a build with the oculus rift or another VR Headset company as the Oculus Rift for consumers is arriving around October.Ian Cutress - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
That's a great point. We have contacts at Oculus and HTC, I'll see if they're interested perhaps for Q1 or Q2 next year (including headset price of course).Superheroguy89 - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Also, Intel vs AMD would be SO SICK!ruthan - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
With at least 8 competitors in one round maybe, otherwise i am not interested.Ian Cutress - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
There are some obvious issues with eight in one round, including time, man power and investment. This means a good few hours building, photographing, then a few days testing each system before writing a final report - we would need a dedicated staff member at the least. Perhaps a bigger issue is that with 8 per round, we would run out of companies very quickly, and trying to get eight of them to synchronise each round and execute on time would be an interesting exercise. Two or three per round is a bit more manageable, especially in the beginning.ke4kto - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
I am anxious to compare the PC's to the ones I build. The cost/performance ratio should be interresting.just4U - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Yeah... one advantage we have over them though is "price match" :DSunnyNW - Wednesday, July 1, 2015 - link
Would a rule such as forcing the builders to only use other vendors' components be asking for too much? I feel it would take out any brand loyalty which would obviously exist, unless of course one of the main motivations is for everyone involved to maximize their marketing opportunity, which of course is OK i guess, you guys Are giving away the PCs afterwards right?Ian Cutress - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Anyone can use any gear, there's no rule saying you have use the others or even their own. Though through camaraderie, some will use the others anyway. The competition is designed to be a bit of fun rather than a hardcore battle. And yes, the PCs are being given away, as per the sweepstakes rules above.fluxtatic - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Looking forward to this, especially if Asus jumps in and they want to go brand-loyal. Love to see them do something unexpected. It'd be everyday business to do an all-ROG high-end build. I'd like to see them do a mITX build with channel/mainstream parts.Speaking of Asus and tiny industry, didn't I see someone from AT tweeting at bindibadgi, fomerly of bit-tech? I think the lesson to be taken here is, if you want to get on with one of the heavy hitters, get a job with a tech site, and eventually some tech company will headhunt you. Anand, Dustin, bindi, and I think a couple others I'm forgetting...
Ian Cutress - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
I know Richard (bindibadgi) from his time at ASUS, and still tweet at him from time to time.SunnyNW - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
I probably shouldnt have put a question mark at the end of that last sentence. But thanks for the reply I just thought it would be even More fun if you, the builders of course, could not use your own companies respective parts as a hard rule. A company like ASUS produces very a many part that goes into a system build, having a participant like that having to only use Non-Asus parts would be interesting. Nevertheless I look forward to the competition and enjoy any new form of reader participation. I love Anandtech articles and appreciate the hard work and extreme detail you guys strive for, so I'd like to take this opportunity to Thank all of the writers at Anand for the Great articles throughout the years, you guys are definitely my go-to tech site.coconutboy - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
This is AWESOME. Always enjoyed Top Gear's star in a reasonably priced car segment, and that was without prizes.Kudos to the manufacturers and Anandtech for bringing us the goods. It'll be similar to system builder guides, only more fun. Really looking forward to seeing this inaugural contest. I own a lot of Corsair gear, but I'd love to see Zotac pull off an underdog win.
Semper Idem - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
Though it might sound like yet another rant on the US-only restriction, I'm genuinely interested if the statement for different competition rules in each country is valid for the European Union.While I understand AnandTech and Newegg are US-based companies, I believe it is not uncommon for EU citizens to read AnandTech and order parts from the US. Probably Newegg keeps statistics for non-US visitors, but I myself have had my sister ship Newegg components from New York to Sofia, Bulgaria, so that would not be included in such statistics.
gamer1000k - Thursday, July 2, 2015 - link
When I first saw this article I thought that there would be some way for us readers to submit our dream PC builds as part of the competition for the chance to win them. Unfortunately, on closer reading, that is not the case, we'll simply be able to win PCs designed and built for the competition.Anyways, I might as well post what I would enter for the $1500 gaming PC build:
Name: Destroyer of Consoles
Case: Silverstone FTZ01B ITX $130
PSU: Silverstone SX600-G 600W $130
MB: ASRock Z97E-ITX $130
CPU: Intel Core-i5 4690K $240
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper 2x4GB DDR3-1866 $58
GPU: Zotac Nvidia GTX 980ti AMP! $650
SSD: Crucial MX200 250GB $103
CPU Cooler: Corsair H55 $60
OS: SteamOS or Windows 10 Preview $0
Total: $1501
Rationale: Recently I've become fascinated with ITX gaming systems, and Silverstone makes some amazing cases that allow for a tremendous amount of power in a console form factor. This build takes into account not only traditional GPU bound games, but also provides a very fast CPU with a lot of overclocking headroom (courtesy Corsair H55 and 600W PSU) for some of the newer indie games (like Kerbal Space Program) that are actually CPU bound. The potent combination of an overclocked i5 and 980ti should allow for 4K gaming at reasonably high settings. This system is designed to be used in conjunction with a NAS/media server due to the low internal storage, but if the budget were flexible this case has room for another 2.5" and 3.5" drive.
Anyways, I know this won't help me in the least for actually winning anything, but I still enjoy planning a build so I figured I might as well put something up.
piiman - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
'giveaway application form (users will have to submit through a website to apply, which is different from usual), "What does this mean? What website do you have to submit the applications from and where do you get the application?
Ian Cutress - Saturday, July 4, 2015 - link
We'll link to it when we get going with the articles. It's a surveygizmo type thing for name, email, confirmation you're a US resident etc.mr_tawan - Friday, July 3, 2015 - link
Well why don't we have a contest of gaming rig at the price of (current generation of) consoles ? I'm not eligible so I cannot enter though.erple2 - Sunday, July 5, 2015 - link
Interesting. But the 2500 level seems a bit wonky. I don't think that you should include the price of the monitors in that, as the cheapest 4k monitors drive the cost of the build down to the 2000 to 2200 range instead. I'd like to see a $2k build inatead, with strong recommendations on monitor layouts.I'd also argue that mouse keyboard not be included in the budget, as most considering this can get by with a already an existing combo. That, and its nearly impossible to objectively evaluate their "value", given that they are so subjuctive in nature. The rest of the compoments, though, should be included.
As for why not include other countries, "impossible to satisfy all legal requirements outside of the US" is good enough for me.
chrysrobyn - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link
This is going to be interesting. Companies will have to fairly evaluate themselves in comparison to the competition and say why they do better at their target. And if they don't, hopefully there's a chance to respond or take that back to their teams to improve the product. Everybody wins!