Tom's Hardware's 2011 Gift Guide: Part 1, For System Builders

[silicondoc]

[citation][nom]serhat359[/nom]I feel sorry for those girls that they have to smile for the camera even though they have no idea what they are holding[/citation]

Feel sorry for them since they have to hold the cheapo dog cpu and pretend it's a great gift.
I went past the big biased amd 955 page, assuming of course, the fair and impartial reviewer would have a good INTEL cpu upgrade for those with one of the MANY AND FORGOTTEN AND NEVER MENTIONED except in passing once, Intel cheapo socket cpu's a budget gamer would have in their rig in "need of a big boost" or however fanboy reviewer put it...
NOPE !
OF COURSE NOT !
ONLY AMD HAS A CPU YOU SHOULD UPGRADE WITH FOR XMAS!
THANKS, NO BIAS ONCE AGAIN, BY GOLLY IT'S A PURE, PURE ARTICLE AGAIN !
THANKS SO MUCH!

I've applied for entry to the Helen Keller school for special children so the spirit of Tom's may be maintained, but first, in spirit with all that is Tom's of course, I'll have to gouge out my eyes (eyeinfirmity I call to honor AMD), slice my throat with a dragon platform recommended memory stick, and sear my ears off on the side of that wonderful 5830...

 

[cangelini]

[citation][nom]silicondoc[/nom]Feel sorry for them since they have to hold the cheapo dog cpu and pretend it's a great gift. I went past the big biased amd 955 page, assuming of course, the fair and impartial reviewer would have a good INTEL cpu upgrade for those with one of the MANY AND FORGOTTEN AND NEVER MENTIONED except in passing once, Intel cheapo socket cpu's a budget gamer would have in their rig in "need of a big boost" or however fanboy reviewer put it... NOPE !OF COURSE NOT !ONLY AMD HAS A CPU YOU SHOULD UPGRADE WITH FOR XMAS!THANKS, NO BIAS ONCE AGAIN, BY GOLLY IT'S A PURE, PURE ARTICLE AGAIN !THANKS SO MUCH!I've applied for entry to the Helen Keller school for special children so the spirit of Tom's may be maintained, but first, in spirit with all that is Tom's of course, I'll have to gouge out my eyes (eyeinfirmity I call to honor AMD), slice my throat with a dragon platform recommended memory stick, and sear my ears off on the side of that wonderful 5830...[/citation]

Did you miss page seven?

We tried to pick one cheap AMD chip (because the more expensive ones aren't worth mentioning in my opinion), and one enthusiast-oriented Intel chip (the one that just won a Best of Tom's award; first one given by me in more than three years, by the way).

So, what was that about bias?

 

[tipoo]

[citation][nom]cybersans[/nom]too many PERVERT floating when a topics displaying a chicks[/citation]

Finding people attractive = perverted? Just because we hit puberty doesn't mean we're perverts.

 

[cangelini]

Now I'm just confused. Who are we biased to again? We featured the AMD chip on page one and are biased for that, and didn't recommend the right Intel chip and are biased there too?

Here's the -2500K winning our Recommended Buy award for its *value.* The -3930K won Best Of for its performance.

The 955 Black Edition is in the gift guide for continuing to offer great mainstream quad-core performance at a reasonable price point, with reasonable overclocking headroom.

I'll leave it at that. Nobody here has any ponies in this race. I call them like I see them, and if you disagree, that's your prerogative.

Thanks for the feedback!
Chris

 

[silicondoc]

[citation][nom]stingstang[/nom]Anyone who thinks it's rude to scrutinize models needs to understand that their job is to look...perfect. If you would building something and didn't fit the pieces on properly, you'd say something about that, too.[/citation]

Anyone who thinks this hole of geeks would be kicking any of those models to the sugar cane curb has been scrutinizing something other than the mirror far too often.

I will give mayankleboy1 a break (he called the one in green ugly - perhaps a red fanboy freudian slip) although considering his user name, it may just be a sexual preference thing.

NO they aren't ugly or unworthy just because the scrutiny is searing, just like when anyone here screams you need an octocore and new motherboard and the latest $300 gpu to run that game properly ( as they gawk out the 2560 fps result) has merely destroyed their credibility in their brag.

Point ? NONE of you would turn any of the three down. (well, ankle grabbing boy and the like persuasion excepted)

 

[gtx_560tiuser]

hard ware pR0n

 

[richboyliang]

i like how any comment about the girls gets thumbed down

 

[Bones2525]

[citation][nom]serhat359[/nom]I feel sorry for those girls that they have to smile for the camera even though they have no idea what they are holding[/citation]
Are you sure it was the girl and not the SSDs? The combination nearly made my zipper break.

 

[Super_Nova]

But can they play Crysis? (and preferably with me?)

 

[acerace]

Pffft. Why some of the Tom's member so serious? Can't we just give our opinion on that promoter? Cause it's said Tom's Hardware doesn't mean we have to talk about computer ALL the time. If that so, the Beyond of Keyboard section is a total waste.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, all MEH products, all been out for ages, nothing to see here people, come back when HD7xxx, G6/7xx Ivy, Trinity appear!

If you have not got newer than 3yr old PC, no point in changing really

 

[Larry141]

Tom's Hardware is promoting WD Caviar Black HDD's to use in RAID 1. You have to use Enterprise HDD's in any RAID, newer HDD Caviar Black HDD's WILL NOT work in RAID in any configuration. They may work for a while, but in short time will fall out and your problems will arise start, and you will have wasted $249 per drive on bogus information from Tom's Hardware.

 

[Onus]

Larry, I would absolutely agree that you want TLER drives in RAID5 (and I would assume in RAID0), as multiple drives must be accessed simultaneously on any disk operation, however I'm not sure that would be true for RAID1. I've been running a pair of Seagate LP drives in RAID1 for months now. While I couldn't say I've ever really hammered them, I am not anticipating any TLER issues with them either. I'm not calling BS, but I'd appreciate some links to support your assertion as it pertains to RAID1.

As to the models, some people just need to lighten up. Whether you like them or not, accept or despise what they represent, if you had to grouse about it here, you probably took it a little too seriously.

 

[jeremiahpope]

I'd ride that sleigh man, I swear to god I would!!!

 

[richboyliang]

I seriously question the girls' purpose on this article. Although the one on the 1st page is my favorite

 

[richboyliang]

the phenom girl is, hands down, the best. she reminds me of mariah carey

blonde one is OK i guess

redhead is too old, if toms hard ware wants to sell that stuff they should stop using her

 

[richboyliang]

That shot would be perfect if she held an intel CPU....

 

[iLLz]

I look forward to these every year with these fine woman, oh yea, and um, the computer stuff too!

 

[kulmnar]

The girl in green looks trans!

 

[teslafreakshow]

I just clicked this for the hot asian.

 

[hameem 1]

xD . . the women with the HD 6950 looks scary !!

 

[Larry141]

jtt283, I don't have the link handy, but you can go to WD or Newegg and see what they have to say. I didn't realize until this morning that WD is now saying you can use a Caviar Black in RAID 0 or 1. However, less than a year ago I had a thread going on this site regarding the same HDD's and the same subject. WD told me in a phone conversation. That although they say the Caviar Blacks will work in RAID 0/1, they recommend using the Enterprise HDD's, and they will not warranty the Caviar Blacks in any RAID configuration. I explained to them that, at the time, Newegg was recommending Caviar Black 640GB HDD's, so I bought two to setup in RAID 0/1 or 5. They stood pat on what they had already told, "Yes they will work, but we only recommend the Enterprise and will not warranty any other HDD's in any RAID enviroment. I did more investigating, and it is documented in the thread I had going on this site, and only earlier Caviar Black HDD's were working in RAID. It appeared those HDD's were made prior to WD making sure no one could use Cav Blks in RAID because of the TLER's. In my opinion WD is being vague and ambigious, and to me, it's all double talk and I won't use any WD HDD in RAID, except for the Enterprise HDD's and they are way more expensive. Here is what the WD site says:

Desktop / Consumer RAID Environments

WD Caviar Black Hard Drives are tested and recommended for use in consumer-type RAID applications. (RAID-0 / RAID-1)*
* Business Critical RAID Environments – WD Caviar Black Hard Drives are not recommended for and are not warranted for use in RAID environments utilizing Enterprise HBAs and/or expanders and in multi-bay chassis, as they are not designed for, nor tested in, these specific types of RAID applications. For all Business Critical RAID applications, please consider WD's Enterprise Hard Drives that are specifically designed with RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER), are tested extensively in 24x7 RAID applications, and include features like enhanced RAFF technology and thermal extended burn-in testing

 

[Guest]

x-fi is your top pick for a sound card really? Creative is NOTORIOUS for it's horrible drivers. Thinking toms hardware gets a few "donation" for their suggestions. Still a good site though.

 

[mayankleoboy1]

toms would porobably be getting a lot of "donations", but that wont bias them.
i trust toms.

not with the girls though

 

[Reynod]

Guys you might have noticed I deleted quite a few posts.

Anything deragatory or offensive was trashed.

I for one like these stories as well as the Booth Babe series when the big IT Expos are on.

They are tasteful.

If you don't like it then click onto somethign more technical ... there are tons of articles on the front page.

There is something for everyone.