The year 2005 was one of the weaker ones overall in terms of consumer
product innovations. We saw a lot of rehashes or items that simply
got "faster", but not too much in the ways of changing
our lifestyles. Still, there were a number of attention grabbers
this past year, so we put together a list of what we felt is truly
deserving of recognition, and one botch from a name we expect
better from.
CPU
of the Year - AMD Athlon 64 X2:
Both AMD and Intel released dual core processors this year
and although both accomplished the goals they set out, AMD
aimed quite a bit higher. Whether you're a productivity nut,
or a gaming god, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 is a stronger performer
overall and a better value when compared against Intel's Pentium
D line-up. The Athlon FX is a better gaming CPU, but we still
think the X2 is the way to go for those who do more than game.
Motherboard
of the Year - MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLI: Currently
the fastest SLI, let alone the fastest Athlon 64 motherboard
we've tested, the MSI K8N Neo4 SLI comes with all the trimmings
we'd expect from an enthusiast board. With plenty of onboard
peripherals, including an onboard Soundblaster Live! solution,
the board is a great overclocker and rock solid under load.
The only drawback it has is the rather flimsy SLI daughterboard,
but if you're looking for a loaded speed demon, this is it.
Chipset
of the Year - NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition:
The chipset scene was rather dull this year with nothing really
new for either Intel or AMD. We saw the obligatory new Intel
chipsets which really did nothing more than add support for
the new CPUs, faster SLI from NVIDIA, and an AMD offering
from VIA which still isn't ready for mass market. We're giving
the nod to the Intel based nForce 4 SLI this year simply because
it was something we feel Intel gamers really needed to compete
with AMD platforms from a feature standpoint.
Memory
of the Year - Corsair Memory: The
competition is getting tighter in the memory space and while
Corsair didn't have much exclusivity in terms of the fastest
product, or the highest capacity product, they were generally
the first to market. The only real competition in the enthusiast
market is OCZ in our opinion as Kingston and Crucial have
been relatively silent.
Video
Card of the Year - NVIDIA 7800 GTX: It's
pretty much a given who was getting this award. ATI simply
could not get a competing product out the door in time, and
by then NVIDIA's 7800 GTX not only got a memory bump, but
it also got faster in the process. Add to the equation that
you can put two of these into a SLI motherboard today,
the choice is clear. Honourable mention should go to the XFX
6600 for being not only under $100, but also being faster
than cards that cost twice that.
Water-Cooling
Product of the Year - asetek
WaterChill Extreme: To be honest,
up until a month ago we were all ready to crown the Swiftech
APEX with this award until asetek dropped off their WaterChill
Extreme at our door. The kit will not be for everyone, especially
given the size of the massive radiator which won't make installation
easy for midtower cases, but we're talking about the best
in water-cooling here.
Heatsink
of the Year - asetek VapoChill Micro: There were only
two competitors in our opinion and that was Zalman's excellent
CPNS9500 and asetek's, erm, excellenter VapoChill Micro.
Performance was very close, as was the noise, or lack thereof,
but the award goes to asetek for not requiring motherboard
removal for either AMD or Intel setups.
Game
of the Year - F.E.A.R.: Take everything that was great
about Half-Life 2 and throw in the scary girl from The Ring,
and the setting of the original Die Hard and you get one of
the biggest rip-offs of all time. Ok, not really, but what
you do get is one of the scariest and action packed games
in 2005. It also helped their cause that another highly anticipated
game called Quake 4 did not live up to the hype.
The
"meh" Event of the Year - ATI CrossFire Product
Launch: According to ATI, the launch was on schedule,
but most enthuisiasts knew better. CrossFire would have been
a competitor if it came out at the start of Summer, but by
the time it came out, the 7800 GTX was already running circles
around it in SLI and single (!) mode. Adding insult to injury,
ATI released their X1000 series not long after, rendering
the X800 Master Cards useless for anyone trying to stay on
top of the technology curve. That's probably unlikely though
as to this day, finding actual retail product is near impossible.
The
"Biggest Consumer Rape" Award - XBox 360:
Credit to Microsoft for managing to create some insane hype
for their latest console system. Boo to Microsoft though for
releasing very limited quantities, as well as raising the
ire of thousands of consumers (including yours truly) with
overheating and generally defective XBoxes. The "rape"
in our award though is pointed towards eBay consumers who
are actually paying thousands for a console that will probably
have better availability in a couple months.
That wraps up our look at this year's list. Last year we mentioned
that we were excited about 2005, but in the end there was more
to be frustrated than excited about. Still, 2006 does hold some
hope as we'll see a new CPU from AMD and some major changes at
Intel. Hopefully we'll see similar big news items from the rest
of the industry.
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