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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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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