We have posted the second installment of our year-end Top-10 series. This time, we are looking at the top-10 of the most significant hardware for this year. What do you think? Do you agree with our choices? Which ones would you add?
I've heard that the culture at Intel is a brutal and fast paced one. You produce results and you do it quickly or you get out. AMD has awaken a giant that was sleeping soundly in its netburst bed. I think that for AMD the next couple years holds brief periods of matched performance with Intel, the rest of the time is catchup mode .
Having talked to both AMD and Intel reps, I can say AMD is a friendlier nicer company, kinda like Jackie Chan, and Intel is a cooler, stricter company, like Bruce Lee...
Of course, Bruce Lee and kick Jackie Chan's ass 100 ways to oblivion...
Intel's Core is no big thing. Faster but just an evolutionary change. AMD will stomp Intel in two years or so, as they have seen a different path to tread and have more more clever engineers than Intel. Soon Intel will have 4, 8, whatever cores and wake up and say- Shit!, we need to be over there and catch up with what AMD is doing. the CPU race just flip-flops back and forth. I'm an AMD fanboy but I don't really pay attention to the CPU arms race. Neither at home nor at work do I need to order the fastest CPU on the shelf.
Mac on Intel, and AMD in Dell pc's is by far most important change.
Third is perhaps the Sansa e200 for being a better choice than iPod (Just got my wife a e250 for Xmas gift).
Nvidia's 8800 card wasn't out of the blue, just expected and it arrived a month or two earlier than needed.
shouldnt there be an option for other?
not that i'd vote that way (is i'd say the 8800 or the C2D. though the 8800 and Dx10 wont really show there colours till sometime next year
I would say that the blue ray would be best for computer users being it holds more data making it easier to back up data and alot of other stuff.
I disagree with intel being dead last before conroe came out. Even though the pentium D wasnt the best on the market all my gamer friends still either bought it or a Pentium 4. In my eyes Intel has always been better than amd. easy overclock, faster. I dont know anyone with an Amd. Ill give amd another try next year and purchase a processor.\
Must be the location i guess Texas loves Intel more.
I would say that the blue ray would be best for computer users being it holds more data making it easier to back up data and alot of other stuff.
I disagree with intel being dead last before conroe came out. Even though the pentium D wasnt the best on the market all my gamer friends still either bought it or a Pentium 4. In my eyes Intel has always been better than amd. easy overclock, faster. I dont know anyone with an Amd. Ill give amd another try next year and purchase a processor.\
Must be the location i guess Texas loves Intel more.
Stop, wait, you are a bit backwards. You purchase Intel when AMD was performing better and now you want to purchase AMD now that Intel has taken the performance crown? Masochism at its finest, hehe. Next year Intel will most likely still be the performance leader, buy Intel! In fact always buy Intel, they are just better! My Intel stock tells me so.
I know intel is better. Man wish I was old enough for stock. ive played stock games and im real good at making money. But ima get amd when it starts (if it ever does) getting back up on its feet. i hope amd never goes out of buisness otherwise we will be in big trouble.
had to say conroe as it has, or at least will re-ignite the CPU race which for the last few years has become a bit embarrasing for intel.
it is what is likely to really help drive software dev's to finally change to multi-threaded software and make use of the new hardware now that the big name of CPU's has made a worthwhile product.
oh and chaosGC, just stfu you are making a fool of yourself. the pentium d's were, like netburst a joke only doubly so. they were faster only in a Ghz way and not a computational one. jesus, get with the times.
Well even though the Core 2 was pretty amazing its more of an evolution not a revolution, an this is a computer forum which automatically equals a bias towards CPU's, but i don't think one should completely disregard the Wii. With nintendo being the odd man out in the console war, ahem IBM, Nintendo has suddenly propelled itself to a very competitive 2nd place console, and time will eventually tell whether it stays there or takes both the 360 and PS3 by the head. I commend nintendo for thinking out of the box and implementing features and controls that neither MS or Sony would have even of come up with.
The best part about it all is that the specs on the Wii are inferior but yet it offers so many other things that it sells.
One last thing both Sony, Microsoft, Intel and AMD can take note from Nintendo is there well prepared launch. They take the stores by storm and have been able to sell over 1,746,000+ consoles so far. Only if AMD or Intel could execute as well as Nintendo. Granted there are many other factors that effect a CPU launch from a Console launch its still something Intel and AMD could realize that when you got a hot product its good to have it in stores while its still hot.
ye, i know but i aint a console person so it don't matter as much to me. i am dissapointed that they have had to have a recall of some of the controllers even if it is a voluntary one. shame as it will cost them money. i do wish them well which is strange as i was always a sega guy around the time of the super nes and megadrive/genesis. still, better than sony.
Yep, Core 2 Duo rocks. The price, performance and power consumption sets a new barrier. The DX10 card I think is not really that good since no OS and software that fully takes advantage of it yet. All this new stuff coming out this year is making me want to upgrade and made my system look outdated.
had to say conroe as it has, or at least will re-ignite the CPU race which for the last few years has become a bit embarrasing for intel.
it is what is likely to really help drive software dev's to finally change to multi-threaded software and make use of the new hardware now that the big name of CPU's has made a worthwhile product.
oh and chaosGC, just stfu you are making a fool of yourself. the pentium d's were, like netburst a joke only doubly so. they were faster only in a Ghz way and not a computational one. jesus, get with the times.
You need to STFU. GOD DAMN RETARD you think the pentium D's were worthless HELL NO. They paved the way for conroe w/o pentium D there is no dual core not conroe and amd may not have it either. AND THEY ARE STILL F-ING POWERFUL. Second place is never bad. Oh yeah netburst is a joke (sarcasm) it got us to where we are and is still good. wow conroe is UP TO 40% faster fucking wow i love conroe to but Pentium D was good competition for Amd. SO YOU STFU FOOL.
The gap between AMD and C2D is bigger now than the gap between Pentium and AMD was back then. Besides, people still bought the Pentium D more than AMD's cpu. Intel has alwyas had the majority market share... probably always will.
ehm, to say the netburst was competitive is wrong. also i don't see how the pentium d paved the way for conroe unless you mean gave them an idea of what it shouldn't be. most people would say the pentium M paved the way for conroe and tbh, IMO it wasn't a dual core rather dual cpu's on one socket which ain't the same thing. AMD had the first dual core unless im mistaken so how would they not have a dual core if it weren't for intel???
i can't believe people are still saying they would always buy intel cause they are better.
The pentium D's are all worthless, they are basically pentium III chips that have been rebadged. Only the big suckers bought them. If you are non-technical person, then you were likely to believe the hype and buy a pentium D, but at the same time you probably don't need anything more powerful then a P3 so i guess it all works out.
I chose the Wii as most influential because it shows that innovation will always trump raw power. Not only do gamers love it, but people who never touched a game in their lives are fascinated with its ability to simulate real experiences. On top of all that, it only costs $250!! Think about that. That's less than most iPods, C2D cpus, or video cards out there.
Sure C2D is amazing but in reality all it does is more FLOPs with less pwr than AMD. Wii is loads of entertainment right out of the box.
Now can we get Nintendo to add HD support?
Another thing. Stop trying to push MP3 players other than the iPod, Toms. That one you picked (I already forgot its name) is weak compared to many other technologies that became prime this year. How about fast response gaming LCD screens? Or even HDTVs with HDMI and over the air broadcasts in 1080i via ATSC. What about the 100 dollar laptop? MP3 players are nothing new and are overpriced IMO. I got an Audigy 4 for 70 bucks that can decode DVD Audio. Now put that kind of tech in a hand held and I'll be voting #1
On a side note one tech that I think isn't realized yet but could be next year is the Cell processor/XDR Memory. I know it seems off now but it will rock if certain people/companies use it the right way.
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