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Tom's Hardware's Haswell-Based System Builder Sweepstakes

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Anonymous
October 15, 2013 9:14:05 PM

Tom's Hardware asked system builders across the U.S. to send us their Haswell-based creations. We received gaming boxes, NAS devices, and workstations in several different sizes. Vote on your favorites for a chance to win a new CPU, motherboard, and SSD!

Tom's Hardware's Haswell-Based System Builder Sweepstakes : Read more

More about : tom hardware haswell based system builder sweepstakes

October 15, 2013 9:17:27 PM

Oh my.
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4
October 15, 2013 9:24:08 PM

Wow, very nice giveaway! :) 
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October 15, 2013 9:51:46 PM

"The Sweepstakes opens on September 22, 2013 9:00 PM PDT and closes on October 7, 2013 9:00 PM PDT." I hope that's not correct... Love the super-compact Falcon NW system.
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October 15, 2013 9:57:07 PM

What is the GPU on cybertron PC build? GTX Ti Boost, I'm guessing 650ti boost..?
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October 15, 2013 10:01:20 PM

Got excited until........... "DUE TO LEGAL REQUIREMENTS, THIS CONTEST IS LIMITED TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE USA" Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :( (((
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October 15, 2013 10:05:16 PM

Oh great. Americans only again. Can't you give away these prizes to the rest of the world and have a separate competition for Americans for cheeseburgers and lard? I'm sure there would be no disappointment there.
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October 15, 2013 10:05:38 PM

"Got excited until........... "DUE TO LEGAL REQUIREMENTS, THIS CONTEST IS LIMITED TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE USA" Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :(  ((("

Isn't it always? :( 
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October 15, 2013 10:16:32 PM

I think we cover this every time we give stuff away ;)  In essence, due to the taxes and laws in other countries (and sometimes even in the U.S.; notice that Rhode Island cannot participate either), we can only operate this sweepstakes in the U.S.

I very much wish we could work around this, and open the opportunity up to readers in other countries who support Tom's Hardware. Unfortunately, when it comes to legal matters like this one, it's out of my hands :( 
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October 15, 2013 10:16:55 PM

Entered!

The NCIX box my favorite one.
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October 15, 2013 10:42:25 PM

"Entered!" @rolli59: So jealous right now
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October 15, 2013 11:26:42 PM

Digital storm, Xotic PC and safe harbor just drooling over those three. Very nice builds. I always enter but never win, here's to hoping i win nothing again :) 
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October 15, 2013 11:30:10 PM

My thoughts on these builds:

* AVA Direct's $1245 Light Gaming Build
4770k, 4 gb's RAM, ~$280 Mobo, & 7770 GPU
Too much CPU & Mobo, Not enough GPU, & should be 8 gb's of RAM. Should also have at least a 120 gb SSD in this price range, IMHO.

* CybertronPC's $1300 mini-ITX NightHawk II
4670 CPU, Mini-ITX Mobo w/WiFi, BitFenix Prodigy Case, 60 gb SSD, 16 gb's RAM, & 650 Ti Boost GPU.
Would prefer 4670k CPU, Mobo looks like a good option, Case is good, SSD good for boot drive, Plenty of RAM (could go with 8 gb's and be fine), GPU okay, but would prefer at least a 7870/7950/660Ti for this price range.

* Digital Storm's $12,374 Aventum II
Too expensive for the <1% of the market!

* Falcon Northwest's $4539 mini-ITX Tiki
i7-4770K CPU, overclocked, Asus Maximus VI Impact Mobo. 16 gb's 1866 RAM, Titan GPU, dual 960 GB M500 SSDs in RAID 0, and a 3 TB HD
Interesting build, but still <1% of the market for this one.

* Highly Reliable's BNAS 501 Backup Appliance $2,500
Nice idea, but still way too much for most people.

* Maingear's $6400 Shift
Too much $ for my interest.

* Micro Express' $1700 Microflex 47T
i7 4770K, Asus' Z87-Pro Mobo, 16 GB 1600mHz RAM, GTX 780 GPU, 700 W power supply, 24x DVD burner, 250 GB SSD, & 1 TB HD.
One of the more interesting builds listed here. This should be a nice gaming rig and also a good all around system for the $ (at least for the systems listed in this article).

* NCIX's $1400 microATX 506-IA
i5-4670K, Corsair's H60 liquid cooler, 8 gb's Kingston HyperX RAM, EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2 GB GPU, Seasonic 750 W PSU, 120 GB Kingston SSDNow V300, BitFenix Prodigy M Case, & 3 TB HD.
Probably the best built unit on this article. The PSU is overkill, but is good for any upgrade that you would want.

* Origin PC's $10,000 Desktop Genesis Z87
Overpriced and not necessary, IMHO.

* Puget Systems' $3457 Serenity
Too much $ for the average consumer.

* Safe Harbor's $4300 Tsunami Surf
Again just too much for most, not interested.

* Steiger Dynamics' $6483 Black LEET Core Limited Monochrome HTPC
Too much $.

* Velocity Micro's $3674 Edge Z55
Too much $ for most.

* Xidax's $6261 X-6 Gaming Desktop
Too much $ for most.
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October 15, 2013 11:45:37 PM

Quote:

The Sweepstakes opens on September 22, 2013 9:00 PM PDT and closes on October 7, 2013 9:00 PM PDT.

Huh?
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October 16, 2013 12:00:36 AM

smeezekitty said:
Quote:

The Sweepstakes opens on September 22, 2013 9:00 PM PDT and closes on October 7, 2013 9:00 PM PDT.

Huh?


A. There will be one Sweepstakes, which will run from October 15, 2013 9:00 PM PDT to October 29, 2013 9:00 PM PDT.
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October 16, 2013 12:22:41 AM

US only once again makes me sad :(  I hope eventually there is a way around that.
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October 16, 2013 12:39:42 AM

This would make an amazing birthday present for this lad!
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October 16, 2013 1:20:28 AM

OFC its only limited to USA. I think there has never been any contest that was NOT limited to USA in toms. Its understandable, but it sucks.
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October 16, 2013 2:33:24 AM

Congrates The all new Intel has made The Intel core i7 4 generation,as given 20 cores, great c.p.u........... I am using an 8 core c.p.u amd fx 8350,mine is nothing in front of this... These c.p.u are has to be taken to enjoy The GAMING...... Also g.p.u is great......
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October 16, 2013 2:40:24 AM

Falcon Northwest's $4539 mini-ITX Tiki
i7-4770K CPU. I could sure use vthis
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October 16, 2013 2:58:43 AM

I wished the content was us shipping adres only instead of us only as there are ways of getting yourself a us shipping adres from europe.
Anyway I find these rigs mostly very over priced but hey that's what happens when you don't want to build my picks would be
the xotic, the maingear and the northwest falcon as they at least look the part and at least offer you a good rig with their price point.
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October 16, 2013 2:59:23 AM

I do wonder if the people who say they are not from the us still get a part in deciding which case wins even if they can't win the price.
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October 16, 2013 3:18:01 AM

"A. There will be one Sweepstakes, which will run from October 15, 2013 9:00 PM PDT to October 29, 2013 9:00 PM PDT."
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October 16, 2013 3:18:50 AM

Would a skype phone number work? Not really interested giving out my real number to a sweepstakes drawing.
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October 16, 2013 5:20:52 AM

I will take one of these Digital Storm's $12,374 Aventum II...

Thank you.
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October 16, 2013 6:07:25 AM

Entered, good luck all!
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October 16, 2013 6:48:08 AM

nice give away :) 
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October 16, 2013 6:53:33 AM

cangelini said:
smeezekitty said:
Quote:

The Sweepstakes opens on September 22, 2013 9:00 PM PDT and closes on October 7, 2013 9:00 PM PDT.

Huh?


A. There will be one Sweepstakes, which will run from October 15, 2013 9:00 PM PDT to October 29, 2013 9:00 PM PDT.


That is the message you get after entering on the confirmation page!
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October 16, 2013 7:11:14 AM

As much as I think some of these high end builds are epic (especially the Aventum), I don't think systems carrying $5k+ price tags are worthy of an award, because I'd just never recommend them to anyone for purchase.

I don't think more-than-2 graphics cards is ever a recommendable configuration, just because there's too little return for your money.

The Tiki is the only expensive build that I think is award-worthy. The Aventum would get my vote too if it were $6k with less hardware instead of $12k
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October 16, 2013 7:13:50 AM

How to enter?
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October 16, 2013 7:23:37 AM

Some of these builds are a bit odd, but I would love to the that Steiger Dynamics build in person. Just seems like a ton of hardware in such a small space, and I would love to see how they achieve it all. Would make for an overkill HTPC build... or just right for a simi-portable editing platform!
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October 16, 2013 7:53:00 AM

Damn, that would be nice.
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October 16, 2013 8:18:14 AM

Its too bad that the system's being voted on are not the actual prizes being awarded. That being said, I'd be happy to win anything from the drawing, even it was a 3 y/o used mouse mat.
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October 16, 2013 8:32:28 AM

talk about some uber expensive PCs lol. but there are some really nice rigs in there
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October 16, 2013 8:38:52 AM

Steiger Dynamics system is simply beautiful!
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October 16, 2013 9:12:37 AM

All great builds. yes some are very pricy. if i had to pick the origin would be number one just to see it run with all the goodies inside.
The Falcon Northwest would be number two since its a nice form factor
and number 3 would be the Steiger Dynamics as it looks very nice inside
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October 16, 2013 9:17:09 AM

I like the Puget quiet system because it's quiet! And also the Core i5-based mini-ITX systems (NCIX and Cybertron) because they're efficient, look good, easy to transport and store, and more than sufficient for my needs. Closest to what I would build for myself, except I would probably cheap out and go with a dual-core Pentium instead of a Core i5.
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October 16, 2013 9:20:39 AM

They are all great builds some are very pricy.
If i had to pick the Digital Storm would be my first choice just to see all that hardware run.
Number 2 would be Falcon Northwest because the form factor is very nice, you could take it with you anywhere with no hassle at all. And number 3 would be Highly Reliable Systems having a server on hand is never a bad thing
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October 16, 2013 9:24:09 AM

Those are some awesome prizes! Thanks for the give-a-way!
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October 16, 2013 9:37:33 AM

my 9 year old pc is on its last legs
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October 16, 2013 10:18:54 AM

Oh man do I badly want a Falcon Northwest Tiki.
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1
October 16, 2013 10:51:17 AM

Still using a Phenom II. Help me join the modern world!
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October 16, 2013 11:18:29 AM

I have a problem with the Origin PC. Why would you combine a 1 TB SSD with a 4 TB 5400 RPM drive. I'd rather see two, 2 TB drives at 7200 RPM. That would probably cost the same and give better performance.
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October 16, 2013 11:32:55 AM

well this is cool i wish toms could have more contests especially showcasing cool builds like this
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October 16, 2013 11:33:07 AM

the piping on that digital storm rig is beautiful--if only it were priced for those of use that don't have 12k that would otherwise get tossed into the fire...
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October 16, 2013 11:46:02 AM

Some very nice choices there to vote from, Good luck folks.
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October 16, 2013 12:52:21 PM

Great giveaway.
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October 16, 2013 1:39:46 PM

The NCIX seems like the only winner to me in the sense that I would even consider buying it.
That being said, Digital Storm's build looks amazingly cool. The article was interesting and had me considering doing something similar until I realized I don't have the time, equipment, or talent to do it on my own. Still, I guess everyone is entitled to dream about owning a Ferrari.
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October 16, 2013 2:20:32 PM

NCIX's $1400 microATX 506-IA Sounds like the best mix of power saving, performance, and quality parts within.
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October 16, 2013 2:20:50 PM

I am leaning toward the Falcon Northwest build because of the granite base. Nothing like a low center of gravity. Also, the chassis graphic is pretty awesome. ;) 

I very much like the Puget Systems build as well. There's something about it that, to me, makes it look like all the parts inside that chassis are actually working together. Obviously, they're all working together, but it looks like they're all physically working together, like a robot. I'd probably take this one if I had a choice.
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