Holiday Hardware Buyers Guide

[PAGETITLE=Introduction] It's hard to believe that it's that time of the year again. As we inch closer to the holiday season, there is no time to waste in figuring out what the hot hardware item for the season is. We have done all the legwork for you! This guide is designed for buyers and givers alike. If you are unsure what the "hot" item is, this guide will help you understand what to purchase, or what to add to your wishlist. Even if you do not celebrate any holidays, this time of the year is still a fun one since a lot of the hot items go on sale. So keep your eyes peeled! Throughout many of our categories, we have divided them in the order of Ultimate to Stocking Stuffer. AKA, "Uber Hot" or "Budget Gift". One thing you should bare in mind though, is that even though we may call something a "Stocking Stuffer", it's still a quality product that we highly recommend. Anything that we think is crap is not listed here, simple as that. They are listed according to price, with the Ultimate being the most expensive usually, and the Stocking Stuffer being an item that's affordable by anyone. Alongside most of our picks are live pricing feeds, so that you can quickly see the best going price for a given product. Since the holidays is one time of the year where your wallet empties at light speed, these feeds help ease the pain. If you are interested in seeing the list up front, here it is. Clicking on "Jump to Page" will bring you quickly to that page. If you are in no hurry to leave (why would you be?), feel free to casually stroll through the guide starting with the next page. Word of caution before proceeding! If you are a gift buyer and intend on buying a friend/family/pet a piece of hardware, just make sure first that it will work on their PC by casually bringing it up in a conversation or getting them drunk so that they spill the beans. If you are to purchase a video card for example, chances are it will not work in a PC that's two years old, since the PCI-E standard was brought on later. Of course if you are in need of any help or advice, you can hit up our forums and post your question there. Peripherals - Jump To Page Saitek Eclipse II. Razer Copperhead. Logitech G7. Logitech VX Notebook Mouse. Steelseries 5H V2. OCZ Rally 4GB & Corsair Voyager 8GB. iPod & Zune. Video Cards - Jump To Page Ultimate - NVIDIA 8800GTX. Great - ATI x1950XTX. Good - ATI x1950Pro. Stocking Stuffer - NVIDIA 7600GT. Monitors - Jump To Page Ultimate - Dell 3007WFP 30” Great - Gateway FPD2485W 24" Good - PLANAR PL2011M Black 20.1" Stocking Stuffer - Dell UltraSharp 1907FP 19” Motherboards - Jump To Page Ultimate - ASUS Striker Extreme (Intel Core) Ultimate - DFI LanParty NF590 M2R/G (AMD AM2) Great - Gigabyte DQ6 (Intel Core) Great - ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe (AMD AM2) Good - Gigabyte DS3 (Intel Core) Good - ABIT AN9 32x (AMD AM2. Processors & Cases - Jump To Page Ultimate - Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700. Ultimate - AMD Athlon FX-62. Great - Intel Core 2 E6700. Great - AMD X2 5200+ Good - Intel Core 2 E6300. Good - AMD X2 3800+ Ultimate - Silverstone TJ07. Great - NZXT Zero. Good - Ultra Aluminus. Good - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW. Memory & Storage - Jump To Page Ultimate - Corsair DOMINATOR 2GB PC2-8888. Great - OCZ 2GB PC2-7200. Good - G. Skill 2GB F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ. Stocking Stuffer - G. Skill 2GB F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ. Ultimate - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB ES. Great - Western Digital 500GB RE2. Good - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB. Power Supplies & System Cooling - Jump To Page Ultimate - PCP&C 1kW S 1000 Watt w/ Single +12v Rail. Great - Corsair HX620. Good - Silverstone SST-ST50EF-Plus. Stocking Stuffer - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W Power Supply. Ultimate - Swiftech Apex Ultra 220 WC Kit w/ MCW 60's & MCW Ramcools. Great - Zalman Reserator 1 V2. Good - VANTEC STG-100 All-in-one Water Cooling Kit. Good - Swiftech MCP655, Danger Den Liang D5 Pump. Digital Cameras - Jump To Page Ultimate - Nikon D80 10.2MP D-SLR. Great - Nikon D50 6.2MP D-SLR. Good - Canon PowerShot S3 IS 6.2MP. Stocking Stuffer - Casio Exilim EX-S600. Gadgets - Jump To Page Turbo Charge. USB Sim Card Reader. Atari 2600 Plug and Play Keychains. USB Vonage Phone. CompUSA 145-Piece Computer Tool Kit. Mister Tipster Desktop RSS Display. Lapinator. Walkie Talkie Watches. TomTom. Roomba. + More. Discuss in our forums! If you have a comment you wish to make on the guide, feel free to head on into our forums! There is no need to register in order to reply to our content threads. [PAGEBREAK] [PAGETITLE=Peripherals] Keyboard The keyboard has remained unchanged for a very long time with the exception of the way it connects to the PC. While the QWERTY layout remains, the designs of keyboards have gone from dull and beige to elegant and sleek. If I were to choose one keyboard that has captured my attention the most it would be the Saitek Eclipse II. Back in September, we took a look at this keyboard and our reaction was incredibly positive. The quality of the keyboard was high and the layout well done. Using a standard USB connection for power and connectivity, the backlit keys could be a bit brighter but are still easily recognizable for all but the basic of users. There are the obligatory media keys in the top right corner of the keyboard. The keys are small and surround a dimmer knob for the backlit keys. As stated before, Saitek could certainly up the power going to the LEDs so the dimmer is pretty much useless. All in all, the Saitek is getting this editor’s recommendation for anyone in the market for a high quality keyboard, perfect for gamers and everyday users alike. The Saitek Eclipse II can be found online for approximately $50 (US.) Mouse (Wired) For anyone looking for the ultimate control from their gaming mouse, look no further than the Razer Copperhead. We were fortunate enough to have one to review shortly after launch. Since that time, there hasn’t really been any company to produce an equal when high a DPI is of the utmost importance. The gold plated USB plug ensures an optimal connection with your PC and the laser eye of the Copperhead is fully customizable up to an amazing 2000 DPI. In fact, this eye is so impressive; Microsoft has chosen a variable of it to power their next gaming mouse, the Habu. Leave it to Razer to make an enviable product. The only downside to the mouse is that its design and shape might not be for everyone. It took me a good long while to get used to it but I have talked with many who can’t live without theirs. The Razer Copperhead can found online for approximately $60 (US.) Mouse (Wireless) This is an easy one, the Logitech G7 wireless gaming mouse. Logitech has pretty much had the PC peripherals game on lock for more than a decade. With the G7, you get laser precision, on the fly DPI adjustments and a pair of rechargeable battery packs that can be swapped out in a hurry all while the G7 communicates with your PC via a 2.4 GHz wireless signal. The G7 also comes with the comfortable Logitech styling and for this editor; the feel of Logitech’s mice can’t be beat. Look for this under trees near you! The Logitech G7 can be found online for approximately $60 (US.) Mouse (Notebook) Should your PC of choice be a notebook, we have the hook up for you as well. Most people are either not used to the touchpad of their notebook or just don’t want to use it. For those people, we can recommend the Logitech VX Revolution. Logitech dropped the boom hammer when it released its Revolution line of mice. We took a good long look at the MX desktop mouse back in August and its little brother is very similar in all but size. The VX is a wireless (2.4 GHz RF) 7 button mouse that has a tilt wheel and programmable software. The VX uses a laser eye for mind numbing precision and is small and portable so it’s easy to throw in your notebook bag and get back on the go. Connectivity, as stated before, is 2.4 GHz (RF) and is connected through a small USB thumb drive sized device. The mouse is rather painless to use and can be found online in the ballpark of $80 (US.) Headphones Gamers have brought the use of headsets to an all time high. No gamer is going to be caught dead at a LAN party with speakers as most LAN events strictly prohibit the use of anything but headphones. The headset I personally use and recommend is the Steel Sound 5Hv2. I have been using these headphones for the past month and a half and each day, I learn to appreciate them more and more. The sound is top notch and the ability to break them down into three separate pieces is a welcome feature if you attend many LAN parties or just like to store your things away. The 5H headset has an inline volume controller that also allows you to turn your microphone on and off. Speaking of microphones, the 5Hv2s have a built in microphone that can retract into the left ear pod for safe and convenient storage when not gaming or the microphone is not needed. The Steel Sound 5Hv2 can be found online for approximately $70 (US.) Thumb Drives We all need extra storage. Being an IT professional (yea right!), I have to have a lot of data at my disposal at all times. Sometimes it software, a lot of the time its router configurations, and sometimes it just music and por.... stuff. Whatever it might be, the ability to make important data readily accessible at any PC with an open USB port is awesome. With that said, there are 2 thumb drives that truly stand out in my mind. The OCZ 4GB Rally thumb drive is a fast storage solution for those of you on the go. The 4GBs of storage should be more than enough for you to store anything you really need to access or install on any and all PCs that you might be in front of, all through the convenience of USB. If 4 gigs of storage aren’t enough, then perhaps you can opt for the 8GB Corsair Voyager. Despite the huge density, Voyager remains a small size. Both of these drives offer far more space than any flash drive did last year and that my friends, is the beauty of...

Holiday Hardware Buyers Guide

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