Hexus Awards... Who will win?
Everyday we get asked to recommend kit for peoples systems. It is hard to know what to put in your latest rig, we are at an advantage being able to upgrade and change our systems daily. We have decided to select the top picks and best products of the Year 2002. We have seen a lot of new products, faster CPUs, new Innovations, and some interesting changes in market stances - with AMD and Intel battling, and NVIDIA and ATi also having a good battle 2003 for sure looks like it will be a very busy one. We would like to thank all the companies over the past year for providing us with an interesting insight to the new technology.
Please note the solutions we have picked below are ones which we have looked at and with the pace of change in technology, and the fierce competition prevailing between manufacturers, it's difficult to cover it all, but thanks to your continued support, for sure we'll be covering all the important ones, so stay tuned.
Anyway below you can see what we currently feel is the products which we would want in our systems.
Motherboard of the year
The ABIT MAX Series has brought a lot of innovation to the scene. The IT7 Max brought i845E/PE to the masses in a hugely tweakable motherboard who's only downfall was its relatively high price. MAX2 got things even more right arguably with the return of the missing PS/2 ports making it even more accessible. The only enthusiasts choice for those running DDR on a Pentium 4 this year. We got a scoop on this and we saw the popularity of this board from out the outset. Check out our reviews : ABIT IT7 MAX Board, ABIT IT7 MAX2 Board, ABIT IT7 MAX2 v2 Board.
Visual Processing Unit of the Year
The year started with NVIDIA and the dominance of the Geforce Range of GPUs. We then saw a sudden strike by ATi with the ATi Radeon 9700 Pro. Couldn't really be anything else could it. ATi got it just about spot on this time around, so spot on that NVIDIA are only just getting round to releasing a similar architecture whereas ATi have had it on shelves for months. A true consumer graphics powerhouse. Most of the ATi partner boards are made by ATi and branded under different names We have looked at a few 9700 Pro based solutions. Sapphire 9700 Pro, ATi Reference Board, Crucial 9700 Pro. As you can see all of them are differentiating the products in there own ways.
Processor of the year
We have seen many new CPUs from AMD and Intel over the past year and a fair few changes. Intel went .13 with the Northwood core and have achived some impressive yields, they have also launched the 3.06GHz unit too. Meanwhile AMD have the TBred B steppings which are proving speed isn't the only important factor. So it is a tough choice this time. If only AMD could get processors out to the masses sooner after the paper launch. But it has to go to the Intel Pentium 4 Northwood processor. Overclocking friendly and one for every price point, 3GHz has never been so easy. Intel even forced the issue recently with a proper 3GHz chip. This coupled with the Hyper-Threading technology gives Intel a clear advantage - We are sure this is not the end of it! Check out the reviews of the 3.06GHz HT CPU and the XP 2700 CPU
Best Memory of the year
At the start of the year we had the Samsung PC2700 we all coveted to that overclocked so well or the expensive goodness recently released by Corsair? XMS3500 is nice, and is the best on the market, it is a shame the price is so high. You do get what you pay for however. We have Samsung modules which do 222MHz CL2 and the price was great. But - we have to say that the Corsair is the best performer on the market. Check out the reviews Corsair XMS3500, PC2700 Shootout, TwinMOS PC3200
AMD Chipset of the year
We have seen many new chipsets, KT333, KT400, and nForce2. The winner is nForce2 without a doubt. Intel's P4 DDR offerings are quite excellent on that side of the fence but it was about time AMD users had something similar to shout about and KT400 didn't cut it. And KT333 could only be so good - with the nForce 2 solution it didn't leave the competition much chance. NVIDIA were able to execute despite announcing it ages ago but boards are here and all is forgiven. Updated IGP/SPP and a slight tweak of the MCP to bring everything up to date which means an NVIDIA chipset should be under your AMD hood for the foreseeable future. Checkout the reviews NVIDIA Reference board, EPoX 8RDA+, ABIT NF7-S nForce2 .
Intel Chipset of the year
Trust Intel to come up with the goods for their own processors this year. SiS with 645DX and 648 take 2nd place for me but the i845D/E/PE non-graphics based DDR chipsets from the chip making behemoth take first place. Powering my favourite motherboard of the year, the IT7-MAX series from ABIT, the northbridge along with ICH4 do the business if you are running a Pentium 4 processor and DDR memory. RDRAM chipsets mostly lay stagnant in 2002, counting them out. Check out the reviews of some Intel Chipset based boards : ABIT IT7 I845E, ABIT IT72 v2 I845PE, DFI NB78-HL I845PE, IWill P4HT-S i845PE.
Best Mobile/Integrated graphics
ATi steal the show again in our 2nd graphics based category with their Mobility Radeon series for laptop PC's, bringing workable performance 3D to the portable masses. NVIDIA 2nd in a valiant attempt but much like in the main graphics chipset award, too much announcement, not enough product in 2002 for them to take this award.
Best Innovation
We have to award this to Small Form Factor PC's this year without a doubt. Flex ATX and Mini ITX parts are quite the show stoppers this year with plenty of people making the switch to a small, quiet powerhouse. While VIA do well with their EPIA series of products and people like Lian Li supplying Mini ITX cases, Shuttle get the award for their all in one solutions that caught the eye of people everywhere. Even staunch high end PC supporters were roped in and the SS51G seemed the most popular of the lot. They can only hope to sell even more with their nForce2 version! check out the reviews : SB51G, SS51G
Best Chassis
We have seen many new systems in the last year - Aluminium is now regarded as a must - we have seen solutions from Lian Li as well as Coolermaster. We have always been impressed by the Coolermaster Chassis - and this year has been no different. We have seen the 110 which is the all time favourite case from them - it has impressive build quality as well as good looks, it may carry a price tag but you do get what you pay for. Read the review : Coolermaster 110.
Best Input Device
We have seen many mice and keyboards over the past year - and we have come to the conlusion that the most superior mouse you can get for your home PC is the Logitech MX700 mouse. This mouse is a cordless device without the lag of the "older" cordless solutions.
Best Console
Taking the internals from a PC and building a console is no mean feat, but Microsoft (with plenty of help from Intel and NVIDIA) managed it. Currently priced at a ridiculous £160 with 2 top games, and with a respectable catalog of exclusive titles, the XBOX has established itself as solid competition for the mighty Playstation 2, and has already a larger user base than the Nintendo Gamecube. With the prospect of XBOX live in early 2003, the already considerable multiplayer pull of the machine cannot be ignored, even by the most faithful of PC purists, and the machine would make an excellent addition to any front room XBOX Review
