Dec 17 2007

Year 2007 is coming to an end and there is no better time than now to do a round up. Below is the BGCG choice of the best hardware in 2007.

Best motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe

There is no doubt about Asus P5E3 Deluxe being the best mainboard of the year. It features the latest Intel X38 chipset and supports Intel’s latest 45mm technology Penryn, which easily make it the next generation motherboard. What’s more, with DDR3 RAM achieving a high speed of 1800MHz; it makes this DDR3 enabled mainboard even more attractive.

Best CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650

Price wise, this is definitely not a chip that you would consider. Performance wise, this is easily the best chip in the market. Built with Intel’s latest 45mm technology, this quad-core CPU surpassed all its rivals and predecessors by up to 10 to 15 percents.

Best Video Card: Asus EN8800GTX

If you think that 8800 Ultra is going to pick up the best video card of the year, then you are wrong. In fact, our choice is the 8800GTX. The reason being, it is more affordable. The card of our choice is the Asus EN8800GTX. It’s fast, it’s quiet, and it delivers incredible performance.

Best Memory: Corsair DDR3 1800MHz 2 GB Dual Channel Kit

Running at the highest speed that DDR3 can offer, this dual channel memory kit from Corsair rocks.
It delivers great performance with the ability to overclock, and the best thing is; the cooling is superb.

Best monitor: Gateway XHD3000

The only reason that this Gateway XHD3000 comes out top in our pick is because of its 30 inches panel high definition 2560×1600 display. In term of quality, it is really the best among the other 30 inches LCDs.

Best Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (1TB)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drive beats the rest of its competitor in term of its storage space and transfer speed. Geared with a terabyte drive, it records an average read speed of 86.6MB/s, a whole 15 megabytes a second faster than its competitor.

Best case: Cooler Master Cosmos

CoolerMaster Cosmos has a unique design that can improve air flow to cool down the interior, has great sound proofing and an easy to access front panel eSATA support. This design alone is enough to make the Cosmos the best case of the year.

Best mouse: Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse

In term of gaming, Logitech G9 gaming mouse is the best out there. With a full range of hardware customization; custom color LED for dpi, on-the-fly dpi and profile switching; plenty of macro recording options; more polished, edgier software, there is no doubt that this mouse is designed with the gamer’s comfort in mind.

Best keyboard: Ideazon Merc Stealth Illuminated Gaming Keyboard

We actually have a tie between this Ideazon Merc Stealth keyboard and Logitech G15 (2007 version) keyboard. Both are great keyboard for gaming, with the ability to set macros and easy customization. In the end, we chose the Ideazon Merc Stealth as the best gaming keyboard for the year mainly because we like the ergonomic design and feel more comfortable pounding on it.

Conclusion

That will conclude our 2007 hardware round up. In the next issue of BGCG ezine, we will take you to a preview of 2008 hardware technology.

Happy gaming.

Damien