Annisman's First Ever Anandtech Hardware Giveaway - Winners have been announced!

[EliteRetard]

Wonder if I can enter for the 7850. I'm a US citizen, lived there all my life...but don't currently have a home of my own, and I'm currently on vacation in Japan. My belongings are stored at my mothers place and perhaps I could have the card sent there? Totally understand if I get rejected, I wont be back in the US until Sept 17 and it may be a while before I get to a place where I can game again. This is my primary computer, and the last time I was able to game on it was back in April/May if I recall. Things have been unstable lately, but I'm not giving up on gaming at all...I will be using it again in a few months for sure (my dad was just telling me he beat my score in a few games...I'll have to remedy that).

I inherited this system I built for a friend after he upgraded:

E6600 2.4GHz 4MB L2 OC@3GHz
2x2GB DDR2 800MHz CAS4
Nvidia 8800GTS 320MB
Gigabyte GA965-Unknown/OEM (not an S3/DS3)
1TB 7200RPM Samsung HDD
3/4" maple custom built case
450w FSP SAGA PSU.
2 24x DVD R/RW +/-
4x120MM Yate Loon D12SH-12
22" Trinitron 16x12@85Hz 19x14@72/75Hz

I've got over 500 games on Steam, used to be an avid PC gamer/enthusiast...things got tough after like 2000 and my last hurrah was an AMD 64. Built this system for a friend and inherited it after he upgraded. Changed a few components since it was first built...but haven't yet been able to get a new rig. I plan on it eventually, but I've been keeping it going with a lot of old kick arse games like MOO, X-COM, Civ&AC, Sim City, Half Life, Defense Grid, AOE, Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, I managed to chug through Far Cry and the newer Half Life series... etc.

Got a lot of newer games though that I haven't been able to play yet, like Crysis, Bioshock, Batman, COD (what are they up to now, 6?), Mass Effect, Witcher, any of the new RPGs/FPS ect. I chug on Civ 3 and later, Supreme Commander, Warhammer 40K 2, I've actually got several racing games but those need high fps...Tons of stuff Id love to play maxed at 1920x1440 at 75fps. Currently nothing I can really play past 1600x1200 and the older games usually only support up to 1280 or even 800x600 (Diablo 2 lol).

Had to steal the pick from an old post, no inside shots with me:

 

[PCTC2]

Annisman Hardware Giveaway

Razer Tiamat 7.1 Circumarual Surround Gaming Headset

Directions (All of these must be done):

- List your computer specs
- Tell me what games you play/what your favorite games are.
- Post a picture of the cutest cat you can find on the interwebs
- Sit back and relax, you're entered.

Well, I have many computers, but I actually do NOT have a good headset. I have a cheapo one I used with Rosetta Stone and have used since. So I'll list my 2 main gaming PCs (one for me and one for my girlfriend, who does actually game with me!!!)
Computer specs
Mine: Core i7 920, 12GB DDR3 Corsair XMS3, eVGA X58 FTW3, eVGA GTX 670, Creative X-Fi Platinum 7.1 Soundcard, 256GB Vertex 4, Corsair 800D, Zalman 850HP PSU
My girlfriend's: Core i5 2400, 8GB DDR3 Kingston HyperX, Asus P8H77-M PRO, XFX HD 5870, 120GB Corsair Force3, Silverstone PS07, Seasonic X650 PSU

Games
My favorite games have to be Call of Duty 4:MW/MW2, TF2, L4D2, and EVE:Online. I actually run my EVE:Online alliance's TeamSpeak server. I also play a lot of Minecraft and we have a Vent server for that too.

My girlfriend loves Minecraft.
Cats
The cutest cats have to be MY cats, Ace and Tony. Ace is the one sleeping on top of Tony (they're twin brothers).

Relax
Done.

EDIT
Almost forgot... THANKS for putting this together, Annisman!

Also, here's 2 more pictures of my kitties!
The one was from when Ace was a kitten and I was doing electrical engineering homework. He disapproves of my answers.

The other is Ace under my Astrodynamics book... he wantz to go to teh moon!)

 

[EliteRetard]

Just curious, we gonna vote on which cat is the best?
I'm votin' for #42, NOM!

 

[Termie]

Entered. Over at Tom's a user won my old 8800GTS 512 (my first ever giveaway) to give to his cousin for his computer, so I don't see why I shouldn't allow this as well. :thumbsup:

Thank you, sir!!!

 

[Annisman*]

@EliteRetard

You know I love you and you're my boy. (You do know that right ?) But there's a little bit too much going on in your situation for me to feel good about entering you. But fear not my friend, there should be many, many more giveaways.

 

[Annisman*]

I feel very left out and lonely because I am from Canuckistan...

Edit: At least I can try to win a game

- Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.
I would choose Civilization 4: Complete Edition, because despite having played hundreds and hundreds of hours I do not own my own copy and keep intending to buy it.
- Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it ?
Fallout 2, without question.
- (Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want. Because I can't get enough !

This is literally the funniest thing I have ever seen.

 

[EliteRetard]

@EliteRetard

You know I love you and you're my boy. (You do know that right ?) But there's a little bit too much going on in your situation for me to feel good about entering you. But fear not my friend, there should be many, many more giveaways.

I figured, but its cool...I wanted to enter anyway, you needed somebody famous in your first contest here to get you some traffic

 

[SunnyD]

4.

Not to litter up the thread with useless posts... especially since I generally dislike all the lolcat pics. But I saw this and I laughed. It begs to be captioned "I really CAN haz cheezeburger!!!"

 

[Kabrinski]

Annisman Hardware Giveaway...
50$ Steam game(s)

Have you browsed the above items and found you don't need or want any of them ? Is your post count too low to enter ? Is your rig so uber that you don't qualify to enter ? Then this is the item for you to enter for ! Anybody and everybody who didn't enter for a piece of hardware may enter for this one.

If you enter for this and win, I will steam-gift you a steam game, or a handful of games not totalling more than 50 USD$

I have been known to increase the number of these Steam gifts depending on demand. So it is possible I may increase it to two or three gifts of 50$, but I may not as well.

Restrictions: None

Directions (All of these must be done):
- Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.
- Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it ?
- (Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want. Because I can't get enough !
- Relax, you're entered.

Even though my video cards are only GTX260s, it is sufficient for what I am playing currently (DDO and Batman: Arkham Asylum; both at max settings), I would prefer to enter to win the game(s) through Steam.

Games I would choose: Batman Arkham City with a couple of the DLC packs (don't care which ones except for the Harley one - I have a code for that I got through a rewards program).

My favorite game of all time: hmmm... Hard to choose. I have played so many games and loved them all. I would have to say it would be Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2. Back in high school, it was one of the many games we played during our Cisco class. The humor and story line were excellent (the acting on the other hand... not so good). Game play was solid and easily re-playable. I still have the box for it where the front opened up to show New York being attacked and a plane flying towards the city and it looks like it is headed towards the Twin Towers. After 9/11, those boxes were all recalled and re-released without the front opening up.

I don't have any pictures of my animals with me, so here is a randomly selected one I found on Google.

 

[ramj70]

Corsair H80 Liquid CPU cooler


PC specs: AMD PII 980, 8GB ram, 1 TB HDD, Gigabyte 580 video card, Thermaltake element G case.

CPU history: Intel PIII 1.0ghz, Athlon 1700, Athlon 2800, AMD FX-57, PH II 965, PII 980

I've only used stock coolers so I have only been able to overclock just a little bit. I tried to OC my 980 and got to 3.9GHZ before it overheated and became unstable. With this cooler I can OC my CPU with no problems.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[sdifox]

Humm I guess I can try for steam games

What games would I get if I won.

Favourite game of all time Altima III

I guess LOTRO? Does that qualify as STEAM since I see it listed there.

 

[Krazy4Real]

50$ Steam game(s)

Directions (All of these must be done):
- Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.
Probably Sleeping dogs. The commercials have me intrigued.
- Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it ?
Has to be Contra. I STILL PLAY IT! It's a classic and brings back so many memories.
- (Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want. Because I can't get enough !

- Relax, you're entered.
Yay! Thanks for doing this. I hope it goes well and you're able to do many more. ^_^

 

[WiseUp216]

50$ Steam game(s)

Have you browsed the above items and found you don't need or want any of them ? Is your post count too low to enter ? Is your rig so uber that you don't qualify to enter ? Then this is the item for you to enter for ! Anybody and everybody who didn't enter for a piece of hardware may enter for this one.

If you enter for this and win, I will steam-gift you a steam game, or a handful of games not totalling more than 50 USD$

I have been known to increase the number of these Steam gifts depending on demand. So it is possible I may increase it to two or three gifts of 50$, but I may not as well.

Restrictions: None

Directions (All of these must be done):
- Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.
- Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it ?
- (Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want. Because I can't get enough !
- Relax, you're entered.

Wow, Annisman, awesome stuff. Good luck, everyone.

-I would probably choose Borderlands 2. I can't think of any other titles on the horizon that are remotely as exciting as the Borderlands 2 release.
-All time favorite game...that is hard one. Final Fantasy II (US) or Fallout 3/NV would be my likely pick. The Battlefield series (even 3!) is my all-time favorite multiplayer game(s).
-No funny cat pics. I'm at work and I don't want to be that guy

Thank you for the contest!!

 

[EDUSAN]

50$ Steam game(s)

Directions (All of these must be done):
- Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.
- Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it ?
- (Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want. Because I can't get enough !
- Relax, you're entered.

Im entering in this giveaway cause im from outside USA so i cant enter any other

Thansk Annisman for these nice gifts you are giving away, much appreciated!

I think i would chose Dark Souls (but i would love Borderlands 2 if it is possible =D)

Favorite game of all times? that is pretty hard, but i think i never got so hooked by any other game as i did for Half-Life (and im not talking about CS...)
Optional Required pic:

Thanks Again!

 

[EDUSAN]

-I would probably choose Borderlands 2.

Isnt borderlands 2 $60?

 

[Annisman*]

Isnt borderlands 2 $60?

Oh let's not get picky here, I'm sure I would throw in the extra ten if I had to.

 

[WiseUp216]

Isnt borderlands 2 $60?

Oops. You're right (except for the missing apostrophe).

If I were lucky enough to be chosen, I would have no problems at all throwing in the extra $10.

Besides, this is Steam. Give it 3 weeks and it will be down to $29.99

 

[VirtualLarry]

I would love to enter for the 7850, not for myself, but my friend who is a hardcore gamer, and is currently using a 9800GTX+ card, that seems to be failing on him. He paid his buddy $100, and still owes $100, for him to rebuild his computer, went from a Q6600 on a DFI P45-JR CF mobo and 4GB RAM, to a Q9400 on an EP43-DS3L with 8GB of RAM, thinking his issue was the motherboard, and he still has the same issue. When he plays D3, the screen starts flickering, and sometimes goes black, and it comes up with an error message in windows about the NVidia kernel driver recovering.

Last I knew, his buddy was going to try unclocking the GPU by 100Mhz, to see if that would help. It gets to like 75C, I don't know if that's too hot for a 9800GTX+ card or not.

I let him borrow my spare HD4850 512MB card, to throw in and test if that would work, but he hasn't gotten to that yet.

It does seem like he needs a video card though.

Anyways, I have pics of my rig, but my NAS died, so I cannot host my own pics until I get some sort of solution figured out, so I don't have pics. I don't have pics of his rig either, although I might be able to get one.

 

[EDUSAN]

Oh let's not get picky here, I'm sure I would throw in the extra ten if I had to.

haha cool! then i want borderlands 2 too! (im editing my post) (i didnt chose it cause i was like "oh its out the budget")

 

[SMOGZINN]

The 50$ steam game

Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.

I think it would be either Borderlands 2 or Torchlight 2. I'm wanting to get 2 copies for myself and my SO (and perhaps one for my Brother as well) so we can play together as a team. She is a long time Playstation/Xbox gamer, and I have recently built her a gaming computer and we play Diablo 3 together. Most of the time we play with my brother, who I am really close to, but rarely get to see any more since I moved 400 miles away. So, every Thursday and Friday nights we start a Google hangout, log into Diablo 3, and chat and loot until the wee hours (or one of our kids wakes up).
Diablo 3 is getting old fast, and we are starting to look for a new game, so TL2 or Borderlands 2 is the game (my SO has never played FPS games, so BL2 would be a challenge.) So, needless to say, a free copy would really go a long way to making this happen.


Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it?
Oh, so hard. My all time faviorte was a MUD called AustinMUD. I played that for more then a decade, made many a great friend there.
As for more traditional games, I would say the 1993 original Syndicate. It was just an outstanding game.
My SO would say Psychonauts. She still plays the game regularly. She must have beaten it 30 times now, even thought it has some serious glitches on the PS3. I bought her the Steam version during the recent sale, and she now plays at least one day a week on her PC.

(Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want.

Okay, so it is not a picture I have taken (most of mine are not funny) but this one made me Harrump.

 

[TridenT]

In for the 7850:
Specs-
Asus Rampage Formula X48
Intel C2D E7200 (stock)
4GB DDR2 800
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb
750W Corsair PSU

I want to use it to play newer games. I haven't been playing many at all because my system is becoming more outdated. I'll play SC2 and CS:GO at the least. Also, I think either my videocard is dying or my system overall hates me.

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

In for the $50 steam entry

Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.

Skyrim. I put tons of hours into Oblivion back in the day, & am now ready for the timesink that is Skyrim

Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it?

Tough one. I'd have to say DOOM, since it revolutionized PC gaming, & I bought my first PC just to play it.

Edit: thanks a bunch for doing the contest! :thumbsup:

 

[Timewasted]

50$ Steam game(s)

Tell me what game(s) you would choose if you won.

I think I'd go with Borderlands 2. I played the hell out of the first one, and despite its many flaws, I loved it.

Think hard about your favorite game of all time, what is it ?

I don't think I can pick just one. It's a tie between Knights of the Old Republic, and Portal. They're both incredibly awesome games for entirely different reasons.

(Optional) post a funny picture of an animal, cat, dog, guinee pig, whatever you want. Because I can't get enough !

I don't know that this really qualifies as a funny picture, but it always makes me laugh when I see it:

 

[HURRIC4NE]

Annisman Hardware Giveaway

Razer Tiamat 7.1 Circumarual Surround Gaming Headset

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1599x956 and weights 356KB.

These headphones are phenomenal for first person shooters, and pretty average for everything else. Though I often play FPS, I couldn't stand swapping them out with my SteelSeries Siberia V2 cans to listen to music with. So now that I don't use them they're up for grabs. Oh, and they're about 2 weeks old with maybe 10 hours of total use, practically brand new.

Restrictions: You may not enter for the headset if you already have a mid/highend headset already. Use common sense, I would say if they cost more than 50 dollars they are at least mid range.

You must have either a sound card with 7.1 inputs (front, rear, side, sub, mic) or 7.1 inputs on your motherboard, which many now have. These headphones cannot be used without these inputs as they are physically 7.1 not 2.0 ! If you are not sure what you have you can ask in this thread.

You must have at least 50 posts at the time of entering, if you enter without having 50 posts you will not qualify.

This is not a restriction, but I strongly suggest anybody considering entering for these headphones be an avid FPS gamers, and either have a decent 7.1 soundcard or are planning on getting one. Again, not a restriction just a very logical suggestion, as if you plan on using these to play music or don't want to invest in a 7.1 soundcard you will be shortchanging what this headset is actually made for.

Directions (All of these must be done):

- List your computer specs
- Tell me what games you play/what your favorite games are.
- Post a picture of the cutest cat you can find on the interwebs
- Sit back and relax, you're entered.

alright bro, here is me following all the directions

- List your computer specs

my pc used to be a factory default dell computer... then i took it apart and rebuilt it part by part.

Intel i5 650 4.7 ghz (2C/4T) OC + Corsair H100
8GB DDR3 1600mhz 8-8-8-24 Corsair Vengeance (4x2gb)
Asus 7850 RADEON HD
Corsair TX650 650 watts PSU (2nd gen)
generic DVD-RW drive (not branded)
MSI P55 Fuzion motherboard (7.1+optic)
Creative sound blaster xfi (basic one~30 bucks, only used for front panel audio)
Corsair Force series 240 GB sata 3 SSD(to be installed in a week)
Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 (i spray painted all the blue stuff to black)
1 extra 120mm fan on the top and 80mm fan modified for the top part of the case
custom fitted card reader on 5.25 bay
Razer Deathadder 3.5G
Logitech k360 wireless keyboard
steelseries qck mass mousepad
hp w2338h 23'inch 1080p 5ms 60hz moniter (i wish i had 120 hz)

- Tell me what games you play/what your favorite games are.

i play A HELL OF A LOT of PC FPS games, my steam account is "(OUT)Hurric4ne" (without quotes), the only game i play on console is Midnight Club Los Angeles
i play counter strike series (source + go) (including GO) BF3, MW3, Black ops, Combat arms, blacklight retribution, and sometimes i play GTA series (its my favorite!) just for fun when my clan mates aren't online, and ocassionally i like to play racing games a lot (i'm really into cars)
i usually maintain a 1.5 KDR in all games WITHOUT ANY HACKING whatsoever, i'm a leader of a 4 man clan filled with 16 year olds, (i'm 18 btw)

- Post a picture of the cutest cat you can find on the interwebs

you should know that there should never be a single post of an image of a cat, they always have to travel in herds

- Sit back and relax, you're entered.

oh thank god... i really really need a computer headset for gaming.. i currently use a klipschesche S3, the only thing this is good for is only listening to music when i'm at home, other than that it basically sucks, no bass whatsoever.

i haven't purchased a gaming headset because my last one broke (somehow it stopped working completely, ~ 8 months ago Creative fatality HS-1000) and i said firetruck it i'm never buying a new gaming headset ever again.



EDIT: ( new hardware+grammer )

 

[mafia]

IceQ X HD 7850:

My computer specs:
- Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz
- ASUS P5Q Pro (with 100% Japan made solid capacitors)
- 4096MB (4GB) RAM (Corsair XMS2) DDR2
- 640 GB Western Digital
- 60GB Corsair Sandforce SSD
- EVGA GeForce GTX 260
- Creative SB X-Fi Titanium
- Antec 1200 Case

Card use and games:

I hope to use this card to have a better experience playing the current games I own and for more demanding games in the near future. The games that I currently play the most are: Counter-Strike Source, CS:GO Beta, Arma 2 DayZ mod, Flight Simulator X, Total War: Shogun 2.

Rig pictures:

Side note:

Annisman, thank you for doing this! Hats off to you!