Update! HH/Intel Core i For The Mainstream Guy/Gal Winner Announced!

Congrats RealNeil!  Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

Lol, quick responce 3vi1! Have you been F5ing as well?

lol... yeah, I was checking frequently. Oh well, better luck next year maybe. See you all tomorrow. :p

Wow, I know that guy! Congrats realneil!

Seriously, couldn't have gone to a nicer person.

Congrats realneil

Congrats

Holy Crap! If I wasn't already in a wheelchair I'd have to go sit down!

I don't know what to say, to do.

Thanks to Intel and to CyberPower PC, for supplying this awesome computer that I will cherish and enjoy for years.

Thanks to HotHardware for the contest and for making it so interesting for those of us who belong to this board.

Thanks also to those who posted repeatedly right along with me while competing for this prize. Everyone deserves such stellar competition.

I have to go now and tell the family. Thanks again to all. I'm so Happy,.......

RealNeil

WTG realneil!  Thoroughly deserved!  Thanks HH and sponsors!

Indeed great competition and great foresight to run it the way you guys did.

LOL!

My wife says when I told her about this,...."So that's where I lost you to these past weeks!"

Congrats

Congrats!!

Congrats dude! HH respects those who contribute both quality and quantity - which you have admirably done both. Welcome to the winners' circle. Whenever you get it feel free to post benchmarks, and pics if you want too!

Now stick around, ya hear? :)

Congrats

congarts Realneil. This contest has really sparked some new members all of which who I hope stick around as I am sure there will probably be more giveaways in the future just like HH has continued to do. Enjoy your rig and I have appreciated your contributions here along with everyone else. Hopefully I will get back up to my regular posting when all the crazyness is over this month. Now go get yourslef a decent camera so you can take some sweet looking pics!

Thanks for the congrats everybody. I appreciate it allot.

I have a Nikon so in time there will be pics. I have to clear a space for it now.

Gonna give my old one to someone who really needs a computer but can't afford it. It's not much but it's working well and I know they'll appreciate it. It's cool to be able to give mine away and know I won't miss it.

Maybe they'll leave the benchmarking software on the new one. Otherwise I don't have any that works more than one run.

I can't wait to see what games are really supposed to look like. LOL!

Woohoo! Good on you, realneil, and enjoy the rig-- I'm way jealous, but hey, at least we know it's going to be put to good use. ...By which I mean gaming.

Congratulations! I hope you stick around at HH, and enjoy your new rig!

Yes, gaming,......

I'll be here, I'm not going anywhere.

Thanks for the congrats everyone, I still pinch myself every now and then.

I sent mail out to my friends and family with the news last night. and they're all happy for me.

I told them that they know about HotHardware now, so there is no reason they couldn't win too if they just participate. (I sound like an Ambassador or something)

This is still sinking in,..........Wow!

Congrats!

So I've been checking out the photos of this system and the MainBoard has a little Skull that lights up on the bottom right hand corner. That's a feature of Intel Boards, so I began looking around a little and found this board on Newegg.com. The two eyeball lights flash with disk activity and the Skull is lit constantly.

This truly is built with quality. I can't wait.

A big congrats to RealNeil!

thanks

Congrats, Realneil! Enjoy that sweet PC!

Here's another update, folks! Word is that Asus wants in on our next contest, so stay tuned and stick around! We'll have another one likely queued up very soon!

Sweet! Asus products kick butt.

Congrats Neil This is the exciting part for me. Awesome stuff. I hope everyone that didn't win sticks around because there will be another chance soon enough.

I'm totally gay for Asus.

Yeah, that didn't sound right.  But I love Asus everything (even though their monitors are only middle tier in my opinion).

Clem, gibber, 3vi1 and all the others I'm sure all of you were unofficial runner ups for this thing.  Keep being cool people and you might get some badass Asus gear.  Bob, SuperDave and I all know sticking around has great benefits.

>>>Clem, gibber, 3vi1 and all the others I'm sure all of you were unofficial runner ups for this thing. <<<

hehe, thanks. I think we gave realneil a run for his money.

Had some very good discussion with some members such as 3vi1, soupstyle, eunoia, Kyouya, recoveringknowitall, strid3r to name a few.

And of course then there's slugbug. I think he's the only other one who has entered as many contest for one of these PCs as I have (at least under the same name). We both batting 0-6, but it's been a very fruitful and informative experience.

gibbersome:

I think we gave realneil a run for his money.

For sure! I always like HotHardware's sweepstakes, but this one was especially good. I've really enjoyed the witty, insightful posts that were made during this contest, and I feel that I am a winner here, too! You guys are all awesome!

Yes, you all had me running, and I was sure that someone else would win. That's why I referred to you guys as Stellar competition. You are.

I'll be here posting for the next round as well,.......only because I enjoy this back and forth.

Yow! I just got a message from UPS.

Tracking numbers!

Man-Oh-Man, I can't wait.

Thanks Dave! To hear something like that puts a smile on your face, it does!

>>>>>Yow! I just got a message from UPS.

Tracking numbers!

Man-Oh-Man, I can't wait.<<<<<

Woooah, that's quick shipping! Very excited for you!

Gibbersome: don't you have something on the way as well?

Not that I know of...

This would be a sucky to find out my gf's pregnant, lol.

look at the first page of this thread. Half way down, They talk about a consolation prize for you if you drop them a line,.......................Knock-Knock!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It says:

Thanks to all of you for participating in the contest!!  We also have a couple of goodies for our buddies gibbersome and martin-nj as well, as a sort of consolation prize.  Again just drop us a note and we'll drop you a little somethin-somethin to thank you for your efforts.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oh snap! I never looked that far down the page! Thanks for the heads up!

Thank you again HH! You guys are absolutely awesome.

You crack me up,..............are you gonna tell the other guy too?

I suppose I should. Chances are he missed it too.

Talk about a complete brain fart! Can't believe I missed it!

Now what is it that you won?

You get to wonder I'll bet.

It will be really nice though, I'm sure.

Congrats to you too!

hey! its me, the other guy!! I totally assumed HH would email/pm me saying I won! but i'm glad gibs sent me an email! thanks to everyone @ HH and I did send you an email (altho the link was broken) I wonder what the consolidation prize is???

*crosses fingers for X25-M*

I'm glad that you both know now that all was not for naught.

Your participation seems to have paid off as well. I would have said something sooner but I was busy bouncing off of the walls around here. I finally put on a motorcycle helmet and could think straight enough to realize that you two hadn't said anything wondering just what you had coming in the local UPS truck. I had a good laugh last night though and enjoyed being the one to tell Gibbersome the truth.

Please, both of you let us know what you get from the Santa's@HotHardware.com and congradulations to YOU too!

grats to you neil! post pics once you have it all setup! what kind of bike do you ride?

Ha-Ha! I was just kidding about the helmet. I lost one of my legs years ago and can't ride anymore.

I had dirt bikes for years, and a vintage Kawasaki 750 three cylinder screamer. (in it's day)

I HAVE been over 100MPH on a bike though and loved the feel of it.

I still own a Honda Fat Cat and can ride a little with it. but I go slow now with crappy balance and all.

So I just spent about 2 hours playing Crysis and UT3 on my old computer. Now I'll shut it down and move it out of the way to make room for tomorrow's delivery of my new system.

You'll hear back from me after it's all set up and running.

Thanks again Hot Hardware!

Awesome dude. That new desktop is going to keep you busy for a loong while. What other games are you planning to get in the near future? I mean...besides Modern Warfare 2 of course.

Haven't yet played Crysis, but am planning to at some point. I'm afraid my laptop would explode if I tried to run it, lol. That's the one lesson I've learned. It's smarter to get a cheaper, more portable laptop and a kickass desktop system, rather than try to merge the two into a desktop replacement.

I set up one of the Linux boxes to surf the web while I consolidate parts between the two old PC's

I wasn't gonna be online but I'm way too nosy not to hang around.

Crysis is a stunningly visual game and they say that with a really good video card it is even more so. I haven't played modern warfare yet. I have COD world at war, Quake Wars-Enemy Territory, The Orange Box. I don't know enough about most of the newer games to decide what to get. Even though I've won this monster machine, I'm still on a tight-ass budget.

I love first Person Shooters the most.

I've heard a lot about Crysis. It's amazing that a game released two years ago, can still command the best graphics in PC gaming and bring the top notch video cards to their knees. I can see why it's become such a staple of benchmarks.

Far Cry 2 is another game you might enjoy. In the upcoming releases, there's Borderland, Left 4 Dead 2 and if you're remotely interested in shooter RPGs, try Mass Effect. The sequel will be released next year.

But I understand about the budget, each game can run you $60 easily. Even used games will run you $20 and there's no guarantee they'll work.

I had an idea a few years ago with some buddies to start a game swap group. Kind of like bookswap.com. But with DRMs and installation limits (damn you Bioshock), it fizzled.

So I got the computer today. The pictures that were posted on this thread don't do it justice, this thing is HUGE!

The motherboard's Install disk didn't make the trip though, it's cracked and unusable. I wonder if Intel will send me another one?

Everything else seems to have made the trip without problems. I'm rearranging my 'Computer Den' as quickly as I can so I can get it plugged in and try it out.

Did I mention that this computer is HUGE?

Thanks again HotHardware. I keep shaking my head and smiling from ear to ear!

This site is the Bomb!

Neil

Cool beans!

Sorry to hear about the install disk.  You can probably just download the drivers from their site though - in the event you need to re-install.

Have fun!