Legit Editorial Reviews
The Legit Reviews Best of 2009 Hardware Awards
| Manufacturer: | Various |
| Product: | Best PC Hardware of 2009 |
| Date: | Wed, Dec 23, 2009 - 08:00 AM |
| Written By: | Nathan Kirsch - |
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Memory, CPU Cooler, Peripheral
Best Memory Kit of 2009:
Winner: Kingston HyperX DDR3 2133MHz CL8 - $464.43Runner Up: Corsair Dominator GT DDR3 2000MHz - $374.50
Not everyone shops for the same type, capacity, or frequency of memory, but one company did make a move in the enthusiast community this year that has been traditionally laid back. That company would be Kingston, and they shocked gamers and overclockers by coming out with a 4GB 2133MHZ CL8 memory kit! They also had more affordable 4GB 2133Mhz CL9 memory kits and they happened to be on sale two weeks before they officially launched the product.
Kingston is the number one memory maker in the world and are widely known for making dependable high performance memory, but in 2009 they showed they still had what it takes to compete on the very top of the performance spectrum. Sure, Elpida Hyper branded memory IC's started to fail, but that impacted all memory makers and the lifetime warranty on the memory kits meant you got a replacement set if anything went wrong. If you could afford to spend some dime on memory in 2009 then you were able to get some incredible speed and tight timings in trade.
Best Air CPU Cooler of 2009:
Winner: Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ series - $49.99Runner Up: Noctua NH-U12P SE2 - $74.99
Legit Reviews took a look at 26 different CPU coolers this year and all were solid solutions, but one HSF by Titan led the pack in performance versus value. The Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ was the cooler that impressed us by beating out all of the other coolers in non-overclocked performance when we did our 13 cooler round-up in May of 2009.
The only problem with the Titan Fenrir cooler is that back in May of 2009 hardly anyone carried it in North America and even to this day it seems that only specialty cooling companies carry the cooler. Titan also came out with an X'Mas edition of this cooler, which helped get them a little more attention by bringing holiday cheer to your PC.
Best Water Cooling Kit of 2009:
Winner: Corsair Hydro H50 CPU Cooler - $49.99Runner Up: Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultima+ - $349.99
When the Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 CPU Cooler launched in June 2009 it promised to give consumers the power of liquid cooling in a compact, easy-to-install package at a sub $100 price point. The little liquid cooler more than impressed us in our in-depth review of it that was published back in July 2009. We also found that changing the fan configuration on the little cooler would improve performance even more, which is nice for enthusiasts and modders.
Best Peripheral of 2009:
Winner: NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses - $199.99Runner Up: Logitech G19 Keyboard - $179.80
The year 2010 could bring 3D-capable HDTVs to the mainstream, but PC gamers that wanted to enjoy 3D could this past year thanks to the NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision bundle kits that were launched at the start of 2009. With advanced shutter technology the bundle would allow you to have an immersive 3D gaming experience unlike anything most people have ever seen. Legit Reviews was a little skeptical of the new technology and gave it a 30-day test drive before we posted our analysis.
After 30 days of gaming in 3D we were changed forever and even after watching movies like Avatar in 3D it doesn't fully compare to gaming in 3D. We'll admit we are spoiled by getting to play with new technology like this, but not everything is this good.
Next Page - Netbook, Disappointment and Final Thoughts
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