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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012

By | January 18, 2012, 9:46am PST

Summary: Here I’ve put together a list of the best high-end and mid-range and budget components currently available. So if you’re thinking of building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read for you!

Welcome to the Hardware 2.0 “Very Best Kit List” for January 2012 - the first of the year!

Here I’ve put together a list of the best high-end and mid-range and budget components currently available. So if you’re thinking of building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read for you!

Updated monthly, these components are on this list because I firmly believe them to be the best either in terms of performance or price - although I’m ready to admit, as always, that there’s room for debate and some choices “go with the gut” more than others.

NOTE: All prices are approximate … shop around for the best deals!

Also, because these are the components I feel are the best available, don’t expect the entire list to change every month! This is honest, real-world stuff, and isn’t based on what’s new or what was in the latest press release!

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ASUS, Card, Hard Drive, Video Card, Performance, Price, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Graphics, DirectX, GPU, Core, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580, DirectX 11, MAXREVO EMR1350EWT, Video Cards, Games, Corporate Governance, Processors, Hardware, Components, Personal Technology, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Semiconductors, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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ASUS refused to honor their warranty.
bb_apptix 6th Feb
I bought an ASUS laptop. The vendor sold it with a 2-year warranty. The ASUS product page showed the laptop with a 2-year warranty.

In spite of these, ASUS repeatedly claimed the laptop had a 1-year warranty and refused to honor their 2-year warranty.

I will never buy another ASUS product.
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
cloakzore 18th Jan
This whole list is terrible. First, the jump from "extreme" to "mid range" CPUs is from $1100 to $150? Really? Second, 4GB of DDR2 RAM for $65 is the best mid range? 8GB of DDR3 RAM can be had for around $50. Again, for graphics cards the jump is from $570 to $70. You couldn't find anything in between? Couldn't put up a GTX 460 or something along those lines for about $150?
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
wendellgee@... Updated - 18th Jan
@cloakzore

I have to agree. This is the most bizarre hardware list I've ever seen.

Having an Extreme i7 at high end is fine but then jumping to a 1055T? REALLY?

And the graphics cards (/facepalm) $70 for a GPU is about as budget as it gets. 70 DOLLARS? Mid-range would be 560Ti or for goodness sakes even a 460GTX 1GB.

DDR2 (!?) caps of this list off making it probably the worst 'mid-range' computer ever built.
(by the way the mid-range motherboard in the list doesn't even support DDR2)
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
SoYouSaid 23rd Jan
@cloakzore I agree with you everything list has NO real reasoning substantiated with numbers for comparisons. For those reasons I'd rather Tom Hardware for more logical directions. http://www.tomshardware.com/
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
Aerowind 18th Jan
Yeah, this list is basically High, Low, Barebones.

He DID hide some decent mid range stuff in his "Alternatives" junk. Not much, but it's there.
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
Imrhien 18th Jan
Agree with other posters; we're more used to Enthusiast, Upper-range, Mid-range, and Budget categories. This selection is all over the place.

DDR2 doesn't even belong in budget systems. The price point is roughly the same and motherboard support for DDR2 is extremely scanty nowadays.

In spite of my whining, I do appreciate seeing what kind of extreme gear is available nowadays. The new i7 and 1TB SSD really caught my eye =D
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
hopp64 23rd Jan
While it is kind of cool to see some of the extreme stuff, there are sites that do a better job of breaking down the price levels. Most readers of ZDNET probably already know what sites I am talking about.
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I aggree with previous posters, this is not a useful list.
recurvebowyer 23rd Jan
Adrian, show us what your are made of! What system would you build if you had only $500.00, or $950? That would be useful, and maybe some benchmarks to show the value (price/performance) of the build. Maybe some angle like a gaming machine vs HTPC.
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
Netteligent 23rd Jan
Cut, paste, and spinning without understand or any technical knowledge.
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Might want to re-check that High End NEC Monitor
jpr75_z 23rd Jan
A 2 year old monitor that isn't even for sale anymore on Amazon. I have to agree with the others - this is all over the place. Maybe not enough sleep when you put this together?
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
FuzzyBunnySlippers Updated - 23rd Jan
This looks like a cry for help or sign of impending mental collapse, at best.

Page 10 - Put scrambled eggs into a toaster, staple bologna to your butt-cheeks, run in circles.

Whut happened, Adrian? You should treat this article like WTC7 and 'pull it'.
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
dsf3g 24th Jan
$99 for a 320 Gb hard drive.... ack! I HATE the supply crunch that's led us to this point. A year ago you'd have gotten a 1Tb drive for that price. This is a really stinky time to be needing a new hard drive (I've currently got a PC that's offline because of a hard drive failure).
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
dsf3g Updated - 24th Jan
$99 for a 320 Gb hard drive.... ack! I HATE the supply crunch that's led us to this point. A year ago you'd have gotten a 1Tb drive for that price. This is a really stinky time to be needing a new hard drive (I've currently got a PC that's offline because of a hard drive failure).
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No longer a fan of this list
Nihon8888 24th Jan
The list is certainly losing relevance. Perhaps adding a category such as High End (between Extreme and Mid-Range) might make it more applicable in the future. Seems like a very lacklustre effort.
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RE: Hardware 2.0 'Very Best Kit List' for January 2012
gagan.sethi@... 31st Jan
Hi Adrian,

Could you tell me how "ASUS M5A99X EVO Motherboard" fares against ASUS M4A89GTD PRO. What are the pros and cons, I am planning to buy AMD Phenom II 1100T Processor.

Regards,
Gagan
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ASUS refused to honor their warranty.
bb_apptix 6th Feb
I bought an ASUS laptop. The vendor sold it with a 2-year warranty. The ASUS product page showed the laptop with a 2-year warranty.

In spite of these, ASUS repeatedly claimed the laptop had a 1-year warranty and refused to honor their 2-year warranty.

I will never buy another ASUS product.

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