We asked, you answered. Here are the results for each category of the ‘Best of 2011’ as voted by YOU the reader. Click to find out the winners!
We launched our Best Of 2011 poll early in January with a simple goal: find out what our readers believe to be the best products they’ve seen this year. There was only one restriction: we had to have reviewed the product in the last 12 months. Five were shortlisted for each category by our team of Reviewers, and then put out to a public poll.
The polls have finally closed and we can reveal your picks of the Best of 2011. The response was great, and there have been both run-away winners and extremely tight races. Lets get right down to it with the:
Best Of 2011 – CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
No surprises, the sheer bang for your buck of the Core i5-2500K was not to be denied. A game changer at stock and glorious when overclocked, the i5-2500K proved to be the choice of cost-conscious gamers throughout the year, also serving to drive innovation in Intel P67 and Z68 motherboards. With the release of the unlocked ‘K’ Sandy Bridge CPUs and P67 platform, overclocking was finally available for the masses. A worthy winner.
Best Of 2011 – CPU Cooler: Corsair H100
The H100 by Corsair had category-leading performance when put under our battery of tests, and its sheer performance won out with our readers. The recently announced Corsair Link Cooling Kit will also add yet more functionality to this and other products, exemplifying Corsairs commitment to added value and reward brand loyalty. Underscoring this point is the first sentence of our infamously hard to please reviewer Sahil’s conclusion:
“The Corsair H100 is the first ALC unit that has really impressed me, which is an achievement in itself”.
Next Up: Fast Memory, an Ass-kicking Peripheral and an Overclockers’ Dream Motherboard…
Memory, Peripherals and Motherboards
Best Of 2011 – Memory: Kingston HyperX Genesis
Voting was extremely close in the RAM race up until the end, and the deserving winner was the Kingston HyperX Genesis. Reviewed by David as the Kingston HyperX Special Edition, the Sandy Bridge optimised DDR DIMMs earned both our Gold and Amazing Value awards with stonking performance for the price. They’re also low profile, an excellent feature for those with high-performing twin-tower CPU coolers.
Honourable mention – G.SKILL RipjawsZ.
Only just pipped at the post, the RipjawsZ are well worthy of recognition. The 16GB quad-channel kit we reviewed was fast and would look great in the X79 system of your choice. The black PCB’s were the final touch in a set with awesome design aesthetic.
Best Of 2011 – Peripherals: SteelSeries Sensei Mouse
The SteelSeries Sensei was a true “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” says Richard, who reviewed the shortlisted entrants; the outward simplicity belied the advanced technology within. For him it was the very best gaming mouse he’s had the pleasure of using, and it seems that the readers agreed. Steelseries can now add the Vortez.net Readers Choice Award to the Platinum and Elite awards they were able to squeeze from us.
Best Of 2011 – Motherboards: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme
Performing extremely well whilst looking the part, there’s a lot to like about the ASUS Maximus IV Extreme. The Maximus IV is noteworthy over most other P67 and Z68 boards for its triple-SLI and Quadfire compatibility coupled with a host of features for debugging and overclocking. Dispite coming towards the end of the P67 life-cycle, the readers voted it the best motherboard we had reviewed in 2011, swayed perhaps by the revolution that Sandy Bridge brought to performance and overclocking for even the novice user.
Continuing: SSD Eye Candy, a Controversial Entrant and Sleek Chassis
SSD's, Graphics Cards and Cases
Best Of 2011 – SSD’s: Samsung 830 256GB
One of the SSD’s *not* based on the Sandforce controller solution, the SATA III Samsung 830 tore through both synthetic and real-world benchmarks in our tests. Not content with blistering speed, the 830 was designed to look like a premium product even though it will be hidden away inside most cases. The bundled software was also a nice addition for those migrating to an SSD for the first time. SSD reviewer David said:
Inside and outside the 830 oozes superior build quality to that of its rivals. The brushed metal exterior looks and feels great. Underneath this cover Samsung branded components deliver the reliability and performance that firm enthusiasts are after.
Our readers obviously agreed with our Gold Award for the Samsung 830, edging out strong competition from the likes of Kingston and OCZ.
Best Of 2011 – Graphics Cards: AMD Radeon HD7970
The inclusion of the HD7970 proved to be controversial, but our rules stipulated that the late 2011 review date merited inclusion. 2011 was choc full of great graphics card releases, but only one was a brand new architecture built on a new process. The 28nm AMD Radeon HD 7970 may only have just made it into our poll with a release date in December, but its sheer performance wasn’t to be denied as our readers voted it the run away winner. The Tahiti XT is an overclocking monster which, even at stock, beats its nearest rival handily; furthermore it shows the great steps which AMD are taking in GPGPU.
Honourable Mention – MSI GTX 580 3GB Extreme Lightning
Second in our poll but still well respected by our readers and commentators is this top notch GTX 580 from MSI. This beast of a card had the single-GPU performance lead for a significant portion of the year, and for all intents and purposes was the fastest until stock for the HD7970 became available on Janurary the 9th. With great overclocking support, cooling performance, noise characteristics and the looks to back it up; it was a worthy winner of our Gold Award in July.
Best Of 2011 – Cases: Corsair Obsidian 650D
2011 was a a great year for cases which brought new innovations and immensely strong contenders in all price brackets. What can we say about our readers’ winner, the 650D? Corsair performed a minor miracle in shrinking down the 800D’s aesthetic to a mid-tower design. Georgeous and excellently well constructed for gamers or office professionals alike, the 650D was a premier addition to the Obsidian range of PC Chassis. We awarded the case our Gold Award with remarkably few downsides, and our readers have agreed with our assessment.
Honourable Mention – Everyone Else
There have been a staggering number of extremely strong cases this year from the likes of BitFenix, NZXT, Lian Li, Cooler Master, Antec and more. It was torturous to narrow the field down to a mere five, never mind the single strongest case, and so we have to congratulate all the chassis manufacturers on their efforts. The first month of 2012 shows a continuing trend of great quality innovative products; next year’s awards already look set to be the most competitive yet.
Last Up: the Final Award for a PSU, Thanks and Final Thoughts
PSU Award and Final Thoughts
Best Of 2011 – Power Supply: Corsair TX V2 Series
We reviewed the Corsair TX850 V2, and in our poll it traded blows with the Cooler Master Silent Pro GOLD Series. The TX850 V2 scraped through by just six votes, carried we believe by its great value and Corsair’s renowned warranty service. Without doubt it’s a well-built PSU supporting SLI/Crossfire, and 80+ Bronze efficiency into the mix; an amazing choice for a low cost, high reliability SLI rig. David said:
The TX series has in the past had plenty of accolades associated to it for its excellent design and price-point. This new V2 series certainly carries on this scheme by offering solid performance, low noise levels and an attractive price-tag.
Honourable Mention – Cooler Master Silent Pro GOLD Series
Only just missing out on the prize, the Cooler Master Silent Pro GOLD series is a great range of high efficiency modular PSU’s. David reviewed Cooler Master’s 1000W unit and could find abolutely no downsides to the Gold award winning PSU. A joy to unpack and simplicity itself to work with, the Silent Pro GOLD series shows that Cooler Master is a force to be reckoned with.
Final Thoughts
This past year was a bumper year of fantastic PC products. Arguments over who ‘should’ have won will stretch well on into the night, as they rightly should given the strength of the field. There were also some products we couldn’t comforatebly fit into a category, products which were great in their own right. Every manufacturer shortlisted should be proud of their products, in almost every case they blew us away with how much of a step up in quality, innovation and value they represented.
We would also like to thank the generous sponsors of our “Best Of 2011…” competition: in no particular order Cooler Master, BitFenix, SteelSeries, Samsung and Alpenfohn; not only for the awesome prizes, but also their support of Vortez.net this year by supplying products to review. Without them, sites like ours couldn’t exist.
Last – but certainly not least – thanks must go to you, the reader. We do our utmost to provide you the very best unbiased information, keeping you in the know on the latest technologies, but without you our work would have no worth. We value all of your comments and feedback, and will strive to bring you more quality reviews first in 2012.
