B3D Forum Vox Populi's Awards of The Year (Products/industry) Enter, vote and win...

[Farid]

...Win all our collective appreciation and expression of gratitude, that is.

Ok, folks, 2007 is inevitably coming to its planified demise. It was a good year for some enthusiasts, not so great for others. So, it's time for us to exchange our various, and conflicting, opinions on this year as far as the industry goes.

And that's exactly what this thread is meant for, express what you have to say about your experience with graphics cards and related PC enthusiast products this year.

Instead of just relying on a basic list without any comments attached, please try to express what these last 12 months of GPU/PC news were to you, be it in a word or two or in verbose essay, then just do that. Also remember that we ask for nothing but the purest and unaltered form of subjectivity from you. In other words, no need to try to sugarcoat some of your opinions: If you liked something everyboday hated, say it and vice versa is true as well.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Awards of the Year 07​

The PC games version of this thread is here and the console games version is here.



So, now for the main course, the categories are:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's GPU of the Year 07

• Name the best GPU of the year according to you. High end, low end, handheld, anything goes as long as you motivate your choice with a quick explanation of why this GPU gets your vote.

And/or:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Worst GPU of the Year 07

• Same rules as the precedent award. Obviously, this award can go to a GPU that happened to be just a disappointment to you, even thought it wasn't technically the worst deal available. This is not an exercise in objectivity but more a snapshot of your opinion of 2007.

And/or:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's High End GPU of the Year 07

• Well, it's the Geforce 8800GTX or the Radeon HD 2900XT... And AMD folks would argue that the 2900XT was not positioned and priced as high end... So, let's accept these two cards in this category plus the various SLI and Crossfire combinations you could come up with (Combos made with enthusiast cards are accepted)

And/or:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Enthusiast/Mid-Range GPU of the Year 07

• The choice is larger here. It includes all the Enthusiast/Mid-Range cards available during the last twelve months. So, for instance, if you prefer the 8600 or 2600 to the latest chips, feel free to hand over the award to these. Briefly explain why, as usual.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Low-End GPU of the Year 07

• The cheapest cards and the integrated chips battle for this award... Sad, isn't it?

And/or:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Mobile GPU of the Year 07

• Are accepted: Laptop variants of desktop GPUs and handheld GPUs.

And/or:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Best Performance/Price GPU of the Year 07

• Title says it all. Here again, you're free to choose from whatever was available from the IHVs during that period.

And/or:

B3D Forum Vox Populi's CPU of the Year 07

• Available desktop CPUs only. No ARM, no Cell, no MIPS here, sorry.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's PC Display of the Year 07

• Pick up the best display (LCD/CRT) of the year according to you... Just as the title heavily implied.

No awards, but some shout-outs:​

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Best News of the Year 07

• The best industry-related news you read this year. And, yes, you can be cynic and/or sarcastic, it's your vote.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Worst News of the Year 07

• The best industry-related news you read this year. And, yes, you can be cynic and/or sarcastic, it's your vote.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Best Company of the Year 07

• Name what was the best company in this business this year, according you and based on your own criteria. It could be the one that is the most profitable, the one that propose the best prices, the one with teh best services to the customer according to you still, etc.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Worst Company of the Year 07

• As you might have guessed, it's the same rules as above, just with more negativity this time around.

Time to make these posts and let your voice be heard, B3Ders!

Reminder: you can name a product in one or all the categories listed. Or even nothing at all, as I said, if no 2007 product left any impressions on you.

Tl;dr: Read the bolded parts

 

[Skrying]

GPU of the Year: G92 8800GT edition.
Worst GPU of the Year: R600 Crapinacard edition.
High End GPU of the Year: 8800GTX, would love to see someone argue different.
Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: Tie because this is two different markets. 8800GT for enthusiast, HD 3850 for mid range. Based on actual price, not MSRP.
Low-End GPU of the Year: Eh...
Mobile GPU of the Year: Eh... I’m not really happy with the mobile GPU market right now.
Best Performance/Price GPU: Tough one between 8800GT and 3850, I think I give the slight nod to 8800GT as I think it’ll retain its value for a longer period of time.
CPU of the Year: Q6600, offering quad core at a great price with plently of OC headroom.
PC Display of the Year: 2407WFP-HC, simply because I want one.
Best News of the Year: Low prices all around. From memory, to CPUs, to graphics cards. Seems the overall price for a high performaning keeps dropping every day.
Worst News of the Year: AMD falling to pieces.
Best Company of the Year: Microsoft. WHOA! Namely because I actually really like Vista and Office 2007 has me enjoying it instead of hating it.
Worst Company of the Year: AMD. Based on success.

 

[swaaye]

GPU of the Year: G92

Worst GPU of the Year: R600

High End GPU of the Year: 8800GTX. Even though it is from 2006!

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: 8800GT for enthusiast, HD 3850 for mid-range.

Low-End GPU of the Year: Once 8600GT got down to ~$100, it became a fairly good low-end option IMO. Unless we're talking sub-$100, then I'd probably go with a 7600GT. The two have similar speed, but 8600 has superior quality and that video acceleration.

Mobile GPU of the Year: Very boring options here, especially considering my old 7800 Go GTX rivals the best.

Best Performance/Price GPU: 8800GT. It rivals 8800GTX at times, after all.

CPU of the Year: Q6600

Worst Company of the Year: AMD. One disappointment after another......

 

[dizietsma]

GPU of the Year: nvidia G90. Managed to give people who bought it bragging rights for an entire year and even manged to be slightly futureproof and good value for money.

Worst GPU of the Year: nvdia G84. They forgot to solder the 2nd lot of 32 stream processors.

High End GPU of the Year: 8800Ultra. $? Well it is high end.

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: 8800GT

Low-End GPU of the Year: AMD 3850

Mobile GPU of the Year: Who cares?

Best Performance/Price GPU: 8800GTS 320MB on release

CPU of the Year: Intel E4600

PC Display of the Year: All 24inch at 22inch prices from 06

Best News of the Year: Price war between AMD and Intel

Worst News of the Year: Appearance of 1000w psu's

Best Company of the Year: Amazon.co.uk/ Royal Mail. 15 Christmas presents ordered and all arrived on time No hassle.

Worst Company of the Year: AMD. They bought out the QuadFX in late 2006 which was a portent for things to come.

 

[_xxx_]

8800GT overshadowed everything else this year IMO. And R600 was the worst product of the year, fortunately corrected with HD3970 later.

 

[vertex_shader]

After R300/NV30 never was so easy to name the best and worst GPU of the year than now.

Best GPU of the year: G92.

Worst GPU of the year (GPU history too): R600.

Enhusiast card: nothing, there is only one enthusiast product released this year the 8800ultra what not really give us anything except insane price, and based on last year GPU G80.

Performance card: nothing, i want to vote for the 8800gt but because 8800gt 6+ weeks after launch still fail the supply on demand and sell higher than MSRP i not vote for this card.

Midrange card: HD3850, the only Q4 released card what is available until day1 and sell at MSRP price.

Lowend card: HD2400, UVD made the difference in this segment.

Best price/performance card: HD3850, reason is the same as i write in midrange GPU, voteing for fantom cards not my style.

Best news: Henri Richard left AMD.

Worst news: missing performance competation in almost all CPU/GPU segment.

Best company: NV, reason: just look around.

CPU: Q6600.

 

[tuanies]

GPU of the Year: G92 // 8800GT

Worst GPU of the Year: R600 // HD 2900 XT

High End GPU of the Year: 8800GTX -- it kept its crown throughout the year despite launching in '06

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: I'll tip my hat to AMD for the HD 3850 due to its price

Low-End GPU of the Year: HD 2600 XT, its cheap and UVD is great

Mobile GPU of the Year: Hmmm, no idea, Intel GMA X3100? I dunno

Best Performance/Price GPU: 8800GT -- its sub $300 and fast as tits

CPU of the Year: Q6600, need I say more?

PC Display of the Year: Dell 2407WFP-HC -- still can't beat it on price/colour reproduction

Best news of the year: Drastic price drops of DDR2 memory

Worst News of the Year: Constant delay of Barcelona/Phenom

Best company of the year: Intel, they've really turned around since Netburst and keeping up with their tick-tock strategy

Worst Company of the Year: AMD self explanatory

 

[Buntar]

GPU of the Year 07: none - last year's G80 is still the only choice.
Worst GPU of the Year: R600 - Although I didn't expect it to be great, I was still disappointed.
High End GPU of the Year: Leadtek WinFast PX8800 ULTRA Leviathan - the fastest board today.
CPU of the Year: QX9650 - the only Penryn available this year on desktops.
PC Display of the Year: Samsung SyncMaster 275T - best LCD on the market IMO.
Worst Company of the Year: AMD - just keeps on disappointing .

 

[ShaidarHaran]

There's really no competition for any of these categories.

GPU of the Year: G92. Very close to the performance of the enthusiast GPUs @ twice the cost.

Worst GPU of the Year: R600. Most over-engineered, under-performing GPU I can remember.

High End GPU of the Year: 8800GTX/Ultra. Nothing else touches the performance of these.

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: 8800GT for enthusiast, HD 3850 for mid-range.

Low-End GPU of the Year: Toss-up between the X1650 XT and the X1950 Pro, depending on your price range (under $100 or over $100 but less than $150).

Mobile GPU of the Year: G84M

Best Performance/Price GPU: 8800GT.

CPU of the Year: Q6600. < $300 for quad core goodness and it o/c's past the flagship $1000+ CPU more often than not.

Worst Company of the Year: AMD. They're a train wreck.

 

[Bludd]

GPU: 8800 GT
Worst GPU: X2900 XT
High end GPU: 8800 GTX, Ultra is just an overclocked version of this
CPU: Q6600
Worst company: AMD, for disappointing us with the X2900XT, and then with the Phenom. Very sad.

Most disappointing fact of the year: 1+ year old GPU is still the very highest-end single board solution. I have no upgrade path save SLI and I don't want SLI!

 

[Twinkie]

GPU of the Year: G80. This core could to be roughly compared to that of R300 status back in the days. Not only it rocks in DX9, but is faster IN DX10 compared to its competition while having a superior IQ advantage.

Worst GPU of the Year: G84. Completely killed off the mid range legacy from nVIDIA.

High End GPU of the Year: 8800GTX period.

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: 8800GT period. Its the Ti4200 reborn!

Best Performance/Price GPU: 8800GT.

CPU of the Year: Q6600 hands down.

PC Display of the Year: Samsung SyncMaster 275T.

Best company of the year: nVIDIA, consecutive record breaking quarters, and closing in to become the leader in the overall graphics market. (Very close with intel i believe according to the John Peddie Research)

Worst Company of the Year: AMD. why? because they were only able to give Intel a bloody nose.. Intel in return made AMD ended up in the intensive care unit.

 

[guezz]

GPU of the Year: 8800 GT 512MB. Excellent value and still providing great performance - a rare quality. VP2, DL-HDCP, D-DLDVI and the list goes on and on. Runner up: HD 3850.

Worst GPU of the Year: 8600 GTS. Poor value at launch and weak performance (referring to its predecessors 7600 GT and 6600 GT). Huge letdown. Runner up: 8800 Ultra / HD 2900 XT.

High End GPU of the Year: 8800GTX. Excellent performance and hasn't a asinine price tag like the 8800 Ultra.

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: 8800 GT. Read "GPU of the year". Runner up: HD 3850.

Best Performance/Price GPU: HD 3850 256MB. Even though both 8800 GT and HD 3870 also represents excellent value, this card has the edge by delivering good performance for dirt cheap. Runner up: 8800 GT 512MB.

CPU of the Year: E6750. Despite being "only" two cores it represents excellent value and is a great overclocker. Runner up: Q6600.

Best company of the year: Intel. For making CPUs interesting again with the release of Duo/Quad after the boring last few years. Runner up: nVidia.

Worst Company of the Year: ATI. Late and underwhelming launch of R600. Runner up: AMD's CPUs.

 

[aca]

Best GPU: RV670. A true succesor of the excellent RV570. Has performance. Low power. Good cooler. Low price. UVD. DX10.1 and so on.
Worst GPU: G84. Way too expensive for its performance
High end GPU: G80 in Tri-SLI (If you can find the right mobo and a fancy connector of course )
Best Enthusiast/Mid-Range GPU : RV670. A real gaming card for the masses. see the above
Low-End GPU: RV610. Because of the UVD. Not too expensive either
Mobile GPU: none
Best Performance/Price GPU: RV670. See the above
CPU of the Year: Q6600 B0. Cheap as chips, clocks like hell.
PC Display: none. not a really interesting display year.

 

[no-X]

GPU of the Year: RV670. Small, cool, cheap, fast and silenty cooled.

Worst GPU of the Year: Not sure. R600 or G84. G84 GTS more likely - because of it's poor price/performance.

High End GPU of the Year: G80 Ultra, after it's price-drop.

Enthusiast/Midrange GPU of the Year: RV670

Low-End GPU of the Year: RV610: UVD, tiny power drain, extremely cheap and cool.

Mobile GPU of the Year: Mobile RV630. Low power drain a UVD reducing CPU utilization during video playback.

Best Performance/Price GPU: RV670

Best News of the Year: AMD survived 2007

Worst News of the Year: Delay of R700

Best Company of the Year: Samsung

Worst Company of the Year: AMD. A lot of bad luck and some bad decisions.

 

[swaaye]

I think a lot of folks rip on G84 simply due to the launch price. It's way, way cheaper than it was back then. I got an 8600GT for $100. At that price, it's a very decent deal IMO. ATI's alternatives are certainly not any better.

 

[no-X]

GT was OK. GTS was overpriced.

 

[Aerows]

B3D Forum Vox Populi's GPU of the Year 07

Geforce 8800 GTX This chip set the standard for performance in 2007. The Ultra was faster but more expensive, the GTS was cheaper but a cut down version. The Geforce 8800GTX has speed and for the first time comparable, if not superior image quality to the competition. I could mention the Vista driver issues, but as the year went on, it became apparent that there weren't NVidia Vista driver issues so much as there were just a bunch of Vista issues, period.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Worst GPU of the Year 07

2900XT is ATI's answer to the FX5800. It is a chip we all waited breathlessly for and then wanted to forget the minute we saw the benchmarks and image quality.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's High End GPU of the Year 07

Geforce 8800 GTX There was no competition for it and there still isn't.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Enthusiast/Mid-Range GPU of the Year 07

Enthusiast/Mid-Range - Radeon 3850 512 MB - Outstanding card at an outstanding price. This card will still be able to play games at the end of the year with reasonable framerates at reasonable resolutions.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Low-End GPU of the Year 07

Oh my. Geforce 6150 isn't bad for an integrated chip; it beats the hell out of anything Intel has ever released integrated. I'd say it might have slightly edged out the ATI integrated graphics chipsets this year, but I honestly think with multi-crossfire ATI may just release an integrated part that is actually a viable solution in the coming months. Picking among integrated graphics chips isn't very exciting or challenging - just get one that says "Geforce" or "Radeon" in the name and you are okay; get one that says "Intel integrated" and be prepared to cry.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Mobile GPU of the Year 07

8600M - There weren't a whole lot of developments on the laptop front for 2007

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Best Performance/Price GPU of the Year 07

8800 GT 512 MB if you managed to get one before everyone discovered that it was a great card and price-gouged the hell out of it.

If not, or you wanted to go ATI, then a 2900 Pro for less than 200 bucks was a steal.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's CPU of the Year 07

E4400 Allendale - Cheap, same amount of cache as the 6400, and a 10X multiplier make this a cheap overclocker from hell. All of these will do over 3 Ghz with very little effort.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's PC Display of the Year 07

No opinion, but my HannsG 28" 1920x1200 for $519 was practically theft - great picture, has HDMI input so I can use the XBox 360 with it, and it's huge

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Best News of the Year 07

Auzentech making a sound card based upon Creative Labs X-FI chip.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Worst News of the Year 07

ATI/AMD news - pick a product that was highly anticipated, and it went over like a lead balloon. DAAMIT had the reverse Midas touch this year - everything they touched turned to manure.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Best Company of the Year 07

Mozilla - Mozilla went out of its way this year to innovate, improve and contribute to the world of technology. They set the standard for Open Source development companies. I expect we will see even better things from them in 2008.

B3D Forum Vox Populi's Worst Company of the Year 07

Sony They started the year with hubris only a monolithic company can possess, and got worse from there. Every time a Sony executive opened their mouth in 2007, they said something that revealed how completely out of touch they were with their market, not to mention some instances of showing outright contempt for their customers. Sony took a year-long cruise on the black ship of fail, and it pulled into port at every market.