What Hardware Should I Buy? - Feb 2009

bit-tech recommends...February 2009

It's certainly been a busy month is the world of enthusiast hardware, with plenty of high profile hardware launches all hoping for a place in your home system. Nvidia launched both its 55nm GeForce GTX 295 and GTX 285 high-end graphics cards, to a somewhat mixed reception despite retaking the crown of fastest consumer graphics cards on the planet.

Meanwhile, AMD's new line of Phenom II processors shook up the CPU market with an offering that might finally lure users away from the CPU juggernaut that Intel has become.

But the real exciting news this month for us here at bit-tech is our imminent move to our new headquarters in London. As you may or may not be aware, bit-tech was acquired by Dennis Publishing last October, and January will be our last month before we join our new colleagues at Dennis.

We'll be working alongside the fine fellows from publications like Custom PC, PC Pro and IT Pro, as well as reaping all the benefits like improved photo studios, more lab space and producing even more awesome content.


It's certainly an exciting time here at bit-tech, but we're not planning to rest on our laurels, and have once again put together systems aimed at mid-range, high-end and premium budgets and looking at every piece of hardware you need to build a system, from processors to motherboards, cases to coolers, power supplies to hard disks, to help you build the very best system at the very best price.

All of the recommendations made in this guide are based entirely on either our personal experiences or on our own reviews, or even occasionally good rumblings and recommendations from trusted community members. With this in mind, you know that by picking the hardware we've recommended, you’ll be getting high quality products.

Here at bit-tech, we take our buyer's guide seriously and update it monthly, adding new products as and when we feel there's a need for change either because technology has moved on, or prices have got a whole lot more competitive. We also want to continually improve the guide and will continue to add additional ranges of recommended hardware as time goes on. However, we're still looking to improve the format and expand into other areas in the future, so please do let us know what else you'd like to see here. The feedback you provide in the forums is invaluable, so don't forget to let us know what you think again this month!