Site News stub

GN 3.0 Celebration: We're Giving Away Nearly $2000 of PC Hardware

Posted on

It's onward and upward for GN. Our regulars have already noticed the site redesign, which was silently launched this week, but it's time to get noisy: Heralding in GamersNexus 3.0 is a massive giveaway, targeted for system building enthusiasts and PC gamers. In coordination with Kingston, MSI, Antec, and Rosewill, we're proud to announce that this is hands-down our biggest giveaway to-date.

gn-giveaway

The new site is exciting, too: We've rebuilt the PC Builds page, so system builders looking for guidance can filter for completed gaming rigs based on user-defined parameters (price, size, CPU brand, and purpose). Our objective is to help guide you through a PC build from start-to-finish, and over the past five years, we've learned an immense amount about how we can better assist PC gamers.

We know most of you are here for the giveaway, so here's a list of what we're handing out:

 

ComponentProduct Name & Specs (Link)Product PageCourtesy OfSocial Media
SSDKingston 120GB V300 SSDDetailsKingstonFacebook
RAM16GB Quad-Channel @ 2400MHz 10th Anniv. RAMDetailsKingston"
Video CardMSI GTX 760 TF 2GD5/OCDetailsMSIFacebook
MotherboardMSI Z87-G45 Gaming LGA1150 MotherboardDetailsMSI"
CaseAntec P280 TowerDetailsAntecFacebook
CaseAntec Nine Hundred TwoDetailsAntec"
CaseAntec Twelve Hundred V3DetailsAntec"
PSUHCG 620MDetailsAntec"
PSUEA 650 PlatinumDetailsAntec"
PSUHCP 850 PlatinumDetailsAntec"
SpeakerAMP Mobile SP1DetailsAntec"
KeyboardRosewill RK-9000I Mechanical Keyboard MX BlueDetailsRosewillFacebook
HeadsetRosewill RHTS-8206 5.1 Vibration HeadsetDetailsRosewill"
Tool KitRosewill RTK-045 45 Piece PC Build Tool KitDetailsRosewill"
Thermal GunRosewill REGD-TN439L0 Infrared ThermometerDetailsRosewill"

Yeah. That's a lot of stuff. If you add every item in the above list to a cart on Newegg, the total exceeds $1800 of gaming hardware. Now, this noted, we know a lot of you are probably finding this page for the first time or after a long hiatus -- we'd greatly appreciate that you explore the new site a bit (go try out the PC builds section, upload a photo gallery of your PC, or ask a question in our expert support forums).

Let's get to it. 

Yeah, yeah - all I saw was "free stuff." How do I win? 

Here's how we're breaking this contest down: Each item will be given to a different person, so 15 different people will receive something from this event. You can use each method below one time to enter, increasing your odds with each addition. You can only win once. Recipients must be located in the US. All winners will be chosen on October 23 at 11:59PM, EST (exception of reddit thread - see below).

Here are the ways to enter the contest:

  • At random, 3 of our twitter followers will be selected as a winner.
  • At random, 1 of our facebook followers will be selected as a winner.
  • At random, 2 of our YouTube subscribers will be selected as a winner.
  • At random, 2 of our GN Supporters will be selected as a winner.
  • Hand-picked, 3 of the comments below will be selected as winners. Write a comment about your stupidest mistake you've made while building a PC (shocking yourself? ESD? Melting a CPU socket? etc.). We'll pick a winner based on entertainment value -- 'cause why not?
  • Note: Hand-picked, 3 comments on our reddit thread will be selected as winners. Write a comment about what you'd love to learn about pertaining to computer hardware, the most upvoted and/or most liked will be contacted. Do you want to learn about motherboard differences? Chipset differences? Let us know. 
  • Hand-picked, 1 forum user seeking assistance with a new PC build will be selected as a winner. Write a post asking for build support in our hardware support forum, we'll notify the winner in a reply to their post. This is more of a means to help new builders get started.

    •  

    We'll contact you via the method you won -- if you're a twitter follower, you'll receive a tweet and/or DM; facebook users will receive a PM; YT Subscribers will receive a PM; comments on this post will receive an email (so use an email you check when leaving a comment); GN supporters will receive an email tied to their PayPal account; commenters on reddit will receive a PM and comment reply. 

    A New Approach 

    If you're curious about the technical aspects of the website redesign, most of the upgrades are centered around speed, usability, and streamlined use. Here's a quick list:

    Usability 

  • Responsive template. The website is now fully compatible with phones, tablets, and large desktop resolutions. The site's rendered size will scale with your window.
  • A new start-to-finish DIY PC builds menu (left sidebar). This is in-line with our vision to enable system building endeavors. We want to be with you through the whole process - from research, to building, to troubleshooting, to overclocking.
  • PC Builds & hardware reviews filtration system. When you view our hardware reviews or PC builds, you'll be able to dynamically filter content based on your demands.
  • Improved activity stream ("Nexus") and profile management. You can upload a photo gallery of your PC build, view upcoming conventions, and monitor the site's user activity.

    •  

    Speed

  • An advanced site caching system (server- and client-side) that helps load our pages with increasing speed as you continue using the site.
  • Asynchronous loading: We've always held a strong position of quality content over all else; for this reason, our advertisements now load asynchronously -- this means the ads won't stop the rest of the page from loading (and they load last).

    •  

    Subscriber System 

    Over the years, we've had a number of you ask for means to donate to us as a token of thanks for our expert troubleshooting staff on the forums. We've gone a step further than that: Anyone who'd like to throw money and/or cookies at us will be immediately added to a subscribers-only giveaway list. We hope to give away hardware, shirts, game keys, and other miscellaneous items on a monthly basis to those who support GN. You can read more about this over here. This system is in place for our first give away (as seen above)!

    A Look Back - And to the Future

    Switching to first person for a moment: Alone, I started GamersNexus.net back in 2008 and quickly added games reviewer Martin Baker to the team; after covering games for a few years, it was my decision to push the site into gaming hardware coverage around 2010. To date, that's been the best decision we've ever made. Let's be honest - there are a lot of game blogs and review sites out there, but there aren't a whole lot of gamer- and enthusiast-centric hardware websites with competent support staff. That's the void we wanted to help fill.

    Moving forward, it's my objective to build our content around the idea of "start-to-finish" gaming hardware; we've already got more than 1000 articles published on GN -- ranging from PS4 hardware analysis to an overclocking primer to understanding case fan bearings -- and it's not slowing down anytime soon. Going forward, I've got plans to build-out our "DIY PC Builds" menu on the left side, including more guides on the build process itself. We're also hoping to publish more "how it works" articles that explain how your hardware, well, actually functions (see: How a CPU Heatsink Works). Finally, I'd like to continue promoting our more unique content, like our nVidia Silicon Failure Analysis lab tour and our "How RAM is Made" factory tour at Kingston.

    Anyway, digression aside, let the contest begin! Start posting / tweeting / redditing as desired and maybe you'll get some free hardware!

    With sincere thanks for your ongoing support over the years,

    - Steve "Lelldorianx" Burke.