Win the BEAST! HotHardware Skulltrail Give-Away!
We’ve got some exciting news for you all today! To coincide with Intel’s official Skulltrail announcement that hit the news wire the other day, we’re announcing a sweepstakes of our own where you could win a full Skulltrail-based system, complete with dual graphics cards and a super-fast 10,000 RPM hard drive. We’re talking eight-cores of benchmark busting performance here, and it could be all yours!
HotHardware has partnered up with Intel to assemble a complete Skulltrail rig that we’ll be giving away to a randomly selected contributor to our on-line forum and discussion systems. The complete break-down of components in the system includes:
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Processors: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 x 2 Motherboard: Intel D5400XS ‘Skulltrail’ Memory: 2GB DDR2 FB-DIMM Memory Graphics: GeForce 8800 GT 512MB x 2 (SLI) Optical Storage: Lite-On 20X DVD-RW with Lightscribe Hard Drive: Western Digital Raptor 150GB Power Supply: Ultra X3 1000 Watt Case: Gigabyte 3D Aurora (Black) |
To be entered into the sweepstakes, you’ve got to be a registered, active member of our forum and a resident of the United States. If you’re not already a member, you can sign up quickly and easily (and for free), right here.
From this point forward, we’ll be monitoring discussions on the site and will be randomly selecting a winner based on community involvement and contribution. To increase your chances of being a winner, sign up for our HotHardware RSS News Alerts and we'll toss your name into the mix for double credit! The sweepstakes will run through to the end of the month at which point we'll pick the winner (Feb. 29).
This is a huge opportunity for to you to win Intel's BEAST of a system. Good Luck!
Comments
Man that would be too awesome to win that thing. That would be a dream for me.
No kidding! That's glorious!
Un-REAL - but when is Western Digital coming out with their next latest and greatest HDD? Ultrafast 150 GB HDDs are so 2007!
Use serial attached SCSI if you want faster, personally I'd rather wait for SSD's to come down in price.
I know, this is unreal. What a great way to drive traffic to the site. I think I am going to like it here.
Sign me up...I'll take the loan out to pay the electrical bill if I win:)
Yeah! I'd like one of those!
yeah, but where's the mouse?
Wow, what a great prize, would be fantastic to win, being on a fixed disabilty income am always a hardware generation or two behind the curve and usually around the middle tier. This puppy should be able to handle things for sometime to come.
Though don't know if my weakened constitution could handle the shock of actually winning this thing. Though hopefully would only render me "Not quite dead yet and getting better"
Only wish I posted more to better the chances...but that I don't is a good thing, get addled easily these days and would seem like I were typing in tongues.
Thanks for sponsering such a great contest.
Very best of Luck to all who enter, hopefully cheaters can be screened out.
Someone needs to let me have this. My manhood has shrunk with marriage.....
Congrats Kam! I'm glad to see it went to a worthy member!
methious:
Congrats Kam! I'm glad to see it went to a worthy member!
=D Thanks so much man! I'm so ecstatic right now...I know I won't be able to sleep =P. I'm pretty much gonna have it folding constantly for hothardware once I get the beauty in my hands...When I'm not gaming/working that is 
...Heck, what am I talking about...it has 8 cores..I can just set cpu affinities =P. I was scavenging through a box filled with old wires and came across a 24 to 20 pin adapter right now! =P. But I'm still planning to give the PSU away if someone needs the complete rig..But if not I might not need that 20 pin psu if someone wants the psu I currently have in this rig.. I could just use the adapter for my old Dual AMD MP 1800+ rig that's sitting in the closet, it may not be that powerful, but I'll still be able to pull up some wu's every now and then for hothardware ^_^.
Someone needs to let me have this. My manhood has shrunk with marriage.....
Uh, we don't deal with that kind of hardware...
I'll definitely write a personal review for you guys once I get a little gaming out of my system =P. I'll run benchmarks and pretty much anything you guys want me to run. ^_^...I've always wanted to see the difference between memory timings and dividers in real world scenarios and not synthetic benchmarks..now that I have a computer that can actually game and edit/render...I'll write a review regarding that as well =D. God I can't wait! ^_^....now I just need to be patient ^.^..
OK, Dave and I have hammered out almost all of the details regarding our next sweepstakes. We're just waiting on two small details and we'll outline the system's specifications. We will say it will be powered be a Core 2 Duo E6750, riding along on a killer nForce 680i mobo wiht a couple of gigs of RAM and an 8800 GTS. The PSU and CPU cooler will also be top notch...stay tuned...
Yowza, sounds like a powerhouse!
You guys rule, keep up the kickassery!
Hmm, sounds pretty close to what I wanted to purchase. That would be sweet if I could win it! I can dream can't I? another awesome giveaway from HH. This place is awesome.
This will surely keep the activity up on the forums ^_^...I just need 11,200 posts to go to be number 1! =P...lol. Good luck on this one guys ^_^...Let me just say, miracles can happen =D.
imagine if you win this too :-) THAT WILL BE INTENSE.
congrads on winning the skulltrail.
Wow, a big contest just ended and another big one comming? WOW, I can't wait to see it and enter! :)
LOL ice!...I wouldn't accept it, I'd just give it away to an active member of the forums =P....lol
And thanks man ^_^..Can't wait to get my hands on that sucker ^.^
im happy you got. just happy its a regular.
Oh FYI remember you might have to pay taxes on it depending where you live.
i cant wait for the next contest
Another great contest, right behind a fantastic contest!
Oh FYI remember you might have to pay taxes on it depending where you live.
I doubt it, but if I had too...I guess I'd have too..lol. Don't know what else to say to that...If this was like a government based lottery it'd make sense, but I doubt it for something like this. But who knows =P..It would suck though >_<...But considering what I'm getting I'd do it in a heart beat...
Good luck to everyone in the upcoming contest ^_^.
Just realized I'll be without almost any internet access from Friday night through Saturday the 15th. I'll be able to check email once a day or so, but no forums. Ack, I hope this doesn't hurt my chances on this next contest.
you'll never pass jordan...lol
you'll never pass jordan...lol
ROFL..I know. He's way up there..
Does he even post anymore?...
I haven't seen him on in months. He landed a new job and hasn't been on nearly as much. He still use to pop in every once in awhile. It's a shame though cause he really knows his stuff especially when it comes to silent cooling and psu's. He didn't get that post count by spamming either. He has just been around forever and knows alot. I think he works for some company in the UK writing articles on silent pc's or something like that now.
It's a shame though cause he really knows his stuff especially when it comes to silent cooling and psu's.
I hear that -- he helped me through 2 PSU purchases.....
I think I could handle paying taxes on that if i won it:)
I rather see a video review so we can check out the build as it happens ! :)
That would be sweet
that contest had just ended but there is anew one for the month of march
I wonder how the Skulltrail platform really works/benches...
I'm sure he will keep us posted about this!
I love it!
Awesome i will take 2
and i was syked about a shirt and a usb drive lol
HAHA...this is a big one for sure!
Hi All,
You Guys are the BEST!!
who ever wins this is extremely lucky. what a sweet give away. hope i win
I'm almost literally drooling over this!
Isn't 3D rendering software pretty exspensive... if I had a rig like that I'd at least want to try my hand at some sort of 3D rendering to use the machine to it's full capacity. When I was a kid, I used to draw alot while attending the boys & girls club and can only imagine how much fun it would be to create things with real substance. Here are some things I'd like to render in 3D: A heavily armored mech with lots of insane weaponry, an assault helicopter with elements from Air Wolf and Blue Thunder, a futuristic car of some sort, a castle with a dark theme and a dragon circling above, a hot chick with lotsa random elements a la Wierd Science... I could keep going, but don't wanna bore anyone. Besides I'd probably have to start small and get the basics down before tackling advanced projects like those... perhaps rendering some basic objects like a bowl of fruit lol. It's fun to let your imagination run wild and contests are always a good way to get people pumped! Thanks!!!
Hi All,
Rigs like that with the software cost thousands of dollars. If I'm not mistaken, these are the type of platforms used in Video Editing/Rendering. I'd be in Geek Heaven if I were to win. Whoever wins is going to be one Happy Person.
Oh man, I'll bet this thing would run Solidworks like a dream! I have a Dell with a Xeon at work for that and it sucks.
OMG ...
That's one of the Best Giveaways I've ever heard of!!!
Wow.. I hope whoever wins this, truly deserves it.. That would be an awesome upgrade..
Good Luck to everyone..
And Great Job Dave & Marco on this one..
/me :drools:
What a nice give away, but i do see one thing missing.
An HH Case Badge 
An HH Case Badge
Yeah... slappin a HH case badge on it would deffinately accentuate it!
Whoever wins it should consider donating their old computer to someone who really needs one or maybe a school or something!!!
All I can say is WOW!!!
yahh wow is about the only thing anyone can say
Count me in.
This is one impressive PC. Only thing really lacking is 4 memory sticks. That would really open up the performance.
Count me in.
Umm... sorry, you're just a tad ineligible...
Heck with 3D or CAD software...I bet Doom plays real fast on this one....
Seriously, this would put my 4 OCed Q6600 rigs to shame. This would be the ultimate Distributed Computing rig. Throw an extreme cooling system on it and crank up the clock.
Sweet...count me in as well. So all we have to do is post for our chances to win? I'm already signed up for the Feed Blitz so I'm in twice? Awesome!
Not to be a stick in the mud...but I just hope a regular forum user wins and not someone that signed up just to win the contest...
hope a regular forum user wins and not someone that signed up just to win the contest
Agreed. It is nice to see new people joining though... hopefully they'll realize they've found a good site and stick around awhile!
Hi All,
I agree too. This Site has some of the Nicest folk around.
I agree with enter that someone who has actually been here a while should win the contest and not someone that just joined the forums in order to win this. But accroding to Davos post its going to be randmoized so i guess everyone has a equal chance 
Anyway, Good luck to all.
HH always has the most awesome contests. Giving away the new ATi video card back in the day was nice as i remember smashing the refresh button waiting for you guys to reveal the winner. hahaha. For those of you just joining the site and are sceptical about you actually recieving this prize, believe me, if you are the winner you will NOT be dissappointed at your winnings!
*Crosses Fingers*
Awesome count me in
Awesome count me in
Awsome name!...That was the best show ever! Although I have some sad memories as well..When my big bro took my captain planet action figure and hurled it into the pool with all his strength. It hit the concrete side and it shattered into 6 piehces .... [:'(]
"... with our powers combined..."lol
"... with our powers combined..."lol
hahaha..
I feel sorry for Quami man, he had the jankiest power of them all. There was wind, fire, earth, and water....he gets heart?...He can speak with animals?..aaaahahahaha. But I must admit, if he was a assassin...it'd be a bad ass ability. Talking with posion critters, sending them into the mark's house..MWHAHA...I could have a army of black mamba's >D
Nice contest, But I'll pass as I'm not a forum regular here(I otherwise qualify though as I was born in the USA and I still live there), I'd just use It as a cruncher for Seti/Boinc 24/7 under the PC Perspective Killer Frogs. It would be just a 4th PC, the other 3 are all quad core PCs I've built(a QX6700ES cpu @ 3.3GHz, a QX6700 cpu @ 3.2GHz and a Q6600(B3) cpu @ 2.6GHz).
OK, so WHY did you bother to register and post here? So you could pump your affiliation with the PC Perspective Killer Frogs? I know Ryan very well, good man, solid site. I don't see why you have to drop in and be down on things here though.
For the record, we're working hard on randomizing things such that, for this contest anyway (more coming soon), if you contribute positively, it won't matter if you're a veteran regular member or a newbie, just that you're not just wasting bandwidth.
That said, you're not off to the races here unfortunately, Joke. No offense of course but with a post like this, we'll probably pass too.
I'm only affiliated with the Seti team there(Not the website), The rest of the time I hang out at the Seti Forums at Berkeley. I'm a disabled person(I suffer from anxiety, concentration, depression, joint problems(Legs and Hip), back pain, weight, under performing thyroid & osteoarthritis, and so It's just Me and I survive on SSI, Do I think I'd win? Not likely as this will be the last post I make here as I like the website and the reviews(This place gets visited by Me everyday). Would It be nice? Sure, But like I said on berkeley thread below I doubt I will, As I've entered before elsewhere and not won a thing. In any case I've not mentioned this contest over on the Boinc Bar and I don't work for anybody, So I'm free to go where I want on the web. Besides I don't know If I could pay for more electricity than I do for My present 3 PCs and the summer cooling(swamp cooler only) costs are coming and I live in a Desert in Yermo CA. I don't mean any offense of course. I have bigger problems to worry about.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=45447
Nice to see you here, JokerCPoC, if I don't win, I hope you do.
Wow, what an amazing contest, and surly one that many people will enter. Many people might know me from other forums ,but I know that I still don't know many of you guys here. I will try my best to contribute to this forum as much as I can, although time from school and other work make it a bit hard. I take many classes at College at the moment that has to do with Designing and 3D Animation, although sometimes we get projects that contain very high number of polygons and subdivision for high detail, and many textures on objects make it impossible to render some scenes. Many times I have to turn down on quality and disable AA to increase rendering time so I could make it to school with a rendered file. With this system I would be able to create great Designs, Animations, and Movies in time and I would not have to worry about rendering times as much. I also like to game a lot and play the latest games that are out, like Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Need For Speed Pro Street, and much more. Please pick me as a winner, and good luck to others as well in this competition. I will try to contribute as much as I can, and maybe I can fulfill my dream to continue the study of 3D Design and Animation with a great passion for the future.
For all the people just looking to crunch this bad boy, i suggest you to rethink that! 
You do realize that this is one of the most amazing peices of machinery that ive seen in a while
My p5b dlx has a blown cap I would give a toe for this setup :) possibly 2 rofl...
Edit:Crap I responded to the wrong post...
I admit, I will probably crunch with it, but I would game on it as well. Anything for an excuse to play COD4, Prey and Medal of Honor again. I'd also like to see what Need For Speed would be like on it. That rig, with my Logitech G25 steering wheel, would be the next best thing to actually owning a Mustang GT500.
This contest has sparked alot of activity here in the forums which is a deffinate plus! I just hope things don't die down when the contest is over. I also hope people that joined for an opportunity to win realize what a great site this is and continue to participate to enrich our growing community!!!
^thats what i was thinking...
This contest has sparked alot of activity here in the forums which is a deffinate plus! I just hope things don't die down when the contest is over. I also hope people that joined for an opportunity to win realize what a great site this is and continue to participate to enrich our growing community!!!
Yeah, what he said!
Seriously, we're going to do more of this sort of thing moving forward but you folks ALL have to stick around and hang with us now no matter what!
I usually stay on a website once I get to know it very well. A few posts and I get very addicted to a site. I am starting to like this site more and more as we speak. :) There are some very kind people around here.
Welcome... make yourself at home!
Dude, I check this site several times a day during work - especially when I'm in meetings...
Good gawd now this is a contest...
Winning this would be like winning the lottery. Well, not quite but you catch my drift. What a sweet treat that would be.
What an awesome giveaway! But only open to residents of the United States? Being Canadian, I can only stare with envious eyes at the prize...sigh...maybe next time?
Still, good luck to all of you south of the Canadian border ;)
Here I am from Seti@Home, Francois sent me. I want what he's got. Where can I get skull stickers?
I'd love to see how many F@H Points would I get on a daily base with this monster!!
I'm still in shock!! Freaking Awesome Giveaway.. :$
Whoever wins it has to promise to run 8 Folding@Home threads for the HH team :)
Haha, I know I would. I am already folding for the HotHardware team with my 2.3Ghz Dual-Core Core 2 Duo. :)
Whoever wins it has to promise to run 8 Folding@Home threads for the HH team :)
I don't see why not! 
I would only run it on 6 cores, that way I could still game easily with the last 2. :)
Davo is pulling out all of the stops!!! He's a mad man!!!
Indeed, what a dream system...........;)
I'd die for something like this.
Outstanding contest! Please count me in...this is something desperately needed at our house!
Hey man, not to break your heart or anything...but this contest is over. : )
I'm Davo knows where he lives, He had to ship it to him :P . So es it would be possible to burn his house down lol. But htat would be very mean IMHO.
Ok people read the topic and the date of the contest. ITS OVER.
No dont burn the house down, thats not right! Let me sneek in and get the Skulltrain then yall can burn the house down.I would appreciate the Skulltrain and HH more than he did.Course I might want to keep it to.But Ill give you this Rig! LOL
LOL. Can we all go to jail for mentioning burning someone's house down on a website?
Uhh.. yeah, and it's not very nice either but I KNOW you were all just kidding.
BTW, I've emailed and PMed him as well, just now.
Just curious Davo Did you get a response?
Nil at this point... does anyone want to point me in the direction of the "other" forum he's on? :)
Davo if you dont contact him by tonight Ill join one of the forums and remind him dont brag on another site about his Skulltrain hit and run!
This mother would be pretty awesome, count me in!
Honestly I don't know much about F@H, but will look into it some more. My general understanding is that it makes scientific calculations that can be useful for research purposes right? The great thing about having 8 cores is that a person could run 4-6 instances of folding and still have a couple cores left to game, web surf, etc.
Exactly, just what you are saying. Right now I am just folding for this team with one Core saving the other one for other things, although Folding @ Home should work only in idle processing, so basically you could run 8 instances of Folding @ Home and still not see a performance decrease, maybe a tiny bit, but not much.
This beast rig is a dream...I'm still running the last one I built over 3 years ago...granted a 3.2GHz P4 (Prescott) can still kick it (even Crysis and UT3, granted not max because of my ATI Radeon X800 AIW GPU...it's ok you can laugh :-P)...but the things I'd do with this beast...F@H, space weather modeling...and of course, games!
I'll be honest, I came to this forum at first to enter the contest...but this is an awesome site, lots of info/news...things happen for a reason I guess...
Why is this for US residents only? Why can't we in Europe have chance of winning this.
Why is this for US residents only? Why can't we in Europe have chance of winning this.
Move to the US while the contest is running,, and head back when its done ;)
Trust me, I would move to US forever :)
You know, as much stuff as I do on a PC...I've honestly never tried F@H. I may give it a shot if i win this baby.
Customs, shipping, and tax issues make this one a US exclusive, unfortunately. Sorry about that.
How about an "Entermymatrix Exclusive" ? That sounds even nicer doesn't it? : )
Sorry Lamp... it would cost a small fortune to ship it over seas, not to mention the tarrifs/duties etc that might be put on the recipient. We'll try to look at a more global contest in the future.
This would definitely end my marriage to my current machine - and probably with my wife too! Count me in.
Well, we don't want to have anyone end up with marital stife but you'll have to deal with those issues I guess! Don't forget to sign up for HH Feeblitz alerts for extra credit, folks! The link is right in the news post here.
I joined becuase of this offer. Now I will see if the forum is worth my time. I intend to use the forum, post and learn over the next few weeks.
If you're looking to have fun time on-line with some like-minded folks, we think you'll be in it for the long-haul. Thanks for joining up!
This thread may quickly grow larger than our "longest thread contest"!
I could actually see that happen. :) I bet there will be more and more people comming to this site. I know I am letting almost everybody know about this here at my school. Hopefully we can get some more active people around here. :)
With a contest like this it wouldn't suprise me. This prize is flat out amazing. Its got to be the most expensive givaway/contest prize in history lol.
I post alot as it is, but must admit that the prospect of winning this has raised my activity level here in the forums!
That is one amazing piece of hardware. I've never seen a V8 machine given away let alone a SkullTrail!
I also would love to own this beast...
Welcome to the forums Mulldawg. Remember, you need to stay active to get a chance to win this great system. Hope to see you around the forums. It is a very nice comunity with a lot of different subjects. :) Good luck!
Wow what did I miss. I haven't checked throught the forums in 2 days and holy crap. I just got on to reply to the emails about responses on a thread I opened so I didn't notice the new contest. So I started browsing through today and was thinking to myself man there are alot of new people on and the activity is way up. Wouldn't ya know there's a new contest. Guess that explains everything. Way to get the activity up on here guys and thanks again for another great contest. 1 thing I have noticed about the jump in new users over previous contests is that there are actually some new knowledgable users coming in. Thats the best news imo. good luck to everyone and ya'll better stick aorund!
there are actually some new knowledgable users coming in. Thats the best news imo.
Word!
A buddy of mine is having a kick @ss LAN party the same day as the drawing.....Double happiness if I win!
the specs and the performance are in deed impressive, although the use of socket 771 and FB-DIMM instead of DDR3 make me wonder where Intel is trying to drive their traffic to... but with 1GB per core up and flying on this system, you wouldn't need top ask any questions... I wonder if NVidia has QUAD SLI drivers ready, cause if I win this monster system, the first Ima do is add in 2 more 8800GT's! HOO-AH! ;-P
Skulltrail brings new possibilities for CG experts. MoBo costing 6K (plus additional $s to build complete rig ) is out of reach --- to even above average enthusiast/Gamers. Gamers have to wait till computers games are optimized for two Intel CPUs.
In addition to Nvidia, it is very interesting to know that Intel is collaborating with AMD for graphics unit. Skulltrail supports both.
Ausus should give a hard look to their present Enthusial MoBo( like ASUS Striker II Formula / ASUS MAXIMUS EXTREME ) designs. I think Intel will come up some scale down version of Skulltrail to embrace individual enthusiast/Gamers.
Skulltrail baby looks good and I will acquire one day