AnandTech 13th Anniversary Giveaway: Intel/iBuypower Core i7 980X System

Thirteen years ago I put up the first version of Anand's Hardware Tech Page on Geocities. I had no reviews, no news, no analysis - nothing. Just a promise of content to come over the coming days. What followed was a brain dump of everything I knew at the time, which admittedly wasn't much and not always accurate. Whenever I come across something I wrote back then I usually cringe. Thankfully I had a lot of luck on my side, some great people that I would soon meet, as well as a desire to learn and work as hard as physically possible. Thanks to the efforts of those who joined me along the way and of course thanks to all of you who committed the time to read what we wrote, we are here today.

I haven't written up the AnandTech history story in years and perhaps I'll need to carve some time out one of these days to do just that, but until then I hope you'll accept this sincere thank you for supporting me, the entire AnandTech team and the site over the years. We work for you. It's always important for me to keep that in mind and I hope it shows in our efforts here. Thank you.

To celebrate today's significance AnandTech, Intel and iBuypower have teamed up to do another system giveaway. This one is fast. The system is based on Intel's recently released Core i7 980X processor. That's 6-cores running at 3.33GHz, the fastest desktop CPU you can buy today. The rest of the system isn't shabby either with a Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, 6GB of memory and of course an Intel X25-M SSD.

The full system specs are listed below:

Intel had this to say about the giveaway:

Intel and iBuypower are happy to team up and bring you the ‘Core i for the Extreme guy (or gal)’ contest featuring Intel’s freshly-minted powerhouse – the 6 core, 12 thread Core i7-980X. We are excited to see what creativity can be unleashed and are happy to support the enthusiast community with contests like this to stoke the fires of tech passion. Check out www.intel.com/products/processor/corei7ee/index.htm and www.ibuypower.com for more on these great new products.

To enter the giveaway all you need to do is two things:

1) Respond to this post with a comment, and
2) Send an email to giveaways AT anandtech DOT com with your full name, birth date, telephone number and mailing address. This will be the address your prize is sent to if you win.

Now the rules. This contest is unfortunately only available to US residents in one of the 50 states. I realize that AnandTech is an international site and I do highly value all of our readers, unfortunately extending the contest rules outside of the US is a bit more than we're able to reliably handle today. That's not to say that we won't at some point in the future, we just have little experience doing such things and don't want to get burned early on.

Secondly, you are only allowed to enter once. Multiple entries will disqualify you.

Entries will be accepted from 4/26/10 - 5/3/10. The winner will be selected, at random, by 5/5/10. The winner must respond to our email to confirm their shipping address within 30 days to claim the prize. The official rules are listed below.

Good luck everyone :)

Official Rules and Regulations for AnandTech Sweepstakes
No Purchase Required to Enter or Win

Upon entering any contest, sweepstakes, or promotion (a “Promotion”) offered by anandtech.com (the “Site”), a website owned and operated by AnandTech, Inc. (“AnandTech”), you must agree to the following Official Rules and Regulations (the “Rules”) as well as any additional rules governing a specific Promotion that AnandTech publishes on the Site.

BEFORE ENTERING A PROMOTION, READ THESE RULES AND THE SITE’S TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY INFORMATION.   BY ENTERING THE PROMOTION, YOU AGREE TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES AND THE SITE’S TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY INFORMATION. 

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.  PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING.

1. Eligibility.  Promotions are open to entrants who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry, and a legal resident of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico).  Entries are limited to individuals only who are not presently banned from AnandTech’s website or comments section; commercial enterprises and business entities are not eligible.  Directors, officers, employees, contractors, and agents of AnandTech and members of their immediate families (spouses, parents, siblings, and children) are not eligible.  Subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  Void where prohibited.  Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Rules and AnandTech’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters relating to a Promotion.
   
   
2. Entry Period.  Each Promotion will contain a specific time period within which entries will be accepted (a “Promotion Period”).   The Promotion Period for this Promotion shall run from 12:01 a.m. EST on April 26, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. EST on May 3, 2010.  Only entries received during the Promotion Period will be accepted. 
   
   
3. How to Enter.  Each Promotion will describe an entry procedure.  AnandTech is not responsible for lost, late, illegible, stolen, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, misdirected, technically corrupted or garbled entries, which will be disqualified, or for problems of any kind whether mechanical, human or electronic.  Proof of submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by AnandTech.  All entries must be in English. Individuals are automatically entered in this Promotion by (i) signing up for AnandTech’s Comments at http://anandtech.com/Account/Register and posting a reply to this post AND (ii) individuals must also email giveaways AT anandtech DOT com including name, complete mailing address, telephone number, and birth date.
   
   
4. Limits on Entry.  An individual may enter a Promotion once only.  The use of any automated launching or entry software or any other means that permits an entrant to automatically enter repeatedly or in excess of the entry limitations is prohibited. 
   
   
5. Prizes.  Winning a gift, prize, or other promotional item (a “Prize”) in a Promotion is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements in these Rules.  Winners will be selected in a random drawing of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period.  AnandTech will notify Prize winners using the contact information provided in the winning entry.  Failure to claim a Prize by the time or in the manner specified in the particular Promotion will invalidate any claim to the Prize.  Prizes are not transferable.  The odds of winning a Prize or the Grand Prize depend on the number of entries received by AnandTech.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ARE NOT EXCHANGEABLE FOR FAIR MARKET VALUE.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANANDTECH DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE PRIZES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. For this Promotion, one winner will be selected by May 5, 2010 and will receive Core i7 System described above (“Grand Prize”).  The Total U.S. Retail Value of the Grand Prize is $2999.00.  The Grand Prize may not be substituted for cash.  The Grand Prize winner will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges associated with receipt and/or use of the Grand Prize.  After the Grand Prize winner has been notified and has complied with all applicable Rules, AnandTech will post the Grand Prize winner’s name on this website.
   
   
6. Publicity.  The winner of a Promotion agrees to allow AnandTech to use his or her name, photograph, likeness, voice, prize information, and biographical information for publicity and promotional purposes without further compensation where permitted by law.
   
   
7. Governing Law.  These Rules and all Promotions are governed by and controlled by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without reference to the applicable choice of law provisions. All actions, proceedings or litigation relating hereto will be instituted and prosecuted solely within Wake County, North Carolina. By entering a Promotion, entrants consent to the jurisdiction of the state courts of North Carolina and the federal courts located within North Carolina with respect to any action, dispute or other matter pertaining to or arising out of that Promotion.
   
   
8. General Terms.  Any failure by an entrant, including any prize winner, to comply with any of the Rules or the Site’s Terms, Conditions and Privacy Information may result in disqualification from the Promotion.  All entries, whether they are eligible entries or ineligible entries, are the exclusive property of AnandTech.  AnandTech is not responsible for any typographical errors in the Rules or in any other communication surrounding a Promotion or for any technical malfunction or error relating to the Promotion.  AnandTech reserves the right to amend or interpret the Rules at any time, upon published notice to participants on its website.  Promotion participants agree to release, indemnify, and hold harmless AnandTech and its directors, officers, employees and agents from any and all liability regarding the Promotion, including any injuries, losses, or damages (compensatory, direct, incidental, consequential, or otherwise) regarding the use or misuse of any Prize, any event beyond AnandTech’s control resulting in the disruption, cancellation, or postponement of the receipt of the Prize, or any typographical errors or technical malfunctions associated with the Promotion.  AnandTech reserves the right to disqualify any entry that it, in its sole discretion, determines (i) to be in violation of the Rules, (ii) submitted by fraud or by tampering with the entry process, or (iii) contains inaccurate or fraudulent information.  ANY ATTEMPT BY ANY INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS.  IN THE EVENT SUCH AN ATTEMPT OCCURS, ANANDTECH RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.