Introduction

Once again, the FiringSquad Industry Invitational tournament at Computex brought together the major Computer manufacturers for an afternoon of gaming and socializing during the busiest period of the year for many of them. For a lot of these companies, Computex is their time to shine, as media and buyers from around the world converge on Taipei to check out the latest in PC technology. This year’s show didn’t have much new to offer, but that didn’t seem to bother anybody. Most people in the industry look forward to Computex as a time to cut loose a little and catch up with old industry friends and acquaintances. There is usually a lot of late-night partying and the pubs, clubs and restaurants of Taipei are packed with industry types all enjoying the local hospitality, usually on someone else’s dime!

When we started the Industry Invitational 3 years ago, the idea was to have a forum for the manufacturers to show off their systems, and also have some fun at the same time. In the mean time, the event has morphed into one of the most fun and exciting events at Computex, with people from around the industry gathering to catch up and relax for a couple of hours. With the help of our sponsors we end up doing a lot of giveaways for the attendees, which makes it even more fun. We also make sure there is plenty of beer and wine on hand-this year went through over 100 beers and 6 bottles of wine! In fact one could say the FiringSquad Industry Invitational puts the Party back into “LAN Party”, which is just the way we like it.

Integral to the Industry Invitational are the 7 awards. These are what the manufacturers are battling for, in hope of including something in their corporate headquarters’ lobby display case. They all take these awards very seriously, as they should. Unfortunately not everyone gets to win, and there are always a few disappointed faces at the end. This year’s contest was being billed as a showdown between 2 industry heavy weights who had previously won 3 awards each: Gigabyte and ASUS. Also eagerly followed was the Overclocking award, for which DFI was the undisputed champ.

The awards are:

• The Ultimate Gaming Rig


• Best Video Performance


• Best CPU/Motherboard Performance


• Best Visual Design


• Best Portable Design


• Best Low Noise Design


• Highest Overclock

A special mention goes out to our colleagues in the web media who helped us out by judging the awards for this year’s event. They are:

John Chow-The Tech Zone
Tim Smalley-Bit Tech
Nathan Kirsch-Legit Reviews
Regardt Van Der Berg-Tide Media
Ricky Morris-Digi Times
Stephen Fung- Future Looks
Chris Ramseyer-Real World Benchmarks
Dennis Garcia-Ninja Lane
Jason Jacobs-Techware Labs
Cyril Kowalski-The Tech Report