When it comes to the Consumer Electronics Show, most of the attention is usually turned toward all the new technology, gizmos, and toys on display on the trade show floor. We’ve already talked about the hot new online games from Sony Online Entertainment and some of the cool stuff on display at Digital Experience, but there was one event at CES 2008 was of a slightly different breed.
The 11th Annual Build Your Own PC Race for Charity, hosted by TigerDirect, is not an event where hot new products are put on display. Instead, it is a fun charity event wherein top technology journalists gather to see who can build a computer from (almost) scratch in the fastest time possible. They are provided with all the necessary components — graphics card, motherboard, hard drive, and so on — and each station is laid out in exactly the same way, ensuring that the playing field is perfectly even. Each computer must be put together in the same way.
The Race was aired live on TigerTV, in case you couldn’t make it to the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel. Now where the heck is TigerTV on the clicker…
The Objective of the Race
Naturally, everyone involved in the PC building race wants to have the fastest time possible. There is no prize for the winner himself, however, other than bragging rights. This is because the race is wholly for charity. The computers that are built by the racers — each of which is worth between $3,000 and $4,000 — will be donated to the charity of their choice. In addition to this, the top three racers are provided with cheques to the charity of their choosing. All in all, the event has raised over $1.5 million for charity over the course of its 11-year history.
These aren’t cheap computers being shipped off to charity either. In fact, the Systemax state-of-the-art computers are powered by AMD Phenom 64 processors. That’s faster than what most people get to enjoy in their homes! Other sponsors include Acer, Crucial, Thermaltake, Seagate, Microsoft (Vista), Linksys, Lite-On, HP, Argus, Logitech, Lenovo, Transcend, and AVerMedia.
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UNLV Cheerleaders Make Me Happy
You could almost smell the geekiness in the air. After all, all the participants are very well ensconced in the computer industry, so they know their way around GPUs, RAM, HDDs, and all sorts of other acronyms. To help balance out the testosterone level, the TigerDirect Build Your Own PC Race organizers solicited the services of the UNLV cheerleaders. Check out the video and experience a welcome distraction of your own…
Donning skimpy red tops and tight black pants, the team of cheerleaders came out to provide for quite the jovial mood. They were certainly better eye candy than all the sweaty geeks who were about to screw some computers together. The girls even put together a special cheer just for this year’s event!
The Participants
There were 30 racers in all, representing all medium of media, from print to online to TV. Returning for his second year of competition, FutureLooks’ own Stephen Fung was among the competitors along with fellow Canadian’s, John Chow from The TechZone, Geoff Gasior from The Tech Report and Sean Carruthers from The Lab With Leo. Heavy hitters like Will Smith from MaximumPC and Steve Bass from PC World were also on hand to take a crack at the big prize.
For a full list of the 2008 TigerDirect Charity PC Race participants, click here. It was truly a geeky star studded field.
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FutureLooks (Almost) Wins the Race
So, what were the results? In previous years, the winner was able to complete building their PC in about six or seven minutes, but the 2008 race ran into a rather substantial speedbump: Windows Vista. The load time on the new operating system added significant seconds to the final times, but when the dust settled, which name appeared on top of the list?
Stephen Fung of FutureLooks finished building his computer in 10:10, but he was slapped with a 60 second penalty because the power cable to the DVD-ROM drive was not attached. In Stephen’s own words, “The only explanation that I have is that the CPU wind tunnel piece pushed the cable out when I was assembling the door and locking it down.” The penalty bumped Stephen into second place, pushing Will Smith of MaximumPC Magazine into first place with a total time of 10:31.
Will Smith gave his $10,000 grand prize to Child’s Play, an organization that provides sick kids around the world with games and toys. Stephen donated his $2,500 second prize to the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Rounding out the top three was Charlie Demerjian of The Inquirer. Charlie was a three-time defending champion heading into the 2008 event.Yup, goodbye Charlie. Better luck next year!
In his first event back in 2007, Stephen Fung finished fourth. However, in 2008 he moves up to an official second place. Could 2009 be the year for FutureLooks? I guess we’ll find out at next year’s Consumer Electronics Show and the 2009 Tiger Direct Charity PC Race!
For more pictures from this year’s event, check out our 2008 Tiger Direct Charity PC Race Photo Gallery.
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