As preparations begin for Computex to open its doors for the 35th time, so final preparations are taking place to decide which manufacturers will win a coveted European Hardware Association Award for 2016. The nominations are in and we have the list of finalists!
The combined editorial teams from 9 of the largest technology news and reviews sites in the world have been working hard to create a list of the best hardware on sale in the European region.
Having published over 100,000 articles between them, the editors at KitGuru (UK), Hardware.Info (The Netherlands), Hardwareluxx (Germany), Cowcotland (France), Hardware Upgrade (Italy), Hispazone (Spain), PurePC.pl (Poland), SweClockers (Sweden) and Lab 501 (Romania) are perfectly placed to make this judgement and, after much discussion, we now have the nominations list.
| 1. Best CPU |
| Intel Core i5 6600K |
| Intel Core i7 5775C |
| Intel Core i7 5820K |
| Intel Core i7 5960X |
| Intel Core i7 6700K |
| AMD A10-7890K |
| 2. Best ATX Motherboard |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme4 |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7 |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger |
| Gigabyte X99P-SLI |
| Gigabyte Z170X SOC Force |
| MSI X99A Godlike Gaming |
| MSI Z170A Gaming M7 |
| MSI Z170A Gaming Pro |
| MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition |
| 3. Best Micro ATX Motherboard |
| ASRock B150M Combo-G |
| ASRock X99M-Killer |
| ASRock Z170M OC Formula |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 |
| MSI Z170M Mortar |
| 4. Best Mini ITX Motherboard |
| ASRock X99E-ITX/ac |
| ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac |
| ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Impact |
| EVGA Z170 Stinger |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 |
| MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC |
| ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Wifi |
| 5. Best System Memory Series |
| Corsair Dominator Platinum |
| Corsair Vengeance LPX |
| Crucial Ballistix Elite |
| G.Skill TridentZ |
| HyperX Fury |
| HyperX Predator |
| HyperX Savage |
| Klevv Cras |
| 6. Best GPU |
| AMD Fiji |
| Nvidia GM200 |
| Nvidia GM204 |
| 7. Best AMD Based Graphics Card |
| ASUS Radeon R9 Fury Strix |
| Gigabyte Radeon R9 Fury |
| MSI Radeon R9 380 Gaming |
| MSI Radeon R9 390X Gaming |
| Sapphire Radeon R9 390 Nitro |
| Sapphire Radeon R9 380 Nitro |
| Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury Tri-X OC |
| Sapphire Radeon R9 Nano |
| XFX Radeon R9 Fury X |
| 8. Best Nvidia Based Graphics Card |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Matrix Platinum |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Strix OC |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW+ Gaminf ACX 2.0+ |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti SC+ ACX 2.0+ |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming |
| Inno3D GeForce GTX 980 Ti X3 DHS |
| MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming |
| MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming |
| 9. Best Monitor 2015 |
| AOC Q2577PWQ |
| LG 34UC98W |
| Dell Ultrasharp UP2715K |
| Iiyama Prolite B2483HSU-B1 |
| Philips BDM3490UC |
| LG 34UC97 |
| 10. Best Gaming Monitor |
| Acer Predator XB241H |
| Acer Predator X34 |
| AOC G2460PF |
| ASUS ROG Swift PG27 AQ |
| ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q |
| ASUS ROG Swift PG348Q |
| BenQ XL2430T |
| BenQ XR3501 |
| Eizo Foris FS2735 |
| Iiyama G-Master Black Hawk GE2788HS-B1 |
| 11. Best Professional monitor |
| ASUS PB279Q |
| ASUS ProArt PA328Q |
| Dell UltraSharp UP2716D |
| Eizo CG2420 |
| Viewsonic VP2772 |
| 12. Best CPU cooler (air) |
| be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 |
| Noctua NH-D15 |
| Noctua NH-D15S |
| Noctua NH-U14S |
| Phanteks PH-TC12DX |
| SilentiumPC Fortis 3 |
| Thermalright Le Grand Macho |
| 13. Best CPU cooler (water) |
| Cooler Master Nepton 240M |
| Cooler Master Nepton 280L |
| Corsair Hydro H105 |
| Corsair Hydro H110i GT |
| EKWB Predator |
| EK-XLC Predator 240 |
| Enermax Liqmax II 120 mm |
| Enermax Liqtech 240X |
| Lepa Exllusion 240 |
| NZXT Kraken X61 |
| Thermaltake Water 3.0 |
| 14. Best Case fan series |
| be quiet! Pure Wings 2 |
| Corsair Air Series SP |
| Enermax T.B.Silence PWM |
| Fractal Design Venturi |
| Noctua NF-A IndustrialPPC |
| Noctua NF-A PWM |
| Noctua NF-F industrialPPC |
| Noiseblocker NB-eLoop |
| Thermaltake Riing |
| 15. Best Hard drive |
| Seagate Desktop SSHD |
| Seagate NAS HDD |
| Toshiba DT01ACAxxx |
| WD Black |
| WD Red |
| WD Re |
| 16. Best SSD |
| Crucial MX200 |
| HyperX Savage |
| Intel SSD 750 |
| OCZ Trion 150 |
| Samsung SM951 |
| Samsung SSD 950 Pro |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro |
| Sandisk Ultra II |
| 17. Best Optical drive |
| ASUS SBW-06D2X-U |
| LG GH24NSD1 |
| LG GP70NS50 |
| Samsung SE-506CB Black |
| Samsung SH-224FB |
| 18. Best NAS device |
| Synology DS1515+ |
| Synology DS216+ |
| QNAP TS-251+ |
| QNAP TS-253A |
| QNAP TS-453 Mini |
| Asustor AS6104T |
| Thecus N2810 |
| 19. Best External Storage |
| Samsung M3 Portable |
| Samsung Portable SSD T3 |
| SanDisk Extreme 510 |
| Sandisk Extreme 900 |
| Seagate Backup Plus |
| WD My Passport Slim |
| 20. Best (Micro) ATX case |
| Bitfenix Pandora |
| Bitfenix Phenom M |
| Cooler Mastar Mastercase Pro 5 |
| Cooler Master Mastercase 5 |
| Corsair Carbide 600Q |
| Fractal Design Define S |
| In Win 909 |
| Phanteks Eclipse P400 |
| Phanteks Enthoo Evolv |
| Thermaltake Core P5 |
| 21. Best ITX case |
| Chieftec Exqu!sit Design HF-200B |
| Deepcool GamerStorm Tristellar |
| Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX |
| NZXT Manta |
| Fractal Design Define Nano S |
| Fractal Design Core 500 |
| Silverstone Raven RVZ02 |
| Silverstone Sugo SG13 |
| 22. Best PSU series |
| be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 |
| be quiet! Pure Power 9 |
| Cooler Master V-Series |
| Corsair AXi |
| Corsair HXi |
| Corsair RMx |
| Enermax DigiFanless |
| Enermax Platimax |
| Seasonic Snow Silent |
| Seasonic Platinum Series |
| SuperFlower Leadex Platinum |
| 23. Best Mouse |
| Corsair M65 PRO RGB |
| Corsair Scimitar RGB |
| Cougar 700M |
| G.Skill RipJaws MX780 RGB |
| Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum |
| Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum |
| Mad Catz R.A.T. Pro X |
| Razer Mamba Chroma Professional |
| Steelseries Rival 700 |
| 24. Best Keyboard |
| Cherry MX Board 6.0 |
| Cooler Master MasterKey Pro S |
| Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro L |
| Corsair K70 RGB RapidFire |
| Corsair Strafe RGB Cherry MX Silent |
| G.Skill RipJaws KM780 RGB |
| Logitech G810 Orion Spectrum |
| Logitech G910 Orion Spark |
| SteelSeries Apex M800 |
| 25. Best Headset |
| HyperX Cloud II |
| Corsair Void Wireless |
| Hyperx Cloud Revolver |
| ASUS Strix 7.1 |
| Roccat Kave XTD 5.1 |
| 26. Best Router |
| ASUS RT-AC3200 |
| ASUS RT-AC5300 |
| ASUS RT-AC88U |
| Linksys EA7500 |
| Netgear Nighthawk X6 |
| Synology RT1900ac |
| 27. Best Sound card |
| ASUS Strix Raid Pro |
| ASUS Strix Soar |
| ASUS Xonar Essence STX II 7.1 |
| Creative Sound Blaster ZxR |
| 28. Best VR product |
| Oculus Rift |
| HTC Vive |
| Samsung Gear VR |
| Google Cardboard |
| 29. Best All-in-one PC |
| Apple iMac 27″ Retina 5K |
| ASUS Zen AiO Pro Z240IC |
| HP Envy Curved 34 |
| MSI Gaming 24 6QE |
| MSI Gaming 27 6QE |
| 30. Best Mini-PC / Barebone |
| Acer Revo One |
| ASRock N3000 Beebox |
| ASUS ROG GR8 |
| Gigabyte Brix BCE-3205 |
| MSI Nightblade MI2 |
| MSI Nightblade X2 |
| MSI Vortex |
| Shuttle XPC SZ170R8 |
| Zotac Magnus EN970 |
| 31. Best Notebook |
| ASUS Zenbook UX305 |
| Dell XPS 13 |
| Dell XPS 15 |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon |
| PC Specialist Optimus Nebula |
| 32. Best Hybrid tablet/notebook |
| Asus Transformer Book TX300 |
| Dell XPS 12 |
| HP Spectre x360 |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 15 |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 |
| Samsung Galaxy TabPro S |
| 33. Best Gaming notebook |
| Acer Predator 15 |
| ASUS GX700 |
| ASUS ROG G752 |
| MSI GS40 |
| MSI GT72S |
| MSI GT80S |
| Razer Blade |
| 34. Best Tablet |
| Apple iPad Air 2 |
| Apple iPad Pro 9,7″ |
| Google Pixel C |
| Lenovo Yoga Tablet 3 Pro |
| Nvidia Shield Tablet K1 |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 |
| 35. Best Smartphone |
| Apple iPhone 6s |
| Apple iPhone 6s Plus |
| HTC 10 |
| Huawei P9 |
| LG G4 |
| LG G5 |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge |
| 36. Best Smart Watch |
| Apple Watch |
| ASUS ZenWatch 2 |
| Garmin Fenix 3 HR |
| Huawei Watch |
| Pebble Steel |
| Pebble Time Round |
| Samsung Gear S2 |
| 37. Best Fitness Tracker / Sport Band |
| ASUS VivoWatch |
| Fitbit Charge |
| Fitbit Flex |
| Fitbit One |
| Fitbit Surge |
| Garmin Vivoactive HR |
| Microsoft Band 2 |
| Tomtom Spark |
| Xiaomi Mi Band 2 |
| 38. Best Product of the Year |
| MSI Vortex |
| HTC Vive |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti |
| EVGA Geforce GTX 980 Ti SC+ ACX 2.0+ |
| Nvidia Shield TV |
| Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge |
| Intel Core i7 6700K |
| Samsung SSD 950 Pro |
| 39. Best Overclocking Product |
| ASRock Z170 OC Formula |
| ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Matrix Platinum |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti K|NGP|N ACX 2.0+ |
| G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3600 CL16 |
| Gigabyte X99-SOC Champion |
| Gigabyte Z170X-SOC Force |
| Intel Core i7 6700K |
| 40. Best New Technology |
| DDR4 |
| DirectX 12 |
| HBM Memory |
| HDR |
| Intel / Micro 3D Xpoint |
| NVMe |
| USB Type-C |
| Virtual Reality |
To find out more about the event and to book a ticket, click here.