/me got jacked.
First, I'm sure I missed a few opprotunities by arriving at 8:30 with the normal crowd. I went with my brother...I'm a reseller, he's not, and I didn't want to be left alone with all the REAL resellers, so I didn't go early. I soon discovered that most, if not all, of the reseller VIPs received one of them laptop bags filled with miscellanious goodies...shirts, hats...etc. I think it was a choice of the bag filled with stuff, or a nice AMD polo. I didn't see the polo for myself, but I'm not certain which I would have picked. Anyway, I did not attend the VIP event, so I guess that choice is moot.
Second, THE PERSON IN LINE IN FRONT OF ME WON A PROCESSOR! I missed a processor by 2 numbers. My ticket was 22316, the winner was 22318. rarr.
Third, the battle of the boxes was a sham. The questions were simple, and only one of the contestants finished his box. Problem is, it's a random drawing to get to the question-answering part...soooo jacked again. What happened was they chose nearly identical systems.....but the winner won by default. The other guy, for some reason, couldn't get his PC together. The last that I saw of him, his case was a complete tangle of wires, and he was desperately scouring the mobo manual to hook up the power, reset, LED, etc etc things. Perhaps it was the winner's luck, seeing as he brought his "lucky" screwdriver. I will remember that for next time, because I have a lucky screwdriver of my own.
And finally, those people can't throw for crap. It took me until the end of the night to get an AMD hat....I nearly died a few times when something flew in my direction. One person saw fit to use my shoulder as a boost in order to gain an advantage. Keep in mind that I was one of the taller people there....
Oh yea, and the lanyard to hold your pass/nametag was generic. I was expecting something with an AMD logo, which would have been VERY nice of them....but just a pure black lanyard. Oh well, I still have my Michigan Tech lanyard, w00t.
Heh, and there was a guy in the crowd who kept on shouting "Show us your chest" to the amusement of those around him. Heh, there were very few female bodies there. No more than 10 attendees were women (not counting wives/girlfriends), and I think there were 2 or 3 AMD women....token, I'm sure.
The games were a joke. They were all running on 2200 or 2400.....but with integrated nForce 420 graphics. I tried playing UT2003 on one of the machines, and I got my *** kicked. Perhaps I'm just spoiled, but the graphics were not impressive at all. But, they did have comparison machines that were Intel P4 2.4 that were running in pure software ("Intel Extreme Graphics"), so I suppose I can be glad I didnt try playing on one of those. I suppose that they realized that graphics would have been identical had they used REAL graphics cards instead of integrated, so good decision on their part (as if anyone there was fooled).
The attendance seemed to be in the 250-300 range. Quite a few bodies.....angered me, for they stole my chances at free stuff, and especially the box building and processor winning stuff.
Heh, one note about the build a box contest. All you have to do is choose processor, graphics, and memory. Everything else is preset. I'm sure you all know by know how it works, but let me recap. Your goal is to build a performance machine for $599 or less. $300 is already tied up in case, k/b, HD, etc etc. You get to choose from an XP 1800+($130) or an XP 2000+($155), using a GF4MX(119) or the integrated nForce420($0), and you had the options of a PC2700 256 stick ($125 ea), or using PC2700 128 stick ($50 ea). Anyway, the hardest parts are already done. All you have left to do is mount the motherboard, install the ram, and connect everything. The HDD, Floppy, and CPU/HSF are all pre-mounted. Anyway, i think they both chose identical systems, except one chose the 256 stick, and the other took 2x128. Personally, I would have taken the 1800+ and a GF4MX and a single 128 stick. Why? Because the benchmarks were PCmark, Serious Sam 2, and one unknown. The unknown was UT2003. They didn't get to the benchmark portion because one guy didn't finish, but I know that because I read it on
www.inquirer.com. Obviously, my sys would have blasted the winners sys. Sadly, I was not chosen to participate. Rarr.
Anyway, It was good fun. Next year, if I still work at Sam's Club, I will be sure to attend the VIP event.
And honestly, my only goal of the night was to get an AMD hat, and I got one, so I am happy. Would have liked to walk out with a processor, or say $2500 in cash, but hey, what can ya do?
Anyone who is near an upcoming event, I urge you to attend. It is a propaganda filled evening, but I think it was worthwhile (and free!). I didn't talk to them, but they had some of their engineers at the event available for questions.
I love AMD. AMD = w00t.
Win some for us! 
