UPGRADE AUSTRALIA THE MIGHTY NIGHT THAT WAS

When PC fans and the industry collide in a fest of fun, freebies and gear

They came. They saw. They Upgraded. On a lovely Melbourne night this week hundreds of PC & Tech Authority, PC PowerPlay and Hyper readers piled in for a fest of gear gawking, great gaming, prize fulfilment and beer and food consumerage. It was indeed a mighty night, and one and all got right into a most splendid display of incredible PC gear and fun stuff to do.

Intel brought along a machine that scanned people’s heads into a block of crystal. It was quite amazing. Intel also graced us with the presence of ANZ Technical Manager Graham Tucker who led the keynote and answered many questions from the crowd. There was also a bangin LAN there thanks to MSY with gamers head down and deep into the fun zone. Oh, and the F-16 sim was straight out of many people’s dreams.

Josh the man Collins from Asus showcased the latest gear and hosted a nice demo and Q& A session with pro modders. The cases on display here were just amazing.

Corsair Chris showed off the famous Bulldog case and system, due for Aussie release very soon, along with a bevy of fine Corsair gear to manhandle. Good stuff!

Upgrade Australia regulars Gigabyte Dino and Steelseries Tony pushed their tables together for a mighty confluence of spectacular gearage, with nice demos from each and a bit of quite serious pro-gaming action. Once again, the freebies flowed and glowy case mods shone brightly.

Racing sims were revving at max over at PLE, where one particular case mod blew everyone away. The whole thing is in a seethrough desk. We marvelled, we wanted. They gave a fine racing seat away, too, for the fastest lap. Nice, guys, nice.

WD showed off a stupendous case mod with 48TB of storage in a wicked RAID 0 setup. So fine. Their In Win mod was another gobsmacker, so shiny, so bright.

It was a treat to have Ashton Mills along from the Australian Computer Society. That man is a legend of the Aussie tech scene, and former Atomic editor. Ashton was on hand to explain just how the ACS contributes to IT education in Australia.

And through it all MC supremo David Hollingworth enraptured the crowd with endless freebies – some of which didn’t hit anybody in the face – as they were flung lovingly into the sea of grateful gamers.

Thanks to everyone who came along. We hope you had a fab time. In fact, we know you did. That was evident. Thanks too, to the sponsors who worked so hard to plan, carry, setup and run some seriously impressive events. We will be doing this again, so stay tuned, when the next Upgrade Australia happens we’d love to see you there! See more pics and the video online at www. pcauthority.com.au/upgradeaustralia