We've been running our public performance database tool, Bench, for a few years now. Bench allows you to have direct access to the performance data we use in our reviews, segmented according to product category. Today we have five major product categories in Bench: CPU, GPU, Smartphone, Mobile and SSDs.

CPU Bench is the longest running without significant changes. You can actually compare Intel's most recently released Sandy Bridge E CPU to an old Core 2 Duo E6550 from four years ago in a number of tests using the tool. 

GPU Bench has always posed a more significant challenge. Drivers and test platforms change very frequently, which often precludes us from keeping a running tally of benchmarks similar to what we do on the CPU side. We used our Radeon HD 7970 review as the kicking off point for our brand new PCIe 3.0 testbed for GPUs going forward - a platform we hope to keep in place for at least the next 12 months. While all of this data is already in the 7970 review, if you want to do any head to head comparisons between GPUs you can now do so using our updated GPU Bench 2012 database. The previous version of the database (GPU Bench 2011) is still available.

Similarly, we've finally updated our Smartphone Bench database. Smartphone Bench 2011 features all of the tests and test data we've been using in our most recent smartphone reviews (e.g. Droid RAZR). We opted against calling it Smartphone Bench 2012 because we plan on updating some of the benchmarks in the new year (e.g. you may have seen one of our new battery life tests in our Eee Pad Transformer Prime Follow-up).

We are in the preliminary stages of planning AnandTech's site refresh for 2012, including updates to Bench. If you have any suggestions you'd like to see implemented, please feel free to leave them as comments here. We already have a number of ideas of things we're trying to implement, but your opinions are the most important here so I'm always eager to listen if you're willing to share.

If you're looking for a new case, Antec is setting side a pair of its Eleven Hundred model cases for two lucky AnandTech readers. The Eleven Hundred features three tool-less 5.25" drive bays and six tool-less 3.5" bays in addition to all of the grommet lined routing holes you've come to expect from Antec. Check out the gallery below for more shots of the case.

Read on for entry details!

Earlier this month we reviewed Intel's new ultra high end CPU: Sandy Bridge E. The 2.7 billion transistor chip is a serious workhorse, overkill for most enthusiasts but a dream come true if you do a lot of video encoding, offline 3D rendering or any other heavily threaded task. The platform is expensive but Gigabyte gave us a pair of its X79-UD5 motherboards to give away to any of our readers that might be interested in going down the LGA-2011 path.

Entries will be accepted until 11AM EST on December 2nd. You can enter by leaving a comment below (please leave only one comment!) and as always, the contest is only available to legal residents of the US (excluding Puerto Rico). Read on for full entry details  - good luck!

Earlier today Dustin reviewed Antec's new P280 chassis, but now we've got two of these cases to give away to a couple of lucky readers. In our review, Dustin felt that the P280 brought some of the ease of assembly features that were missing from Antec's lineup without sacrificing much of what made the P180 series so great. Be sure to read his full take on the P280 here, and then leave a comment below (please only leave one comment!) to enter.

Read on for full entry details including eligibility requirements. Good luck!

Update: Congratulations to AnandTech reader Tidicus for winning HP's $500 Sweepstakes. Your prize will be on its way to you shortly! Thanks to everyone who entered and don't worry, you won't have to wait long for the next giveaway...

I'd like to congratulate AnandTech reader semandjem for winning the grand prize in our Summer of Honeycomb Giveaway. While we're all out of NVIDIA gear, HP just stepped in to offer the latest prize to AnandTech reader. The prize here is cold hard cash...almost: HP is giving away a $500 Visa Gift Card to one lucky AnandTech reader. The giveaway is in celebration of HP's newest blog targeted at small business owners and entrepreneurs called: Input Creates Output. The sweepstakes is available to all AnandTech readers (US residents only) - to enter simply respond to this post with one comment about what piece of hardware you're most looking forward to buying this year. What are you hoping to do with that hardware once you get it? And if applicable, how is this piece of hardware going to help you in your work or business?

The full sweepstakes entry details are below. Good luck!

The entry period has now passed, thanks for entering!

A little over a month ago we quietly introduced a new section to AnandTech called Pipeline. You'll find it in the right hand column of the site where we display the most recent 7 stories. The goal behind Pipeline is simple: to bring timely reporting on news that may not be deserving of the full AnandTech review treatment. These short stories won't replace our review content, they will simply augment it. The Pipeline team today is five-strong: Andrew Cunningham, Craig Getting, Jason Inofuentes, Kristian Vättö and Saumitra Bhagwat. Although if any of us from the reviews team find ourselves in a situation to post over there we will, as you may have already seen. Similarly, you may see (and have seen already) reviews from our Pipeline team.

Stories posted in Pipeline follow our same basic editorial guidelines. We have strict policies against sensationalism, link baiting and rumor mongering - we have no desire to contribute to the "we heard Apple is working on a new shoe!" noise on the web today. Pipeline is simply our way to get out little nuggets of information that we feel are interesting while we're working on the bigger reviews. You may even see bits and pieces of our really big reviews highlighted in Pipeline (e.g. our Mali-400 Pipeline story). If you follow us via RSS, Pipeline stories already appear in the main feed. If you'd like a Pipeline specific feed click here, or our normal long form only feed has now moved here. Pipeline posts also appear on our Twitter account and Facebook page.

Since we posted a ton of IDF coverage in Pipeline over this past week I thought I'd round it all up here in a post in case anyone missed it. Read on for a roundup of everything we posted from IDF (and yes, that Ivy Bridge tech piece is still coming - I've had a busier than expected couple of days of meetings - sorry for the delay :))

The Summer of Honeycomb has come to an end. Congrats to AnandTech reader tsgarp83 for winning our first Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Be sure to respond to my email to claim your prize! Unfortunately we've only got one Honeycomb tablet left to give away.

It's another Galaxy Tab 10.1 and although it's our last, it's still one of the best Honeycomb tablets on the market today. Thankfully NVIDIA called up a couple of weeks ago with an idea: why not make the last giveaway something really special? Instead of just giving away one tablet, NVIDIA sent along an entire Tegra 2 care pack to give away to the final winner in our contest:

In addition to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, one lucky winner will get a T-Mobile G2x, a $25 gift card to spend on Tegra Zone games, accessories or pretty much anything you want and a Jawbone Jambox. It's safe to say that this is our biggest tablet giveaway yet.

Read on for contest entry details!

It's the Summer of Honeycomb and we now have two lucky readers who have won Eee Pad Transformers thanks to our friends at NVIDIA. Congrats to AnandTech reader unbellum for winning our second Eee Pad Transformer. Be sure to respond to my email to claim your prize! If you didn't win this time, don't worry - there are still two more chances to win.

With our Eee Pad stock depleted, we're switching over to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as our giveaway this weekend. Read on for entry details!

Want to know if you're the winner of our first Summer of Honeycomb giveaway? Congrats to AnandTech reader jdobratz for winning our first Eee Pad Transformer. Be sure to respond to my email to claim your prize! If you didn't win last week, don't worry - there are still three more chances to win!

We've got three tablets left and this round we're giving away our second Eee Pad Transformer! Read on for details on how to enter!

We're all out of memory, congrats to AnandTech reader raimondi1337 for winning our last giveaway of 16GB of G.Skill DDR3-2133 memory. Be sure to respond to my email to claim your prize! The giveaways aren't over however, in fact we've got a great month ahead of us thanks to our friends on the NVIDIA Tegra team. Last week a big box full of four new tablets arrived at the office in Raleigh:

In the box were two Eee Pad Transformers and two Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1s, our two favorite Honeycomb tablets. We'll be giving one away every week until they're all gone. We're kicking off the giveaways with the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer.

Read on for contest entry details!

Congrats to AnandTech reader: awkward for winning G.Skill's 8GB DDR3-1600 memory kit in our last giveaway. Respond to my email to claim your prize! There's still one more chance to win memory, this time we've got a 16GB DDR3-2133 kit from G.Skill. The kit comes with four 4GB DDR3-2133 modules rated at 9-11-9-28 @ 1.65V. The four modules even come with their own fan cooling kit for the aggressive overclockers out there.

Read on for details on how to enter!

April was a pretty exciting month for giveaways on AnandTech. We gave away four Xooms courtesy of NVIDIA, our last one went to AnandTech reader Don of Charlotte, NC. Qualcomm also handed us a Snapdragon Mobile Development Platform, which AnandTech reader yelped won! Respond to my email to claim your MDP!

The giveaways aren't over however. This summer we'll be giving away another tablet, a smartphone, more memory and an SSD. Today, Antec has graciously provided two of its new soundscience rockus 3D 2.1 speaker systems for our next giveaway. 

Read on for contest entry details!