The contest is complete. Thanks to all who entered… Stay tuned for the winners!

We’re bringing back Best Configs, a feature on Tom’s that makes the strongest recommendation on what components to grab if you are assembling a computer for a particular purpose. One of the greatest strengths of Tom’s Hardware is that we have such a vibrant, knowledgeable community, and all of us know a lot more than just a few of us. To that end, we’d like YOUR input on what builds you think best fit each category.

The following are forum thread links to each of the nine builds:

Budget Intel-Based Gaming PC
Budget AMD-Based Gaming PC
High-End Intel Gaming PC
Intel-Based Office PC
High-End AMD Gaming PC
MicroATX Gaming Build
Home Theater PC
High-End Workstation
AMD-Based Office PC

Throw your recommendations at us! We’ll pick the top 5 and put them up to a vote. The best ones will show up in our Best Configs feature and you’ll get the credit for having assembled the greatest set of hardware for the task.

The Tom’s Community Team is expanding!  We are now seeking volunteer community reporters to join up and flex their writing and news-hounding skills on the forums.  Have a knack for finding the latest hardware headlines and hot topics?  Put your talent to use by bringing our community together with interesting, exciting new discussions and news items about hardware, software, gadgets and everything in between!

Tom’s is looking to bring on 5-10 new Community Reporters to add to our top-notch team.  The mission of a Community Reporter is to keep our forums full of lively threads, posting news-type threads and hot topic discussions at about a 50/50 ratio.  As a volunteer community reporter, you’d be asked to:

• Be a competent writer
• Be an active, knowledgeable member of Tom’s forum community
• Be willing to hunt down news and popular discussions outside of the Tom’s Network.
• Be able to dedicate at least 3 hours a week to writing/posting new threads.

Does that sound doable?  If so, fire off an e-mail to Community Manager Joe Pishgar at jpishgar@bestofmedia.com with “Community Reporter” in the title and the following info-

1. Real name
2. Email Address.
3. Forum username.
4. Rate your tech knowledge from 1-10, 1 being awful, 10 being epic.
5. What forum section do you want to serve as a Community Reporter?
6. What would make you a good Community Reporter?

All Community Reporters will receive the special title “Community Reporter”  in the forums as a special designation.  Good luck to all applicants!

Joe Pishgar
Community Manager

The Tom’s Community Team is possessed of a great group of moderators from all walks of life, and these guys focus a laser-like concentration on keeping the forum safe from the threat of trolls, spammers and ne’er-do-wells. From time to time though, it’s good to sit back and have a laugh. Which is why we’re putting forward this fun little competition.

Using headlines from any of the stories that have appeared on Tom’s Hardware, Tom’s Guide or any other Tom’s site, create an image with a hilarious caption to try and break the stoic demeanor of our mods and make them laugh. You can use any image you can find on the net (keep it clean!) so long as the caption contains a headline from a story written on Tom’s.

You can use any graphics editing program or an online tool like the demotivational poster creator at http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php to make your creation. If your submission makes a mod laugh, you’ll win the special title of “Forum Jester” that will appear in green under your avatar to memorialize your comic genius!

Be sure to post your image with caption to the following thread so the mods can read it!

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/26101-41-make-laugh

Joe Pishgar
Community Manager