As the holiday season rapidly approaches, there's one question that you'll hear very frequently: Have you been naughty or nice? Of course, we all know that a lot hinges on this seemingly simple question. If you've been nice, then perhaps Santa will bring you an awesome gift, that one piece of hardware you've been jonesing for, like a Core i7 975 processor or perhaps the world-beating ATI Radeon HD 5970 Dual-GPU. On the other hand, if you've been naughty and have cursed your computer (hey, who hasn't?) or ignored your significant other because Left 4 Dead 2 or Modern Warfare 2 beckoned, then you'd better shape up before it's too late. Otherwise, the only thing you'll have to look forward to is a lump of coal in your stocking. Believe us--we've been there...

As we look back on this past year, and wonder why each year seems shorter than the last, we also reflect on our many traditions here at HotHardware. One of our favorites is our annual Holiday Buyer's Guide. Whether you're looking for the perfect gift for that special geek in your life, or if you're dreaming of putting together a new system for yourself, we hope this guide will help you make some informed buying decisions...