PORTLAND, OR—Over 600 gamers trudged here this Independence Day weekend to partake in the West Coast’s largest and longest-lasting LAN party. Presented by BFG and NVIDIA, PDXLAN v3.04 boasted over $65,000 in prizes—almost no one walked away without a prize of some kind! Gamers competed in 5 tournaments on 16 NVIDIA-powered Compaq X systems from HP, who also provided the blistering fast network. Read on for some more details and photos of the event...

Together BFG and NVIDIA gave away over 20 graphics cards, including some GeForce 6800 GTs, and an overclocked BFG 6800 Ultra! When his seat number was called, the lucky winner of the drawing was asked to give up his Radeon 9800 Pro, sight unseen for his mystery prize—and he DID! BFG gave the winner’s old card to the gamer with the oldest, slowest graphics card at the LAN.

Back again with product managers from the nForce and GeForce groups, NVIDIA held 2 presentations Friday showcasing its latest technology and answering gamers’ questions. Micah Stroud covered new nForce technology, and NVIDIA’s updated system overclocking utility. Jason Paul enlightened gamers with an overview of the new GeForce 6 series, highlighting features such as Pixel Shader 3.0, and NVIDIA’s new dual-GPU SLI technology. Throughout both presentations, NVIDIA gave away prizes, including some nForce 3 motherboards, GeForce FX 5700 Ultras, and a GeForce 6800 GT! Afterwards, NVIDIA treated all gamers to free pizza and Bawls for everyone.

This summer, Pizza Schmizza came on board as the official Pizza provider for PDXLAN, and was a huge hit among gamers, staff and sponsors. After presentations on Friday, NVIDIA bought pizza for ALL attendees, as well as Bawls for everyone. (Thanks Bawls!) Later, the empty pizza boxes would be used to create the "Leaning Tower of Schmizza."

Entrants into the case mod contest ranged from OEM makeovers to extreme custom jobs that took weeks of preparation. While one contestant cut out the side of his Shuttle case to accommodate a GeForce 6800 Ultra (like a shaker hood on a muscle car), another fashioned a computer out of an old record player and a picture frame—and it still played records!

Tug of War competition was fierce; while some uneven matches ended quickly and mercifully, many turned into long, patient battles of grit, determination, and the application of pure mass. In the end there could be only one...

NVIDIA and BFG gave out shirts to all attendees Friday, but many were wearing theirs all the way through Sunday, without ever changing. Why? Throughout the LAN, NVIDIA and BFG patrolled the aisles, looking for someone in need of a new video card. When we found the right person, and they were wearing the right shirt, we presented them with a BFG GeForce FX 5900 XT OC on the spot!

PDXLAN has hosted three LANs in the past year, each drawing 500+ attendees to its Portland locale, creating a Mecca for an awesome community of gamers who all come for the same reason: FUN!

In April of 2004, the NVIDIA tapped the PDXLAN staff to host its GeForce LAN in conjunction with the GeForce 6800 launch in San Francisco. With PDXLAN’s efforts and execution, the event drew over 300 gamers to the Bay Area for an unprecedented event.

PDXLAN plans to host a 1,000 person LAN in summer 2005—be sure to keep your eye on it for the largest, longest, and fastest-growing LAN on the west coast—NVIDIA sure will!