Experiment: 2009 until the Future, searching for the best GAMER PC

What is the best bang-for-the-buck GAMER solution that will save you the most money in the future?

Continuing in the spirit of the comparison my previous thread that evaluated what was the best bang for the buck between 2007 and 2009, I would like to do an experiment into the future to find out what the best bang-for-the-buck system solutions are that you could by as of May 2009. Of course this will have to take into account their future performance - so it will be impossible to tell now what is the best one. This experiment will therefore continue until 2010-2011 to determine which of the system builds that seemed good now were actually the best in terms of dollars spent and playability. The systems may be completely upgraded in the future - the only winning factor here is the lowest total cost overall throughout the next 2-3 years.

These system builds will only consider CPU, GPU, MOBO and RAM - for the sake of simplicity as these are the components that change the most in terms of gaming performance.

Requirement for these systems (in May 2009) is that they play all games at 30 fps or above on high setting at 1920 x 1200 res. The requirements may change in time (meaning that some systems might have to be upgraded when this happens)

Prices will be taken from Newegg, mail-in-rebates included

Keep in mind that all of these systems will theoretically be OC'ed to max on air



May 2009 systems (All games at high settings on 1920 x 1200 resolution) Prices:


Value system(DDR2):

CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 Deneb 2.8GHz $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=720%20X3

GPU: MSI R4830-T2D512 Radeon HD 4830 512MB $77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127420
HIS Hightech H483FN512P Radeon HD 4830 512MB $77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161260

MOBO:BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX 128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138130

RAMCZ Blade Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227420

Total System Cost = $420


Value System Core i7 (DDR3 - future upgradable?)

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115202

GPU: HIS Hightech H487FN1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161269

MOBO:Foxconn Renaissance LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX - $190
RAM: OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $69

Total System Cost = $709


Mid-Range system (DDR2):

CPU:AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X
CPU and MOBO combo: $294
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.182237

GPU: 2 x SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 100 + 120 = $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102824

RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231145

Total System Cost: $564

Mid-Range system (DDR3 - future upgradable?):

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX
CPU and MOBO combo: 245 + 180 - 30 = $394
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128377

GPU: XFX HD-489A-ZDEC Radeon HD 4890 Xtreme 1GB 256-bit GDDR $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150360

RAM: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820220331

Total System Cost: $714


Enthusiast System (DRR3 - future upgradable?):

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz
GPU: EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3
CPU and GPU combo: 280 + 250 -20 = $510
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.187411

2nd GPU: EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3 $250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130475

MOBO: EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188039

RAM:CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 $250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145232

Total System Cost: $1300

How do these systems perform as of 2009

Value systems:
Of these builds the two value systems just fill the requirements, with the Core i7 being the weakest and failing to meet them completely in Crysis.
Results for Core i7 system can be found here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3517&p=8
Results relative for the 2 x 4830 in CF can be found here: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/v [...] sfire.html

The mid-range range:
Both systems exceed the requirements, although for the moment the 4850s in CF massacre the single 4890, however we can upgrade to a 4890 CF later if we need to, so maybe the 955 has a better future?
Results relative to the 4850 CF can be found here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3517&p=8
Results for the 4890 system will be relative to this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2262.html

Enthusiast system:
This is really overkill for everything at 1920 x 1200 except crysis, but it should do quite well there also - actually read the article - it handles crysis pretty well too.
Results that are relative: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cI [...] ageID=6784

Ok so now we play the waiting game - "Shape of Janie's Tampon!"

Suggestions and comments are very welcome

Budget i7 RAM fixed