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• System Builder Marathon, May '09: $2,500 Performance PC

  System Builder Marathon, May 2009: The Articles Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). Day 1: The $2,500 Performance PC Day 2: The $1,300 Enthusiast PC Day 3: The $600 Gaming PCDay 4: Performance and Value Dissected Introduction Tom’s Hardware looks to your feedback in article planning. One of the most frequent of many System Builder Marathon (SBM) themes you’ve proposed in our comments section is that of the “gaming cube,” and that's why all three of this month's configurations attempt to maximize the performance potential available with portable enclosures. Forget the term small form-factor cases (SFF) when thinking of Micro-ATX cubes, since “form factors” are dimensional standards that apply to internal components. SFF originated with the two-slot designs of Shuttle barebones PCs, so the insistence of some manufacturers on using the term to describe much larger and completely incompatible Micro-ATX parts only serves to confuse inexperienced builders. With portability our first priority, we tried to stuff as many high-end parts as our budget would allow into the most portable Micro-ATX case we could find. Here’s what we came up with: $2,500 Portable PC Performance Parts PricesMotherboardDFI LANParty Jr X58-T3H6 Micro-ATX Intel X58/ICH10R, LGA1366$220ProcessorIntel Core i7-920 Four Cores, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB Cache$289MemoryMushkin 998679 6.0 GB DDR3-1600 3x 2.0 GB, CAS 7-8-7-20, 1.65 V$138Graphics2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 295 in SLI 1,792 MB GDDR3-2000 Per Card 576 MHz GPU, 1,242 MHz Shader$1,058Hard Drives2 x Western Digital RE3 WD50002ABYS (RAID 0) 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s$180OpticalLG GGC-H20LK Blu-ray Disk/HD-DVD ROM 6x BRD, 3x HD-DVD ROM, 16x DVD±R$100CaseSilverstone SG04B-H Micro-ATX Mini-Tower$170PowerCorsair CMPSU-1000HX Modular 1,000 W ATX12V 2.2, EPS12V 2.91, 80-Plus Certified$240Intake Fans2 x Scythe S-Flex SFF21F 120 mm, 1,600 RPM, 63.7 CFM at 28.0 dBA$28Exhaust FanSilverstone RL-FX121 Cross Flow Blower 3,000 RPM, 14 CFM at 26 dBA$17 Total Cost$ 2,440 While we stick to the above price list as our recommended configuration, a serious shortage of GeForce GTX 295 boards forced us to buy the only model in stock at ordering time, resulting in some visually-different but functionally-identical replacement products. We’re fairly certain that the lucky winner of today’s build will be pleased with the overall result. Ed.: Wait, what was that? The lucky winner? That's right folks. We're going to be giving away this system, plus the two machines to follow tomorrow and the day after. Once the SBM series has run its course this week, look for a contest page to go up on the front page of the site. You'll need to answer one question about each of our configurations and will then be entered into a drawing for one of this month's three SBM builds!

• System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: AMD System Value Compared

  System Builder Marathon, September 2009: The Articles Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon. Keep an eye on this space; this is where we'll post the link to enter the contest for all three systems once the series concludes! Day 1: The $650 Gaming PCDay 2: The $1,250 Enthusiast PCDay 3: The $2,500 Performance PCDay 4: Performance and Value Dissected Introduction We answered overwhelming requests to use AMD in our latest System Builder Marathon and found the excellent gaming, good prices, and mediocre overclocking our previous component reviews had lead us to expect. Value seekers should be especially pleased with our processor selection while criticizing a few of the “unnecessary expenses” in our highest-priced build. Yet supposedly-superfluous features aren’t the most surprising differences in today’s comparison: Let’s also reconsider a few of the performance-oriented component choices. September SBM PC Component Prices$650-Limit Build$1,250-Limit Build$2,500-Limit BuildMotherboardGigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P MSI 790FX-GD70MSI 790FX-GD70ProcessorAMD Phenom II X2 550 BE 3.1 GHz Dual-CoreAMD Phenom II X4 945 3 GHz Quad-Core AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 GHz Quad-CoreMemoryOCZ Gold OCZ2G10664GK 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-1066Patriot PVS34G1333LLKN 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-13332 x Crucial CT2KIT25664BA1339 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3-1333Graphics2 x Sapphire 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB4 x Gigabyte GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB3 x MSI R4890-T2D1G OC Radeon HD 4890 1GBOS/Program DrivesWD Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB, 7200 RPMWD Black WD6401AALS 640GB, 7200 RPM2 x Intel X25-M 80GB Model SSDSA2MH080G1 (RAID 0)Storage Hard Drives2 x WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM Model WD1001FALS (RAID 1)OpticalSamsung SATA DVD±RW Model SH-S223B (22x)Optiarc 24X SATA DVD±RW Model AD-7240S-0BDVD/CDLG SATA BD-RE/HD-DVD Model GGW-H20L (6x BD-R)CaseRosewill Wind RyderNZXT TempestNZXT PanzerboxPowerAntec EarthWatts EA650 650WPC Power & Cooling S75CF 750WCorsair CMPSU-1000HX 1000WCPU CoolerAMD Boxed HeatsinkXigmatek HDT-S1283Swiftech H20-220Component CoolingAntec 0761345-75018-9 "SpotCool" LED FanSSD TraySNT SNT-SATA2221B Hot-Swappable BackplaneBay AdapterVantec MRK-250FDTotal Cost $647  $1,265  $2,490 The cheapest build in today’s lineup is a lean, mean gaming machine, fitting two Radeon HD 4850 graphics cards and a high-speed dual-core processor into a sub-$650 package. At the other end of the scale, the high-end build takes an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach, adding liquid cooling and SSD drives to fill reader demands, plus redundant traditional drives to fill the storage demands of high-end buyers. The $1,265 machine attempts to trump the highest-priced build with a total of four graphics cards, sacrificing storage redundancy to fit these within its budget. But with only 512MB per graphics card, will the cheapest system be powerful enough to provide the best gaming value? Will the middle-priced system’s four mainstream-performance graphics cards really be able to overtake the triple-threat high-end cards of its expensive competitor? And for the high-end system, is there really any good reason for gamers to spend this much on drives and cooling? Let’s find out.

• System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $1,250 Enthusiast Build

  System Builder Marathon, September 2009: The Articles Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon. Keep an eye on this space; this is where we'll post the link to enter the contest for all three systems once the series concludes! Day 1: The $650 Gaming PCDay 2: The $1,250 Enthusiast PCDay 3: The $2,500 Performance PCDay 4: Performance and Value Dissected Introduction I'm fully prepared for the legions of people who will call me crazy for the path I have chosen in this month's $1,250 System Builder Marathon (SBM) build, which addresses the legions of readers who wanted to see a series based on AMD-based platforms. A part of me would have liked to play it safe, but sometimes a hardware reviewer has to do what a hardware reviewer has to do. So, with my colleague Thomas Soderstrom wielding double my budget, I went outside the box a little bit to see if I could work a little magic from my build to keep this little competition interesting. The heart of this beat remains fairly basic for a $1,250 AMD-based box: there's a nice Phenom II X4 945 CPU, 4GB of low-latency DDR3 memory, a premium 790FX-based motherboard, a solid power supply, and a good case. It's the choice of graphics cards--well, more specifically, the quantity of graphics cards where I left the tried-and-true formula behind: $1,250 Enthusiast AMD PC Parts PricesMotherboardMSI 790FX-GD70 AMD 790FX, AM3$165ProcessorAMD Phenom II X4 945 Four Cores, 3.0 GHz, 6MB Cache$170MemoryPatriot 4GB (2 x 2GB) PVS34G1333LLKNDual-Channel Memory Kit$85Graphics4 x Gigabyte GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 in CrossFire1GB GDDR3-1996 Per Card, 700 MHz GPU$480Hard DriveWestern Digital Caviar Black 640 GB, 32 MB cache$75OpticalSony Optiarc AD-7240S-0B DVD Burner SATA$33CaseNZXT Tempest ATX Tower$100PowerPC Power & Cooling S75CF, ATX12V 2.2, 80-Plus Certified$120CPU CoolerXigmatek Dark Knight S1283$37 Total Cost$1,265 That's right folks, it's not a typo--there are four graphics cards in this $1,250 build. Read on, and I'll explain.