We've shown you our three System Builder Marathon picks. Now it's time for something new. Using Newegg's user ratings as a guide, we picked the site's most celebrated components, built a PC, and overclocked it....
Three different builders took two different approaches this quarter. Paul and Don struck out in search of more graphics performance, while Thomas gave up some GPU horsepower in favor of a stronger CPU. Whose...
At four times the budget of our cheapest PC, today's build minimizes compromise in the name of delivering unparalleled quality, performance, and features. Thomas takes the opposite approach as Paul and Don,...
You just bought the fastest (and most expensive) desktop platform on the planet. Which company's memory will you use to populate Intel's quad-channel controller? We tested four purportedly high-end kits in...
Welcome to Part 1 of Tom's Hardware's 2011 Holiday Gift Guide. This first installment is geared toward system builders planning to pool some Christmas cash to build a new performance- or value-oriented system....
Big changes to a few components radically alter the performance profile of every machine in this quarter's competition. We’ve already seen how these changes affect the value of each machine, but how will they...
Falling memory prices make it easier to spend our $2000 budget on the fastest available components. How much faster is a pair of GeForce GTX 580s than two Radeon HD 6970 cards? Noticeably. But is the value any...
Because integrated GPUs generally employ shared system memory, RAM performance has a significant effect on gaming frame rates. We're testing seven 8 GB DDR3 kits that manufacturers tell us are a perfect match...
You spoke up in the first story from this quarter's System Builder Marathon, and we listened. Today we compare that first $2000 build to an alternative system based upon a flood of your recommendations. Call it...
With so little happening in the hardware world since the beginning of this year, our second-quarter System Builder Marathon sees only minor hardware changes. But each builder unquestionably comes closer to...
This quarter, we're keeping the Core i5-2500K processor from our previous build, but we're adding a pair of Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire. How will those two boards stand up against the modified Radeon HD 6950...
The launch of Intel's Z68 Express platform affects our build in a way we aren't benchmarking. But can we still put together a better configuration than last quarter's stunner? Will we achieve even better...
Intel’s newest platform lineup has the same memory requirements as P55 Express, yet some of the modules available for it are rated differently. We discuss those differences on our quest to find the best...
We used our second chance opportunity to hand-pick a $2000 PC with even more graphics power, at a lower cost. Getting more powerful GPUs means compromising elsewhere to maintain the same budget, though. Will...
Day 4 of our System Builder Marathon compares performance achieved to money spent. With outright speed the top priority, can either of our high-end systems beat the low-cost build when it comes to value? Or...
The last two System Builder Marathon configurations centered on Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture. But AMD still seems to rule the budget-oriented segment. This quarter, Paul buys an upgraded CPU and a...
We give Sandy Bridge yet another shot in our second System Builder Marathon configuration of the month, leaning on Intel's Core i5-2500K. How well does it fare against the Lynnfield-based Core i5-700-series...
Nick-of-time availability on revision B3-based P67 motherboards makes it possible for us to explore Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture in the fastest configuration competing in this quarter's System Builder...
Most of Intel's Core i5 and i7 CPUs lock out overclocking enthusiasts, which we hate. But the K-series chips win us back over with insane scalability. Would you believe that cranking the dial on performance...
Three systems represent our builders' best performance and value hopes for budget, mainstream, and high-end users. Last quarter's marathon demonstrated how each system compared to its predecessor, and today we...
We bolstered our latest high-end build with a six-core CPU from AMD and two super-fast video cards from Nvidia. Is it possible to fit uncompromising performance within a $2000 budget? Remember, you can even...
After looking at whether or not it makes sense to replace a PC built back in 2007 with a more modern machine, we decided to examine three component upgrade options—graphics, storage, and the...