Build Your Own
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: System Value Compared
December 25, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Our mid-priced and high-end systems are ready to challenge the notion of value supremacy for low-cost parts. Will Intel’s latest architecture ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: $700 Gaming PC
December 24, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Higher prices and out-of-stock parts caused us to rethink how we could pack more gaming power in our budget build. With cheaper DDR2-800 memory, ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: $1,300 Enthusiast PC
December 23, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Last quarter, we presented you with four Radeon HD 4850s under $1,250. This time around, we put together a very respectable Core i5 system with a ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: $2,500 Performance PC
December 22, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Can a truly high-end system still be assembled for $2,500? We set out to find the answer and learned some important things along the way. And ... Read more
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Tom's Hardware's 2009 Gift Guide: Part 2, System Add-Ons
December 14, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Welcome to Part Two of Tom's Hardware's Holiday Gift Guide. This second edition is loaded with extras that complement the machine we built in ... Read more
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Part 2: Building A Balanced Gaming PC
December 1, 2009 – 2:00 AM
What does it mean to build a truly-balanced PC? How great would it be to piece together a machine bottlenecked by neither CPU or GPU? We set ... Read more
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Tom's Hardware's 2009 Gift Guide: Part 1, For System Builders
November 25, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Welcome to Part One of Tom's Hardware's Holiday Gift Guide. This first episode is geared toward those system builders planning to pool some ... Read more
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Part 1: Building A Balanced Gaming PC
November 10, 2009 – 2:00 AM
What does it mean to build a truly-balanced PC? How great would it be to piece together a machine bottlenecked by neither CPU or GPU? We set ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: AMD System Value Compared
September 29, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Our response to reader-demand for AMD systems focuses on the company’s penchant for gaming value across three budget classes. How do these ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $2,500 Performance PC
September 28, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Reader suggestions and previous test results defined most of this month’s highest-priced build. Will the extra planning and testing pay off in ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $1,250 Enthusiast Build
September 25, 2009 – 2:00 AM
With a limited budget and high-resolution gaming in our sights, we spice up this quarter's $1,250 build with as many graphics cards as we can fit ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $650 Gaming PC
September 24, 2009 – 2:00 AM
We kick off our third-quarter System Builder Marathon series with Paul's $650 gaming PC. Last time you asked for an all-AMD set of builds, and ... Read more
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How To: Building Your Own Render Farm
July 17, 2009 – 2:00 AM
You already know that it can take thousands of processing cores hours to render a single frame of film animation, but did you know it's possible ... Read more
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The HTPC / Windows 7 Chronicles: You Asked, We Answer!
July 6, 2009 – 2:00 AM
It's a good time to be building your own HTPC. AMD has it's innovative Maui platform and Asus is offering the first (and currently only) sound ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon: Performance And Value Compared
May 28, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Our builders have assembled, tested, and overclocked three reduced-size performance systems, and now we’re ready to compare their efforts. Which ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, May '09: $600 Gaming PC
May 27, 2009 – 2:00 AM
You've already seen our $2,500 and $1,300 Core i7-based builds. Now we're going to try to put together a miniaturized gaming system on a $600 ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, May '09: $1,300 Enthusiast PC
May 26, 2009 – 2:00 AM
As you know, we’ve changed things up for this System Builder Marathon, squeezing the best components we can into portable Micro-ATX cases. Sure, ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon, May '09: $2,500 Performance PC
May 25, 2009 – 2:00 AM
This month we take the challenge you put to us last time around: to fit top-performance parts into a portable enclosure. Then we had the audacity ... Read more
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The $750 Computing Challenge: Germany Versus USA
February 25, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Perhaps you remember our $750 Computing Challenge system from last month. Germany sent over the configuration and benchmark results for its ... Read more
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How To: Build An HTPC (With Windows 7)
February 18, 2009 – 2:00 AM
After years of trying (unsuccessfully) to build a HTPC that a family would actually use, Chris Angelini thinks that AMD and Microsoft may have ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon: Performance & Value
February 13, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Using your feedback from months past, we’ve built, overclocked, and tested three systems with vastly different budgets. Now it's time to compare ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon: The $5,000 Extreme PC
February 12, 2009 – 2:00 AM
We increased our high-end budget this month to see how much performance $5,000 could deliver. This move is certain to destroy comparative value, ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon: $1,250 Mid-Range PC
February 11, 2009 – 2:00 AM
This month, we build an Intel Core 2 Quad-based system to compare to the previous months' similarly priced Core i7 and Core 2 Duo PCs. Which of ... Read more
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System Builder Marathon: $625 Gaming PC
February 10, 2009 – 2:00 AM
Last month's $625 build incorporated a more powerful CPU, and we didn't quite see the results we were hoping to see. This month, Paul puts the ... Read more
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Toaster RAID Returns, Better Than Ever
February 4, 2009 – 1:40 AM
Back in 2001, Dave Goeke shared his first Linux-based NAS with us, which was literally packaged inside a toaster. His design has undergone ... Read more
