System Builder Marathon, June 2011: $1000 Enthusiast PC
System Builder Marathon: $1000 Enthusiast System
System Builder Marathon, June 2011: The Articles
Here are links to each of the five 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.
To enter the giveaway, please fill out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!
Day 1: The $2000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $500 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Day 5: Tom's Hand-Picked SuperCombo
Introduction
This quarter we’re staying close to the formula we used to put together our previous $1000 system, with one major change: dual graphics cards instead of a single Radeon HD 6950. It will be interesting to see how a couple of mid-range cards operating in tandem stand up to our last effort, considering we were able to unlock that board's artificially-disabled APUs and overclock it to specifications almost identical to a real Radeon HD 6970.
Of course two mid-range boards are more expensive than a single high-end card, so we have to choose a few components that don’t cost as much as the ones we used last time in order to keep the price close to the $1000 target.
Here’s our shopping list:
| $1000 Enthusiast System Components | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | MSI P67A-G43 LGA 1155, Intel P67 chipset | $125 |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2500K3.3 GHz (3.7 GHz Turbo), Quad-Core, 6 MB L3 Cache | $220 |
| CPU Cooler | Xigmatek Loki SD963 | $25 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR3-1333 Dual-Channel Desktop Memory Kit | $55 |
| Graphics | 2 x Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 1 GB GDDR5 | $340 |
| Hard Drives | Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB 750 GB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3Gb/s | $70 |
| Optical | LG GH22MS7022x DVD Burner | $20 |
| Case | Xclio Nighthawk | $55 |
| Power | Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650 W ATX12V, EPS12V, 80 PLUS-Certified | $90 |
| Row 9 - Cell 0 | Total Cost | $991 |
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Don Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.