System Builder Marathon, May '09: $600 Gaming PC

Graphics Card And Hard Drive

Graphics Card: XFX GX260XADJF GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896 MB

Falling prices on the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 is the most noteworthy change for this month. This reference-clocked XFX was the cheapest model available, and has an added value of being backed by a transferable life-time warranty.

Read Customer Reviews of XFX's GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

The effective dual-slot cooler provides the key benefit of exhausting heat out of this month’s small enclosure. 

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500 GB

Read Customer Reviews of Seagate's Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB

This thin SATA/300 drive packs 500 GB on a single platter, spins at 7,200 RPM, and has 16 MB cache. Performance data and more detailed information can be found in this article.