System Builder Marathon, March 2011: $1000 Enthusiast PC

Memory, Hard Drive, And Optical Drive

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws series 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR3-1333 Kit

At $54.99, this dual-channel kit offers solid value with attractive 7-7-7-21 latencies and a 1333 MT/s rating. And, we have to admit that the Ripjaws’ saw-toothed heatsink looks good, too.

Read Customer Reviews of G.Skill's Ripjaws 4 GB DDR3-1333 Kit


Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB

Read Customer Reviews of Samsung's F3 1 TB

We’ve been using Western Digital’s Caviar Black drives in our $1000 enthusiast systems for some time now, but we thought it was time to give Samsung’s Spinpoint a try.

With 1 TB of capacity, this 7200 RPM model with 32 MB cache offers a good price/performance/capacity ratio for $64.99 

Optical Drive: Asus OEM DRW-24B1ST SATA 24x DVD Burner

Read Customer Reviews of Asus' DRW-24B1ST

We’ll give Asus' low-budget OEM drive a try this time around. At $18.99, this model has a 2 MB cache and 24x DVD+/-R write speeds.

  • americanherosandwich
    That is one funky looking case. Great $1k system!
    Reply
  • toxxel
    That case is a behemoth.
    Reply
  • dirtmountain
    After seeing that case i was afraid for Princess Leia.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    dirtmountainAfter seeing that case i was afraid for Princess Leia.
    LOL
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    Crazy looking case, but nice system overall!
    Reply
  • _Pez_
    for 1k usd seems to be a cheap system.. hmm nice review, is good to see that new processors are really efficient even when overclocked ..to bad about the 22cm cooler of the side panel of that funny case. My Armor+ has exactly the same issue with a V6gt cooler and I decided to go back to my hyper212+ :D.
    Reply
  • ava__
    you forgot to add the cost of your beloved Windows
    Reply
  • Crashman
    cangeliniLOLHuh?
    Reply
  • Mark Heath
    9511317 said:
    Huh?
    Good to see the Tom's team is on the same page XD
    Reply
  • AkIRA_22
    that has to be the ugliest case I've ever seen in my life. At the end of the day the case is 100% taste, to 'recommend' a case is futile.
    Reply