July Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Roundup

Intel Core 2 Duo System:

Case: CM Stacker 830 - $240
Power: Ultra X3 1000W - $260
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Retail - $300
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme - $60
Fan: 3x Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM - $45
Motherboard: ASUS Striker Extreme - $300
Memory: Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 2x1GB Kit - $160
Hard Drive: 4x Seagate 7200.10 320GB - $300
Optical Drive: Lite-On LH-20A1S - $30
Graphics: 2x GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB - $1,000
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 215TW - $450
Audio: Creative Labs X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS - $180
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $280
Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser - $45
Keyboard: Logitech G15 - $64
Game Pad: Saitek P3000 - $30
NIC: Included - $0
Floppy Drive: "Major Brand" depending on vender - $7
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2-OEM - $139
UPS: OPTI-UPS ES1000C - $110

Total: $4,000

AMD Athlon 64 X2 System:

Case: CM Stacker 830 - $240
Power: Ultra X3 1000W - $260
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 6000+ Retail - $180
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (with AM2 mounting kit) - $67
Fan: 3x Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM - $45
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair - $240
Memory: Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 2x1GB Kit - $160
Hard Drive: 4x Seagate 7200.10 320GB - $300
Optical Drive: Lite-On LH-20A1S - $30
Graphics: 2x GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB - $1,000
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 215TW - $450
Audio: Creative Labs X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS - $180
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $280
Mouse: Logitech G5 Laser - $45
Keyboard: Logitech G15 - $64
Game Pad: Saitek P3000 - $30
NIC: Included - $0
Floppy Drive: "Major Brand" depending on vender - $7
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2-OEM - $139
UPS: OPTI-UPS ES1000C - $110

Total: $3,827

Closing Remarks

Intel's latest price cuts have dropped AMD out of the running for serious performance fanatics, and even the AMD system's $173 cost savings is not much of a consolation. It's extremely unfortunate for the long-term performance market that AMD has not been able to bring its latest generation of processor technology to fruition, and the failure of its ATI subsidiary to impress us with the latest Radeon HD 2900XT graphics cards could spell an upcoming market disaster. Perhaps well-intentioned AMD fans will make the ultimate sacrifice and buy slower parts.

In terms of performance, the addition of GeForce 8800 GTX cards in SLI mode is the obvious upgrade, although moving to the 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo E6850 is a distant second. With Vista still floundering we were forced to go with Windows XP Pro and retain the dreaded floppy drive as an easy way to install RAID drivers during installation. Advanced users would rather "slipstream" their RAID drivers into an image made of their XP disks, and others may simply dig out an old drive whenever it becomes necessary.

* Please note that prices do not include variable charges like taxes or shipping. The prices in our guide reflect market availability - generally the second or third lowest we found - in an attempt to minimize the financial burden associated with choosing multiple vendors.