October 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: Core 2 Duo E6850 Retail - $280
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 - $130
Hard Drive: 4x Seagate 7200.10 320GB - $320
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203N - $35
Graphics: 2x 8800GTX 768MB - $1,000
Monitor: Westinghouse L2410NM - $430
Audio: X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series - $170
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $265
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: XP Pro SP2 OEM - $139
UPS: OPTI-UPS ES1000C - $100

Total: $3,920

AMD Athlon 64 X2 System:

Case: CM Stacker 830 - $240
Power: Ultra X3 1000W - $260
CPU: Athlon 64 6400+ Retail - $210
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme - $60
Fan: 3x Scythe S-Flex 1200RPM - $45
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair - $240
Memory: Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 2x1GB Kit - $130
Hard Drive: 4x Seagate 7200.10 320GB - $320
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S203N - $35
Graphics: 2x 8800GTX 768MB - $1,000
Monitor: Westinghouse L2410NM - $430
Audio: X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series - $170
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $265
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: XP Pro SP2 OEM - $139
UPS: OPTI-UPS ES1000C - $100

Total: $3,790

Closing Remarks

We were hoping that price cuts would at least allow us to step our system up to dual GeForce 8800 Ultra cards this time, but ATI's failure to challenge at the top end has left NVIDIA with no incentive to lower prices. The opposite has happened in the CPU world, where Intel continues to hammer prices down on its fastest processors in an effort to punish ATI's parent company, AMD.

From an enthusiast standpoint, there's never been a better time to build, but the majority of attention must go to the Intel configuration. AMD definitely has some competitive parts for mainstream users, but at the ultra high-end system configurations, Intel continues to hold all the cards.

We continue to hope that AMD puts its house in order before our next Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide, but we've been holding out hopes for a long time. We keep hearing good news about near-term products, but like tomorrow, these are always a day away.

* 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.