March 2004 Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide

Introduction

Spring is just around the corner, new high-profile games have been hitting the market, and this is a perfect time to shop for an extreme gaming rig. Each month we are given $4000, and sent on a mission to assemble the best possible gaming machine to satisfy even the most discriminating enthusiast gamer. As with our other prices guides, we still keep an eye out for relative value, and weigh price-to-performance ratios heavily before making a decision on which components to include.

Even with a huge $4000 budget, there are still some very real limitations that we need to keep in mind. You won't find any ridiculously expensive plasma TV/monitors, nor will we be able to include an extravagant home theater-level sound system. Rather, the computer hardware is balanced, so that we can feature top-end components for virtually every category of the system. Overall, we are very confident in our choices from month-to-month, and each component is put to the litmus test, as $4000 is simply too much money to slap down, without giving the overall configuration some serious thought.

This year is certainly going to be a benchmark one for computer gamers. We are just three months into 2004, and we have already seen a number of high profile releases, and the list is only going to grow as the months roll by. Many of these upcoming titles will require a high performance PC to perform at their full glory, and that's one great reason why we put together our monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide.

Extreme PC Budget: $4000

Case: Cooler Master TAC-T01 WaveMaster w/Antec 480W TruePower PSU

Current Cost of Case: $211
Months on List: 2
Price Change: -$11

A computer case is likely to outlast just about any other component in your system so it's very important that you invest your money accordingly. A system case not only needs to be aesthetically pleasing, but it also must have sufficient room for your current components, and enough expansion options to accommodate any future upgrades. Through the years we have grown attached cases from a number of manufacturers including those from CoolerMaster, Lian Li, and Antec, just to name a few. These name brand cases are among the best to work with and are bound to turn a few heads.

Cooler Master is know for producing some very slick units, so it should come as no surprise that we're continuing to recommend one of their cases this month. Due to availability issues with the case we used a few months back, we opted to go with the more impressive TAC-T01 WaveMaster chassis. This case features a brushed aluminum alloy housing, and includes a removable motherboard tray, front peripheral ports, and has a convenient molded door to hide unsightly mismatched drives.

Most high-end PC cases ship without a PSU unit, and it is very important to pick up a quality, name brand PSU when purchasing your case. We chose to stick with the excellent Antec 480W TruePower again this month, but equivalent units from Enermax or ThermalTake should more than foot the bill. Our Extreme Gaming System needs some serious power to feed the high performance processor, video card, and other components, and 480W of Antec juice should be ample wattage for stability at basic speeds or when overclocking. The power supply can be found online for about $78.

If you choose to go an alternative route when selecting the power supply, please make sure to stick with name brand units (Antec, Enermax, ThermalTake, etc.) and avoid any bargain bin units with lofty output claims.