March High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide

Introduction

In each edition of our monthly High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide, we are given $2500 in cash to spend, and go to the limit in search of the ultimate high-end gaming machines. These systems certainly pump out the gaming framerates, but we do not spend this money frivolously, and our tech savvy and eye for a deal play a large role in the choices we make. All of the hardware picks in this guide are done after carefully weighing the price to performance ratio of each component, then seeing how they fit into our $2500 budget. This guide also represents the median between our Value Buyer's Guide with only a $1000 limit, and our Extreme Buyer's Guide with its massive $4000 budget.

The basic purpose behind this guide is to give you a general idea of what kind of high-end gaming PC is possible with a budget of $2500. While the individual components are top notch, we take a look at the larger picture, and decide which pieces meld together the best to form the highest-performing, feature-rich gaming PC possible. We recommend system configurations for both the Intel and AMD sides of the spectrum, and are not here to promote one platform over the other.

Our last guide showed off some very exciting and highly-anticipated new technologies, such as NVIDIA nForce4 SLI motherboards, hotrod PCI Express video cards, and even an upgrade to the i925X chipset with DDR2-533 memory. This time, we don't have the same liberty in terms of new hardware releases, but we have managed to slide a few upgrades into the guide, which range from faster processors to higher-performance SATA hard drives. In more general terms, we not able to make considerable improvements all areas this month, but our AMD and Intel systems have been improved in certain areas, and do offer a better overall configuration than last month.

Case: Cooler Master WaveMaster TAC-T01-E1C w/Antec 480W NeoPower Power Supply

Current Cost: $237
Months on list: 2
Price Change: +$1

The cornerstone of any high-end gaming system is a quality case and power supply. The case itself can be just as important as the components it houses inside, especially when you consider the amount of time you will be spending with it and the potential for future upgrades. The quintessential high-end enclosure will not only be aesthetically pleasing, but also functional enough that you won't become frustrated while working with it.

While there certainly is no shortage of quality case manufacturers, only a few make our short list each and every month. Lian Li, Cooler Master, and Antec are just a couple of the "top tier" case manufacturers producing cutting-edge, high-end enclosures. However, each month we must decide on only one case manufacturer, and this month we're sticking with Cooler Master. The Cooler Master WaveMaster TAC-T01-E1C is our favorite ATX case at this point in time, and even makes an appearance in our Extreme Buyer's guide.

The WaveMaster TAC-T01-E1C is without a doubt one of the best cases we have ever used. It features a removable motherboard tray, spacious interior, convenient front ports, a solid drive door, and sleek, brushed aluminum housing. The case also has 4 x 5.25", 1 x 3.5" (External), and 4 x 3.5" (Internal) expansion slots, front mounted USB ports, and room for 7 expansion slots. This system chassis also comes in a variety of colors, including Silver, Black, Blue and even Yellow. Priced at about $126 this model doesn't come cheap, but as the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for."

As many high end cases ship without a power supply to save costs and allow end-user flexibility, it seems only fitting that we provide a recommendation for this guide. High end computers, such as the one in this guide, have significant power and signal requirements so leaving the power supply choice to the customer is in everyone's best interest. We have been using the Antec 480W NeoPower PSU in our High-End Guide for the past couple of revisions, and there is certainly no reason to switch now.

The NeoPower offers 480W of reliable power in addition to modular power cables, native support for PCI Express, Serial ATA, and both 20 and 24-pin motherboard power connectors. Weighing in at about $110, the NeoPower is not cheap but the high-end power connectors and rock solid stability make it worth every penny. No matter which model you buy, it is very important to choose a power supply from a reputable brand (Antec, ThermalTake, Enermax, Vantec, etc.), as no-name, bargain units often have ridiculously high output claims that the hardware simply can't match.