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$1500 Gaming PC Buyer's Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts for March 2009

Norman Chan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:00:00 -0500

Time for another price and parts guide! The $1000 parts guide we posted earlier this month garnered much discussion and debate among readers, so we wanted to a better job explaining our choices in this edition. Compared to the pricey decked-out systems from OEM builders like Falcon and Digital Storm, $1500 isstill technically in the "budget" range . But for many people, that's still a lot of money to spend on a PC. We catered this build for gamers, and anchored our picks on the GPU and CPU, while judiciously choosing the other parts and brands to fit into our budget limits. The results were pleasantly surprising, and recent price cuts and rebates across the board really helped. Of course, your own configuration may vary wildly from ours depending your own needs, priorities, or brand allegiances,but we think this is an awesome configuration for something building a new gaming PC.

(All prices found on newegg.com, as of March 23rd, and do not include mail-in rebates, tax, or shipping)

Videocard

PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 X2
$401, www.powercolor.com

We started off this build with the video card, since we wanted something that relatively high-end, and anticipated that it would take up a considerable chunk of our $1500 budget. Initially, we considered options that would give us enough money left for a Core i7 CPU and motherboard. A single Nvidia GTX 280 was the first card we considered, since prices for it have fallen after the release of the ultra high-end GTX 295 and 285 models. The 4850 X2 was also another viable choice, since for $300 it delivers a better price/performance ratio than the top mid-range Nvidia offering. But then we remembered the 4870 X2, which held the title for fastest single-slot solution before the GTX 295 was released. Amazingly, PowerColor sells its 4870 X2 on Newegg for $401, and even clocks it higher than ATI reference boards. At this price, the pick for GPU was a no brainer.

CPU

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
$280, www.intel.com

For a $1500 gaming PC, it would be an insult if we didn't recommend an Intel Core i7 CPU. Nehalem is pretty much the only choice for a top of the line processor, since AMD's Phenom II has been relegated to compete at the mid-range level. The only real decision in this category was which Core i7 SKU to use. We have no qualms going with the 2.66GHz 920 part, even if it represents the "budget" end of the Core i7 lineup. The 920 performs tremendously well compared to even the best Core 2 CPUs, and smashes Phenom in most of our benchmarks. It's also very easy to overclock, so you can stretch your $280 investment a long way.

Motherboard

MSI X58 Pro
$190, www.msicomputer.com

Since we're using a Core i7 CPU, we have to pair it with an X58 LGA 1366 motherboard that supports its socket. Our favorite X58 board is currently the MSI Eclipse, but its no frills companion SKU, the MSI X58 Pro, is just as capable and reliable. In fact, we haven't had issues with any of the X58 boards we've tested so far, so the only big differentiating factors are SLI support and overclocking features. And since we're running an ATI-based 4870 X2 in this build, SLI is unnecessary as an upgrade path -- Crossfire will work fine here. The Eclipse is almost double the price of the X58 Pro at $350, so we're happy with the cost savings we made here. Alternatively, the Asus P6T Deluxe ($290) is also a fine choice, and supports SLI.

Power Supply

Corsair HX1000 Watt
$240, www.corsair.com

We don't review power supplies in the magazine, but we've used enough of them in the lab to have a good feel for what's reliable and trustworthy. PC Power & Cooling is our typical first choice, but we've also recently been very satisfied using Corsair's HX1000 PSU. Modular power cables, six 8-pic PCI-E connectors, and a plethora of SATA power cables ensures that you'll have plenty of opportunity (and power) to upgrade your system with more video cards, optical drives, and hard drives.

Memory

OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 7-7-7-20 1.6V
$97, www.ocztechnology.com

With RAM prices continuing to stumble, we see no reason why you shouldn't buy 6GB of memory for you next gaming PC. 6GB runs on three dimms in tri-channel mode on X58 motherboards, and OCZ's DDR3 series delivers exactly what you need for gaming at a great price. These sticks run with 7-7-7-20 memory timings, and should be stable at the stock voltage settings. Of course, you'll need a 64-bit OS to make use of all this memory.

Case

NZXT Tempest
$100, www.nzxt.com

We're currently testing another batch of mid-tower cases in the lab, but until we find something better, the NZXT Tempest remains our top mid-tower case, as it has for months. The Tempest bests the Antec 900 in a few minor categories (though they're both essentially the same case), but undercuts the 900 in price -- especially after a recent $10 price cut. From our review: "We experienced no difficulties whatsoever installing a modern-day system into this no-nonsense chassis. There was plenty of room to manage cables around our huge 8800 GTX card, and the case’s eight hard drive bays come with screwless rails preinstalled—you pop them off, attach them to a drive, and slide the whole deal into place. The two 12cm front-panel fans take care of the cooling efforts."

Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
$120, www.westerndigital.com

We chose Western Digital's Caviar Green for our $1000 Budget configuration, but have picked the 1TB Caviar Black series in this build. The Caviar Black costs about $15 more than its eco-friendly sister model, and uses a tiny bit more power to keep its platter spinning at a constant 7200RPM. This drive also utilizes dual processors to locate, move, and cache data quickly and sports double the cache as the Green model. That means that you'll get faster performance which will come in handy when loading games. We picked the OEM version drive, which saves you a few bucks, but omits the full manufacturer's warranty.

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F
$24, www.samsung.com

The Samsung SH-223 is a minor upgrade from its predecessor, the SH-203, but it’s our new favorite. The burner has 22x DVD +/-R and though a majority of the specifications mirrored that of the older model, the SH-223 is seconds speedier. And don't worry if you can't find it listed on Samsung's website -- this drive is still very much alive and in production. Since its last appearance in our $1000 budget PC price guide, the S223F has gone up in price by $1.

Operating System*

Microsoft Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM*
$100, www.microsoft.com

If you're still wary of running 64-bit Windows, man up and have some faith. 64-bit Vista may have been a mess when it first launched, the Microsoft has hotfixed and patched the vast majority of compatibility problems with its soon-to-be-suceded OS. Trust us: 64-bit Vista stable, and it'll let you use all 4GB of memory you bought for this rig. We didn't include the operating system in our final price list, partly because we wanted to keep our cost below $1500, and partly because we know many of you have licensed copies of Windows that you can still use (or even the Windows 7 beta!). However, if you take the rebate discounts into consideration, adding the $100 price for Vista 64-bit will still keep you well under $1500!

Price Breakdown

From our pie chart below, you can see that the GPU and CPU -- arguably the two most important components in a PC -- together take up almost half the price of our build (and more than that if you include the motherboard). The videocard itself claims over a quarter of the total price, but that's a smart allocation since it has the biggest impact on gaming performance. 17% (or $240) devoted to the power supply might seem a bit high, but we think the investment is worth it for the upgrading potential. Since our total price still falls under $1500 (not including tax or shipping, nor rebates), you could also opt for a powerful CPU cooler (we like the Zalman CNPS 9900NT) if you plan on overclocking or upgrade to a premium version of our build's motherboard model.

Part:	Model:	Price:	(Price after rebate)	Newegg Link
Motherboard	MSI X58 Pro	$190	$170	Link
CPU	Intel Core i7 920	$280		Link
Memory	OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666	$97	$77	Link
Video Card	PowerColor 4870 X2	$401	$381	Link
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000W	$240	$220	Link
Case	NZXT Tempest	$100	$80	Link
Hard Drive	WD Digital Caviar Black 1TB	$120		Link
Optical Drive	Samsung SH-S223F	$24		Link

Total: $1,452 ($1352 after rebates)

$1000 Budget PC Buyer's Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts for March 2009

Norman Chan — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:30:00 -0500

It's been far too long since we've run a Parts and Price Guide on the website, but we're now ready to get back into the groove of monthly component recommendations for your next PC build. This month, we're starting off with a $1000 PC. You'll be surprised at how much power and storage you can get for a grand -- even we're hesitant to call it a mere budget rig. In the following weeks, we'll also be running guides for $1500, $2000 systems, and will even try assembling and benchmarking a $500 configuration for the really budget-conscious (the troubled economy pretty much mandates it!). But for now, take a dive into our choices for a respectable system, and sound off on how you would build your PC differently!

(All prices found on newegg.com, as of March 8th, and do not include mail-in rebates)

Motherboard

Asus M3N72-D
$128, www.asus.com

We haven't had a chance to review this nForce 750a motherboard, but its support for SLI and 1066 DDR2 memory (with AM2+ CPUs) makes it ideal for the budget buyer. Dual PCI-E x16 and x2.2 slots give you plenty of breathing room for expansion, and the mobo even has integrated 8-series Nvidia graphics if you don't plan on gaming with a discrete GPU (or hate freedom). A plethora of I/O ports (12 USB supported), integrated Realtek audio, ExpressGate OS, and robust overclocking abilities makes this a smart buy at a great price.

CPU

AMD Phenom II X4 810
$169, www.amd.com

AMD's Phenom II won't win benchmark battles against Intel's top Core i7 CPUs, but these chips are competing for a different market. This 2.6GHz part will give you respectable performance (and overclocking potential) for its sub-$200 price. When you pit the Phenom II against a comparable Core 2 Quad from Intel, Amd walks away with a decisive price and performance win. One thing to note is this is a Socket AM3 chip, which will work in AM2+ motherboards like the one we recommend above.

Memory

Kingston KVR800D2K2 4GB
$41, www.kingston.com

Nothing much to say here. DDR2 memory is so cheap these days that there's no reason to get less than 4GB for your new system. To make use of all 4GB, we recommend you use a 64-bit OS like Vista Home Premium. In our experience, all the top memory brands are reliable, so you can't go wrong with Kingston, Crucial, Corsair, OCZ, or Patriot.

Videocard

EVGA GTX 260 216
$250, www.evga.com

From our EVGA GTX 260 review: "With the same stock clock speeds but 24 more shader processors than the original, the new version of the 260 GTX delivers comparable performance to the 4870 at a similar price. The speeds and feeds are about the same as the original 260’s, although EVGA clocked this card’s core at 626MHz (up from 576MHz stock) and includes 896MB of GDDR3 running on a 448-bit bus at 1053MHz (stock is 999MHz)... Performance was about what we expected; the card delivered scores that were slower than a GeForce GTX 280’s but slightly faster than the 4870’s in shader-intensive games such as Crysis." In other words, this is a fantastic mid-range part. Especially since the price has dropped to $250.

Power Supply

Corsair VX550 Watt
$104, www.corsair.com

SLI compatibility with dual-PCIE power cables (one six-pin and another eight-pin), a dedicated +12V rail, six SATA power cables, and six four-pin molex cables makes this PSU more than beefy enough to power our config. The only thing you won't be able to do is run two GTX 280 GPUs if you choose that upgrade path, because each require two PCIE power cables.

Case

NZXT Tempest
$110, www.nzxt.com

This has been our favorite mid-tower case for months, besting out the similarly configured Antec 900 (the NZXT is slightly cheaper). From our review: "We experienced no difficulties whatsoever installing a modern-day system into this no-nonsense chassis. There was plenty of room to manage cables around our huge 8800 GTX card, and the case’s eight hard drive bays come with screwless rails preinstalled—you pop them off, attach them to a drive, and slide the whole deal into place. The two 12cm front-panel fans take care of the cooling efforts."

Operating System

Microsoft Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM
$100, www.microsoft.com

Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
$104, www.westerndigital.com

Along with memory, hard drive prices have also plummetted in the past six months. We still find it amazing that you can buy a terabyte of storage for almost less than $100. The Digital Caviar Green is relatively quiet and power-efficient, and doesn't fall victim to firmware errors that some of its competitors are currently suffering from. It may not be as fast as a Velociraptor, but we think most users will be happy with its modest speeds.

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F
$23, www.samsung.com

Parts:	Price:
Motherboard	$128
CPU	$169
Memory	$41
Video Card	$250
Power Supply	$89
Case	$110
Operating System	$100
Hard Drive	$104
Optical Drive	$23

Total: $1,014

$800 Budget PC Buyer’s Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts For October 2008

Benson Hong — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0500

As some of you may recall, we featured a Budget Badass Buyer’s Guide at the beginning of the month to provide some guidance to those looking for solid performance at what we, Maximum PC, would consider to be a reasonable price. We read your responses to the build and many felt that $1500 was a bit over what the typical user would consider “budget.” So, we took it a step further and created a Budget PC below the $1500 mark. In fact, we even dropped it under $1000. At $800, we couldn’t quite figure out if it would even be possible to construct a PC that could play the latest games or even do some basic photo-manipulation in Photoshop. We stepped up to the challenge and built this Budget PC and put it to the test against our hardcore, $5000 machines to see how they match up.

Since we are still in the process of assembling the rig, benchmarks have yet to be run. For now, we give you our parts list. Check back soon for the results from our tests!

(Prices as listed on Newegg)

Videocard

Visiontek Radeon HD 4850
$185, www.visiontek.com

Named the Best of the Best mid-range video card, the Visiontek Radeon HD 4850 offers everything you need in a sub-$200 video card. Don't be afraid to toss the latest games at this GPU, just don't expect Crysis to amaze you with anything over 10 FPS.

Motherboard

MSI P45 Neo3
$110, www.msicomputer.com

Sporting Intel's latest P45 chipset, the P45 Neo3 is a toned down version of the popular P45 Platinum. The board only has one 16x PCI-E slot leaving the idea for SLI or Crossfire in the dust, but with our budget at $800, adding another video card to the equation is definitely out of the question.

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz Wolfsdale
$170 (Retail), www.intel.com

A few years ago, purchasing a PC with a Pentium 4 3GHz processor for under $800 was nearly impossible. Now, we can easily slip in a Core 2 Duo at a fairly low price. The E8400 Wolfsdale core features a 6MB L2 cache and 45nm technology allowing for a larger memory bandwidth. The chip also has massive overclocking potential.

Memory

Corsair 2GB DDR2 800
$37, www.corsair.com

We've recommended 4GB in our past build-it guides for the hardcore users, but with a budget of $800, 2GB will suffice for this system. With quality memory from Corsair, the XMS series will provide great performance for the budget user.

Case, power supply, hard drive, and optical drive on the next page!

Case

Antec Three Hundred
$55, www.antec.com

Antec has always had a solid series of chassis. While the Three Hundred lacks a few features such as screwless mounting and a fairly cramped interior, it still offers plenty of cooling and a sturdy design. And for $55, we can't really complain since it's half the price of its budget case rival, the NZXT Tempst.

Power Supply

Antec EarthWatts 500W
$50, www.antec.com

We're usually a little weary on "green" hardware for our PCs, but the EarthWatts series from Antec is no joke when it comes to energy efficiency. With its 80 PLUS Certification and stable power output, not only will you be saving money building your PC, but you'll also be saving on your energy bill.

Operating System

Windows Vista 32-bit Home Basic
$100 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu Linux
Free, www.ubuntu.com

Hard Drive

Seagate 500GB Barracuda
$70, www.seagate.com

Seagate's popular Barracuda series has still yet to disappoint. So, when we were looking for a budget hard drive, we first turned to this 500GB Barracuda. 500GB may not be enough storage for the hardcore users out there, but it is plenty to the average user.

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F DVD Burner
$26, www.samsung.com

We've hyped up this drive for the past few build-it guides. With it's solid performance and affordable price, we feel this burner is suitable for any system or budget.

Total: $803

Budget Badass Buyer’s Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts For October 2008

Benson Hong — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0500

Since our last Budget Badass update back in July, the hardware industry has made some dramatic turns as far as new technology goes. With the release of the energy-efficient Penryn core from Intel, we took a side step away from the Kentsfield core and took a swing at the Q9300. While the Q9300 sports a slightly smaller cache than the Q6600, we found the Penryn to perform better in our tests. With the extra leeway we had in the budget from the previous configuration, we also swapped out the Radeon 4870 for a beefier GTX 280 while keeping the final price tag under $1500. Now this, my friends, is what we would like to call a Budget Badass!

Videocard

BFG GeForce GTX 280 1GB
$389, www.bfgtech.com

With the drop in video card prices, we couldn't help but to move up the graphic card chain to the next best thing. The GTX 280 is faster across all benchmarks against the Radeon 4870 and features all the video-processing capabilities available on the 9000 series cards.

Motherboard

MSI P35 Neo2-FR
$120, www.msicomputer.com

One of our best budget motherboards to date. Offering stellar performance with a price tag hovering around the $100 zone, this motherboard will meet all your budget standards and more.

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz Penryn
$259 (Retail), www.intel.com

Despite the chip's smaller cache size, the 5-percent clock-speed advantage and its faster benchmark results were enough to put this chip ahead of the Q6600.

Memory

Patriot 4GB DDR2 800
$80, www.patriotmem.com

Memory seems to be getting cheaper and cheaper these days, giving one more reasons to go for the full 4GB. Since Vista is known for it's memory thievery, it wouldn't hurt to stock up on the extra GB.

Case

NZXT Tempest
$110, www.nxzt.com

This budget case offers a very spacious interior, screwless hard drive bays, and plenty of cooling for the budget user. There's a reason why this chasis received a kickass verdict.

Power Supply

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610Watt
$110, www.pcpower.com

PC Power has been known for it's no-BS wattage output, and since we are Maximum PC, we concur with no-BS.

Operating System

Windows XP Professional
$140 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Alternatively, you can buy the cheaper OEM version of Windows Vista Premium or save a hundred bucks with Ubuntu Linux.

Windows Vista Premium
$110 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu Linux
Free, www.ubuntu.com

Hard Drive

Samsung F1 HD103UJ 1TB
$135, www.samsung.com

It's our Best of the Best hard drive, and since we can't cram a pricey Velociraptor into our tight budget, we feel this 1TB of storage goodness is the next best thing.

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F DVD Burner
$26, www.samsung.com

We were sad to see the SH-S203N model discontinued after such a good showing, but we were quickly condoled with the SH-S223F and its remarkably fast speeds.

Sound Card

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
$91, www.creative.com

It's not quite at the level of the Xtremegamer Fatal1ty Pro, but for almost half the cost, this one will tickle your ears just fine.

Total: $1,460

Budget Badass Buyer’s Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts For July 2008

Norman Chan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:48:35 -0500

Back in our April 2008 issue, we showed you how to configure and build a $1,500 no-compromises PC. Our budget badass wasn’t just an affordable “lean machine,” it performed admirably in our system benchmarks, earning respectable scores in comparison to our desktop testbed. Now that it’s several months later, and we wanted to give you an update to our component recommendations. Not only have hardware prices dropped since we wrote the story, but new technologies and products have also emerged that give you more for your money. In fact, our no-compromises $1,500 PC now only costs $1,320, that’s including upgraded parts. By Grabthar’s Hammer, what a savings!

As a point of reference, here’re the old parts and price list from the April issue's $1,500 PC:

Videocard
XFX GeForce 8800 GTS 512 Alpha Dog Edition
$350, www.xfxforce.com
Motherboard
MSI P35 Neo2-FR
$120, www.msi.com.tw
CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
$275, www.intel.com
Memory
Patriot 4GB DDR2/800
$120, www.patriotmem.com
Case
Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-T01-UW
$120, www.coolermaster.com
Power Supply
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610
$120, www.pcpower.com
Operating System
Windows XP Media Center Edition*
$120, www.microsoft.com
Hard Drive
Seagate 750GB Barracuda AS 7200.10
$184, www.seagate.com
Optical Drive
Optiarc AD-7190A
$25, www.sonynec-optiarc.com
Soundcard
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
$80, www.soundblaster.com

And here’s how we would configure it today (prices as listed on Newegg):

Videocard

VisionTek Radeon 4870 512MB
$310, www.visiontek.com

Motherboard

MSI P35 Neo2-FR
$120, www.msicomputer.com

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Kentsfield
$210 (Retail), www.intel.com

Memory

Patriot 4GB DDR2 800
$85, www.patriotmem.com

Case

NZXT Tempest
$110, www.nxzt.com

Power Supply

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610Watt
$115, www.pcpower.com

Operating System

Windows XP Professional
$140 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Alternatively, you can buy the cheaper OEM version of Windows Vista Premium or save a hundred bucks with Ubuntu Linux.

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$1500 Gaming PC Buyer's Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts for March 2009

Videocard

PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 X2$401, www.powercolor.com

CPU

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz$280, www.intel.com

Motherboard

MSI X58 Pro$190, www.msicomputer.com

Power Supply

Corsair HX1000 Watt$240, www.corsair.com

Memory

OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 7-7-7-20 1.6V$97, www.ocztechnology.com

Case

NZXT Tempest$100, www.nzxt.com

Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB$120, www.westerndigital.com

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F$24, www.samsung.com

Operating System*

Microsoft Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM* $100, www.microsoft.com

Price Breakdown

Total: $1,452 ($1352 after rebates)

$1000 Budget PC Buyer's Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts for March 2009

Motherboard

Asus M3N72-D$128, www.asus.com

CPU

AMD Phenom II X4 810$169, www.amd.com

Memory

Kingston KVR800D2K2 4GB $41, www.kingston.com

Videocard

EVGA GTX 260 216$250, www.evga.com

Power Supply

Corsair VX550 Watt$104, www.corsair.com

Case

NZXT Tempest$110, www.nzxt.com

Operating System

Microsoft Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM $100, www.microsoft.com

Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB$104, www.westerndigital.com

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F$23, www.samsung.com

Total: $1,014

$800 Budget PC Buyer’s Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts For October 2008

Videocard

Visiontek Radeon HD 4850$185, www.visiontek.com

Motherboard

MSI P45 Neo3$110, www.msicomputer.com

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz Wolfsdale$170 (Retail), www.intel.com

Memory

Corsair 2GB DDR2 800$37, www.corsair.com

Case

Antec Three Hundred$55, www.antec.com

Power Supply

Antec EarthWatts 500W$50, www.antec.com

Operating System

Windows Vista 32-bit Home Basic$100 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu LinuxFree, www.ubuntu.com

Hard Drive

Seagate 500GB Barracuda $70, www.seagate.com

Optical Drive

Samsung SH-S223F DVD Burner$26, www.samsung.com

Total: $803

Budget Badass Buyer’s Guide -- Updated Prices and Parts For October 2008

Videocard

BFG GeForce GTX 280 1GB$389, www.bfgtech.com

Motherboard

MSI P35 Neo2-FR$120, www.msicomputer.com

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz Penryn$259 (Retail), www.intel.com

Memory

Patriot 4GB DDR2 800$80, www.patriotmem.com

Case

NZXT Tempest$110, www.nxzt.com

Power Supply

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610Watt$110, www.pcpower.com

Operating System

Windows XP Professional$140 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Windows Vista Premium$110 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu LinuxFree, www.ubuntu.com

PowerColor Radeon HD 4870 X2
$401, www.powercolor.com

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
$280, www.intel.com

MSI X58 Pro
$190, www.msicomputer.com

Corsair HX1000 Watt
$240, www.corsair.com

OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 7-7-7-20 1.6V
$97, www.ocztechnology.com

NZXT Tempest
$100, www.nzxt.com

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
$120, www.westerndigital.com

Samsung SH-S223F
$24, www.samsung.com

Microsoft Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM*
$100, www.microsoft.com

Asus M3N72-D
$128, www.asus.com

AMD Phenom II X4 810
$169, www.amd.com

Kingston KVR800D2K2 4GB
$41, www.kingston.com

EVGA GTX 260 216
$250, www.evga.com

Corsair VX550 Watt
$104, www.corsair.com

NZXT Tempest
$110, www.nzxt.com

Microsoft Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM
$100, www.microsoft.com

Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
$104, www.westerndigital.com

Samsung SH-S223F
$23, www.samsung.com

Visiontek Radeon HD 4850
$185, www.visiontek.com

MSI P45 Neo3
$110, www.msicomputer.com

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3GHz Wolfsdale
$170 (Retail), www.intel.com

Corsair 2GB DDR2 800
$37, www.corsair.com

Antec Three Hundred
$55, www.antec.com

Antec EarthWatts 500W
$50, www.antec.com

Windows Vista 32-bit Home Basic
$100 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu Linux
Free, www.ubuntu.com

Seagate 500GB Barracuda
$70, www.seagate.com

Samsung SH-S223F DVD Burner
$26, www.samsung.com

BFG GeForce GTX 280 1GB
$389, www.bfgtech.com

MSI P35 Neo2-FR
$120, www.msicomputer.com

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz Penryn
$259 (Retail), www.intel.com

Patriot 4GB DDR2 800
$80, www.patriotmem.com

NZXT Tempest
$110, www.nxzt.com

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610Watt
$110, www.pcpower.com

Windows XP Professional
$140 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Windows Vista Premium
$110 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu Linux
Free, www.ubuntu.com

Samsung F1 HD103UJ 1TB
$135, www.samsung.com

Samsung SH-S223F DVD Burner
$26, www.samsung.com

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
$91, www.creative.com

VisionTek Radeon 4870 512MB
$310, www.visiontek.com

MSI P35 Neo2-FR
$120, www.msicomputer.com

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Kentsfield
$210 (Retail), www.intel.com

Patriot 4GB DDR2 800
$85, www.patriotmem.com

NZXT Tempest
$110, www.nxzt.com

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610Watt
$115, www.pcpower.com

Windows XP Professional
$140 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Windows Vista Premium
$110 (OEM), www.microsoft.com

Ubuntu Linux
Free, www.ubuntu.com

Seagate 750GB Barracuda
$120, www.seagate.com

Samsung SH-203N DVD Burner
$30, www.samsung.com

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
$80, www.creative.com