Here are the parts used in this build, all available from NewEgg. Prices are current as of this writing (September 24, 2009):

	Type	Component	Price
	CPU	AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor	$102
	Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P ATX AMD Motherboard	$110
	Memory	OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) OCZ2G10664GK	$70
	Video Card	Two (2) SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4850 100245HDMI Video Cards	$100 each
	Hard Disk	Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive	$57
	Power Supply	Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power “compatible with Core i7″ Power Supply	$85
	Optical Drive	SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B	$32
	Case	Rosewill Wind Ryder Black Dual 120mm Fans Computer Case	$40
Total			$696

Yes, I said Tom’s set out to build the PC with a $650 budget, but it seems prices have changed, bumping up the total of the parts above to $700—a figure exclusive of any relevant shipping charges and taxes. However, seven hundred dollars is still a very affordable figure for quality gaming. The two ATI Radeon HD 4850s were able to achieve a 3DMark Vantage 1.02 GPU score of 12,470. Compare that figure to the 16,813 score of the GeForce GTX 295, a high-end video card that costs at least $500.

In other words, for significantly less, this $700 PC represents enough power for the latest and next-generation PC video games. As the folks from Tom’s conclude:

If you look over our SBM articles from the past year, you’ll notice we continually strive to add more graphics muscle to our budget gaming rig. As prices drop, we have stepped up from the GeForce 8800 GT to the Radeon HD 4850, the Radeon HD 4870 512MB, and the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, and now finally to a pair of HD 4850 512MB cards. While we did see instances where more graphics memory would have been useful, this was still by far the most potent graphics solution we have squeezed into our lowest SBM budget.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

ATI now stands unchallenged in Blu-ray audio processing, power consumption, single GPU performance, and performance per watt, DirectX 11, multi-monitor setups, anti-aliasing performance, and anisotropic accuracy. By any measure, the confluence of these qualities easily makes the Radeon HD 5000 the most significant shakeup of the GPU market in the last two years.

Pretty bold assertions, but given the detailed rundown of the HD 5000 series capabilities, it’s easy to see that this argument may have merit. Especially when you consider the benchmarks—measures of performance—pouring in from all over the net:

• TechReport
• PC Perspective
• AnandTech
• TechSpot
• Hardware Canucks
• TweakTown

But your average joe will probably drool over the HD 5000 series due to its capability to run up to nine concurrent displays. Several-monitor setups have been around for years, but this newfangled “Eyefinity” technology makes linking displays to only one video card very easy.

Such performance of course comes at a cost: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 retails for $380 at NewEgg, regardless of what brand you choose.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Image courtesy of ATI

Unless you don’t believe what the folks over at Anandtech have to say (and they know their stuff), their new video card buyer’s guide for this North-Hemispherean spring will be quite useful. Especially since it’s got recommendations for a variety of price points:

Hmmm… looks like ATI’s winning the current round of the never-ending battle between the maker and its arch-rival NVIDIA. According to Anandtech lately, that’s a value-for-money matter, and not performance.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Nice ATI! You’ll probably steal some thunder from NVIDIA when you release the Radeon HD 4550 and 4350 this October. Both video cards will feature support for DirectX 10.1, compatiblity with HDMI displays like the HP w2228h, and even 7.1 audio!

The 4550 will be $16 more expensive than the 4350 thanks to its 512MB of DDR3 RAM, compared to half that for the latter. Both cards run at 96 gigaflops, for those who are interested. (boingboing.net)

Post from: The Gadget Blog