Tom’s Hardware cooked up another value-for-money gaming system, again part of the website’s September 2009 System Builder’s Marathon. This time, they managed to squeeze in four video cards—each featuring a gigabyte of memory—working in tandem into a $1250 budget. Here are the parts chosen by Tom’s experts:

Type
Component
Price

CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor
$170

CPU Cooler
XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler
$35

Motherboard
MSI 790FX-GD70 ATX AMD Motherboard
$165

Memory
Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
$85

Video Card
Four (4) GIGABYTE GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB Video Cards
$480

Hard Disk
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 3.5″ SATA …read more

Through its September 2009 System Builder’s Marathon (SBM), Tom’s Hardware has managed to build a pretty powerful gaming PC—for only $650. That price doesn’t include a display, keyboard, and mouse, but it still represents significant value for money, especially when you consider the use of two ATI Radeon HD 4850s.
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 …read more

Here are some computers you can spend your money on: Tom’s Hardware recently concluded their May System Builder Marathon, a monthly feature that focuses on creating desktops at various price points following a certain theme. May’s SBM feature was particularly interesting, as it focused on creating portable gaming desktops perfect for LAN parties.
Tom’s set out to create three different PCs, within budgets of $600, $1300, and $2500 respectively. Luckily—if you’re based in the US—you can buy the parts they used from NewEgg:

~$600 PC
~$1,300 PC
~$2,500 PC

CPU
Intel Pentium E5200
Intel Core i7 920
Intel Core i7 920

CPU Cooler
Stock (What comes with the E2500)
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 …read more