[InTheStreets (old)]

Well, this update is long over due. Thanks to Krom this is now a sticky and will be updated as new gen is released.
Now obviously price changes daily for these products and new technology is coming out all the time. These budget conscious selections will be priced from newegg, because they are probably the most popular here in the states, easy to link to, and usually the cheapest. These are my personal recommendations, although you can choose parts of the same likeness from different manufacturers if you normally stick to a certain brand. Personally I like to stick to Gigabyte, Asus, DFI and EVGA for motherboards, Corsair, Mushkin, and G. Skill for RAM, Western Digital and Samsung for Hard Drives (Seagate has really hit a low lately with their products) and Corsair, PC Power & Cooling and Enermax for Power Supplies. Builds below do not reflect the addition of an OS or case and are based on 1280x1024 resolution. Your resolution and monitor size are important when selecting video cards.

Note: Be sure to check your motherboard QVL for compatible RAM as these lists are updated frequently.


Intel Platform
$500 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
Intel E6300 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116091
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128372
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145184
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161297
Corsair 450w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139003

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with an 9800GTX+ for price comparison

$600 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock - 3.0Ghz
Intel E8400 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115037
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128372
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145184
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161297
Corsair 450w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139003

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX+ for price comparison

$700 - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock - Budget Quad Core!
Intel Q9400 Quad-Core http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115131
ASUS P5Q Deluxe http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131297
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145184
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161297
Corsair 550VX 550w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139004

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX+ for price comparison

$800 build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock – Mid Range Quad Core!
Intel Q9550 Quad-Core http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115131
DFI LP UT X48-T2R http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813136049
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145184
Or
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115215
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128400
Corsair 4GB (2 x2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145260
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102825
Corsair 550VX 550w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139004

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard with an EVGA 750i for skt 775 / Video Card with a GTX 260

$950 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock – Quad Core!
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115202
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128375
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 X 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145236
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102825
Corsair 550VX 550w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139004

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a GTX 260

$1150 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock - Video Card for Resolution 1920x1200 or higher!
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115202
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131365
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 X 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145236
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1GB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102857
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139006

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a GTX 275 (not recommended unless you are dead set on Nvidia.)

$1450 Build - Can Overclock
Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock - Video Card for Resolution 1920x1200 or higher!
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115202
ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution w/ NF200 True x16 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131365
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 X 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145236
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 5870 1GB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102857
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139006

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Cards with GTX 285 (not recommended over the Radeon HD5870)

Unlimited Build - You'd Better Overclock / and be playing at 2560x1600
Unlimited Build - You'd Better Overclock / and be playing at 2560x1600
Intel Core i7-975 EXTREME EDITION http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115212
EVGA X58 4-WAY SLI Classified XL http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813188059
Corsair DOMINATOR 12GB (6 X 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145271
OCZ Vertex EX 120GB SLC SSD http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227443
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106228
EVGA CO-OP Edition GTX 295 x 4 (4-way SLI) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130504
PC Power & Cooling T12W 1200W http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817703012


AMD Platform
$500 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103681
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128392
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145260
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161297
Corsair 450w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139003

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with an 9800GTX+

$600 Build - Midrange Triple Core! (Black Edition requires aftermarket HSF)
AMD Phenom II X3 720 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103649
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131363
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145260
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161297
Corsair 550VX 550w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139004

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX+

$750 Build - Quad Core! (Black Edition requires aftermarket HSF)
AMD Phenom II X4 955 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103674
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131363
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145260
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161297
Corsair 550VX 550w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139004

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX+

$850 Build - Quad Core! (Black Edition requires aftermarket HSF)
AMD Phenom II X4 955 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103674
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131363
Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145260
Western Digital Caviar 500GB Sata II http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136320
Lite On 24x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106289
HIS Radeon HD 4890 1GB Turbo OC Edition http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161278
Corsair 550VX 550w 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139004

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card for GTX260

I'm not really going to go into the higher costing AMD builds simply because AMD's target demographic is the mid-range to low-end gamer.  If you plan to spend more than $900, you really want to go the Intel route.  Feel free to add suggestions or request some changes!

Intel Builds for when reusing your parts from previous setups - not updated

$500 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
Intel e8500 Wolfdale Core 2 Duo http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115036
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835207004
Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131296
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR21000 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820146755

This particular setup will overclock very nicely.  The key points to note here are the e8500's multiplier of 9.5, the type of Motherboard and the speed of the RAM.  The high multiplier will not require extreme Front Side Bus speeds to achieve the maximum overclock of the processor.  Although the P5Q-E has been known to hit 520+ FSB.  The P5Q-E's 8-phase power design provides greater power efficiency so important to operating temperatures, 96% power efficiency, high quality power components such as low RDS (on) MOSFETs for minimum switching loss.  All of this adds up to lower vdroop, and more stable power draw for your C2D.  8-phase, however, is not recommended when pairing with Quad Core processors and wanting a maximum overclock.  One downside, the 400 strapping on the P5Q-E does not work, hopefully a BIOS update in the future will fix this.  The Mushkin Redlines at DDR2 1000 (500mhz) are an adequate choice and will not be the culprit of holding your overclock back.  You can expect 4ghz+ with the e8500 E0 stepping, and 3.8ghz+ with the C1 stepping.

$650 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
Intel e8600 Core 2 Duo - guaranteed E0 stepping http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115054
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835207004
Asus P5Q-Deluxe Intel P45 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131297
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR21000 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820146755

This particular setup will overclock like a wet dream.  The key points to note here are the e8600's multiplier of 10, the type of Motherboard and of course, the speed of the RAM.  The high multiplier will not require extreme Front Side Bus speeds to achieve the maximum overclock of the processor, which I have seen hit 4.5ghz on air.  The Deluxe version has a few differences from its little brother the -E, but two are major.  A more extensive BIOS with greater tweaking options, and 16-phase power design for even greater efficiency (recommended for Quads).  The Mushkin Redlines at DDR2 1000 (500mhz) are an adequate choice and will not be the culprit of holding your overclock back.  You can expect 4-4.5ghz on air with the e8600.  The Q9550 is also a powerhouse on this board.  One downside is the 8.5 multiplier, requiring a higher FSB (470) to reach 4ghz, but that is never a guarantee.  The average for these chips is 3.6-3.8ghz on air, as when approaching 4ghz, the 45nm quads really eat up the volts when just jumping those few hundred mhz over the average overclock.  The E0 stepping of the Q9550 will give you a better chance of hitting 4ghz and 470FSB, but for the most part watercooling is necessary here.

$700 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
Intel Q9550 Core 2 Quad http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115041
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835207004
Asus P5Q-Deluxe Intel P45 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131297
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR2 1000 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820146755

The Q9550 is also a powerhouse on this board.  One downside is the 8.5 multiplier, requiring a higher FSB (470) to reach 4ghz, but that is never a guarantee.  The average for these chips is 3.6-3.8ghz on air, as when approaching 4ghz, the 45nm quads really eat up the volts when just jumping those few hundred mhz over the average overclock.  The E0 stepping of the Q9550 will give you a better chance of hitting 4ghz and 470FSB, but for the most part watercooling is necessary here.

AMD Builds for when reusing your parts from previous setups - not updated

$550 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103291
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835207004
DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813136041
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR2 1000 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820146755

This particular setup is pretty damn good in terms of overclocking.  With the 9950 Phenom BLACK EDITION you can expect to see 3ghz easy with minimal tweaking to the bios, and running at stock vcore in some occasions.  Lowering the multiplier and ramping up the HT Reference Clock, the DFI 790FX-M2R can hit 255MHz+.

$650 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103291
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835207004
ASUS Crosshair II Formula http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131292
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR2 1000 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820146755

The ASUS Crosshair II Formula is tri-SLI capable.  When using three double-slotted GPU cards, you will not be able to add any expansion cards, other than the supplied audi card from ASUS.  So, if you go for tri-SLI, the system would be primarily dedicated to gaming, which isn't a bad thing.  The board is capable of an HT Reference Clock of 235MHz+ when not using the onboard graphics.  This setup is really only practical when using two Video Cards in SLI, or if you plan to upgrade to a SLI setup in the future.


DDR3, Crossfire, and SLI
I could go into 15 different combinations of setups for higher price ranges including DDR3, Crossfire, and SLI setups, but I won't for now.  I will state a few things about the matter though.  When considering DDR3 you should take a few factors into account; one is motherboard brand, model and it's Qualified Vendor Listing, another is the bloated price of DDR3 setups (although price has come down some recently), and the last is your budget. 

When considering Crossfire, for maximum performance, you will want to run off the X58/X48/X38 chipsets.  The X58 & X48 chipset offers true x16/x16 Crossfire mode as opposed to the P55, P45 chipset at x8/x8 and the P35 at x16/x4. However, some X58 boards do not offer true x16/x16, and I believe only one P55 board, the ASUS P7P55 WS Supercomputer, offers true x16/x16 so you will want to check with the vendor first.  The increased bandwidth is worth the price of admission.  Running a crossfire setup on the P45 or P35 chipsets will choke performance, although you still will see decent gains on the P45 chipset.  Crossfire on a P35 board is really pointless, as the second card is only give x4 lines electrically.  Crossfire scales well, except for in Crysis, and although you are paying double you do not see twice the performance when adding a second card.  This is due to the 20% overhead (per card) caused by the 8b/10b encoding scheme, the inevitable CPU bottleneck caused by the cards raw bandwidth and the CPU inability to keep up.

SLI is Nvidia's answer to ATI's Crossfire, we all know that.  SLI on some game engines, Crysis for example, scales better than its counterpart.  The advantages and disadvantages of SLI are similar to that of Crossfire.  Performance does not double when adding the second card.  Again, with PCIe 2.0, it delivers 5 GT/s but employs the 8b/10b encoding scheme which takes 20% overhead on the overall raw bit rate.  As well the CPU bottleneck caused by the cards raw bandwidth will also be a factor.  TRI-SLI however, does not scale well in most engines, and is essentially only for benchmarking.  For UrT, do we really need more than one card anyway?  Nope, I have an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with a 9800pro still running UrT smoothly.

Top CPU Picks - Desktop LGA775 & Core i7/i5
Core i7/i5
I7-975 - 3.33ghz 6.4 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm D0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-965 - 3.20ghz 6.4 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-960 - 3.20ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm D0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-950 - 3.06ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed45 nm D0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-940 - 2.93ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-870 - 2.93ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed45 nm B1 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-860 - 2.80ghz4.8 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm N/A Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-920 - 2.66ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I7-920 - 2.66ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm D0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
I5-750 - 2.66ghz 4.8 GT/s Bus Speed 45 nm B1 Stepping 8 MB Cache

Core 2 Extreme - Unlocked Multipliers
QX9770 - 3.20ghz 1600 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
QX6850 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
QX9650 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45nm C0 Stepping 12 MB Cache
QX9650 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
QX6800 - 2.93ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B3 Stepping 8 MB Cache
X6800 - 2.93ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache (dual core)
QX6800 - 2.93ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
QX6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B3 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Core 2 Quad
Q9650 - 3.0ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9550S - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9550 - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9550 - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9505 - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm R0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
Q9505S - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm R0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
Q6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Q9450 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9400 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm R0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
Q9300 - 2.50ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M1 Stepping 6 MB Cache
Q6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Q6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B3 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Q8200 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm R0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
Q8200 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M1 Stepping 4 MB Cache
Core 2 Duo
E8600 - 3.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 6 MB Cache (Best Overclock, multiplier of 10)
E8500 - 3.16ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 6 MB Cache (Best High-end Bargain, $10 more than the 8400)
E8500 - 3.16ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E8400 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E6850 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E8400 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E8300 - 2.83ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E6750 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E7300 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache
E7300 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache
E8190 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E8200 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache (Best Bang for your buck, Overclocks to 3.6ghz-3.8ghz)
E4700 - 2.60ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E7200 - 2.53ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache
E7200 - 2.53ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache (Excellent Bargain for $119, Overclocks well 3.3-3.5 on avg.)
E4600 - 2.40ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm M0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6550 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6540 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E4500 - 2.20ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm M0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6400 - 2.13ghz  1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6400 - 2.13ghz  1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6420 - 2.13ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E4400 - 2.0ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm M0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E4400 - 2.0ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6300 - 1.86ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6300 - 1.86ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6320 - 1.86ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E4300 - 1.80ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache

My Top Intel Motherboard Picks
Price per performace is the determining factor - Update soon
X58-

P55-

X48-
DFI LANPARTY UT X48-T2R
DFI DFI LP DK X48-T2RSB PLUS
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA
ASUS P5E Deluxe
ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe (DDR3)
ASUS RAMPAGE Extreme(DDR3)

X38-
ASUS P5E3 DELUXE (DDR3)
ASUS P5E
DFI DK X38-T2R

P45-
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-EXTREME
ASUS P5Q3 DELUXE/WIFI (DDR3)
ASUS P5Q DELUXE
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6
FOXCONN ELA P45
ASUS P5Q-E (for dual cores)
BIOSTAR TPOWER I45 (for dual cores / set an overclocking record 724mhz FSB)
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R

My Video Card Picks in order from top to bottom
GeForce GTX 295
Radeon HD 5870
Radeon HD 5850
Radeon 4870x2
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GTX 275
GeForce GTX 280
Geforce 9800GX2
Radeon 4890
GeForce GTX 260
Radeon 4870 1GB
Radeon 4870
Radeon 4850 1GB
Geforce 9800GTX+
Radeon 4850
GeForce 9800GTX
GeForce 9800GT


Top Power Supplies
For Single GPU Solution
Corsair - 450VX, 550VX, 650TX, 650HX, HX620W (Corsair rates the HX620W as SLI/Crossfire Certified, but I wouldn't recommend this for higher end sli/crossfire sestups.)
PC Power & Cooling - Silencer 420, Silencer 500, Silencer 610
Silverstone - ST50F, ST56F, ST60F, ST50EF PLUS, ST60EF, OP650, OP700, ST56ZF, ST65ZF, DA650
Seasonic - SS-500ES, SS-500ET, M12II 500, S12E 650

For Dual GPU Solution
Corsair - 750TX, 850TX, 750HX, 950TX, 850HX, 1000HX
PC Power & Cooling - Silencer 750 Quad, Turbo-Cool 860 / 860ESA, Silencer 910, Turbo-Cool 1200 / 1200ESA
Silverstone - DA750, OP750, OP800, OP850, ST75F, DA750, DA800, ST85EF, DA850, ST1000, OP1000-P, DA1000, ST1200, ZM1200M, ST1500
Seasonic - S12D 750, M12D SS-750, S12D 850

Obviously there are other brand names, Antec, Enermax, Athena, Thermaltake, and OCZ to name a few.  These manufacturers produce very good power supplies but they are not near the quality Of Seasonic, Silverstone, PC Power & Cooling, or Corsair.  More is not always better, and in terms of power supplies, a single 12v rail is always better than multiple rails.  A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply's rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets "trapped" on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system.  Since the maximum current from any one 12-volt rail of a multiple-rail PSU is limited to 20 amps (240VA / 12 volts = 20 amps), PCs with high-performance components that draw over 20 amps from the same rail are subject to over-current shutdowns. With power requirements for multiple processors and graphics cards continuing to grow, the multiple-rail design, with its 240VA limit per rail, is basically obsolete.
Modular plugs, due to their look, convenience, and cost savings for manufacturers, have become a popular power supply feature. Unfortunately, there has been little or no discussion of the impact of this feature on overall performance and reliability. The fact is, modular plugs limit power by adding to electrical resistance. The voltage drop can be as much as would occur in 2 feet of standard wire. Worse yet, modular plugs utilize delicate pins that can easily loosen, corrode, and burn, creating the potential for a major system failure. That's why professional system builders specify uninterrupted wire!

This post has been edited by InTheStreets: 23 November 2009 - 03:15 AM

[žalost (old)]

put this in my bookmarks!

[InTheStreets (old)]

When Core i7 Comes out in late October, early November, I will add it to the listing.  If anyone is interested in the new architecture and its impact (or lack there of) on gaming I can create a new thread or talk about it here.

[|it| Nexu]

It's a good list, but unfortunately for the Europe buyers, newegg doesn't ship overseas. Than there are problems with availability with some of those parts at local Europe resellers.

[InTheStreets (old)]

Quote

It's a good list, but unfortunately for the Europe buyers, newegg doesn't ship overseas. Than there are problems with availability with some of those parts at local Europe resellers.

I know!  That's such a pain too, I more or less just used newegg as the reference for pricing in USD, and they are easy to link to.

[Hayame]

Quote

I know!  That's such a pain too, I more or less just used newegg as the reference for pricing in USD, and they are easy to link to.

I Feel your pain, i used to live in hawaii ._. my shipping for a new rig would be around $75-$125

may i suggest? domo.

o_O why not 4870 1gb?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835185125
nice aftermarket cooling.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131331

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103771
L1 Cache 128kb+128kb
L2 Cache 2x1mb
2bucks more for an extra 1mb l2 cache =o

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231144
or any ddr2 1066 PC2 8500,

when finding a mother board for overclocking, wouldn't it be best if you go with new chipsets? sure it will cost more but sticking with one that will surely fall behind others(like my AMD athlon xp  )
like new amd chipsets (3.5ghz for phenom )I wouldn't know anything about intel.

i like how you added the reusing parts (but not for amd ._.)
i was thinking of reusing my case, psu(lol 430watts  ) and an ata 100(who ever thought they actually have those in new motherboards), before seeing this guide i can finally add a case, psu, and a sata Hdd thanks, Great guide.   

[FS Woekele]

Do you write this yourself, or copy/paste from some other site? In which case, you could better just link us to the site

[Hayame]

Quote

Do you write this yourself, or copy/paste from some other site? In which case, you could better just link us to the site

look at his other posts >_> i think he really is writing this himself.

[InTheStreets (old)]

Quote

Do you write this yourself, or copy/paste from some other site? In which case, you could better just link us to the site

The only one that has information from another site, I stated it.  All the others I have written myself and updated as I have gone along.  This one is all mine, so is the water cooling.  The article from Gunbo, is one that is just great information.  Him, another guy named reverandmaynard, Ether and I write reviews, troubleshoot overclockers and pc enthusiasts on another website.  I have an ASUS Rampage Formula Review coming up soon, I will post a link to it here when it's up.  Rev has a new DFI DK X48-T2RSB PLUS review which should be up in four days or so, and Ether has a Gigabyte review soon too.

[InTheStreets (old)]

Quote

I Feel your pain, i used to live in hawaii ._. my shipping for a new rig would be around $75-$125

may i suggest? domo.

o_O why not 4870 1gb?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835185125
nice aftermarket cooling.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131331

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103771
L1 Cache 128kb+128kb
L2 Cache 2x1mb
2bucks more for an extra 1mb l2 cache =o

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231144
or any ddr2 1066 PC2 8500,

when finding a mother board for overclocking, wouldn't it be best if you go with new chipsets? sure it will cost more but sticking with one that will surely fall behind others(like my AMD athlon xp  )
like new amd chipsets (3.5ghz for phenom )I wouldn't know anything about intel.

i like how you added the reusing parts (but not for amd ._.)
i was thinking of reusing my case, psu(lol 430watts  ) and an ata 100(who ever thought they actually have those in new motherboards), before seeing this guide i can finally add a case, psu, and a sata Hdd thanks, Great guide.   

The 4870 1gb exceeds budget targets, that's why I didn't add it, but I will add it to the top picks, and may also find it in higher budget builds.  The thing with 1gb versions, it always comes back to the resolution you play at.  A 4870 1gb @ 1680x1050 and below, will perform the same as the 4870 512mb.  Higher resolutions, the 1gb model really starts to show its muscle.  I'd say more people run at 1680x1050 or below.

The Arctic Freezer pro is really just a small step over the stock heatsinks that come with retail processors.  The Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer is the top performer right now on the market today.  At $20 more it's a steal.

That board you linked requires DDR3 which still isn't practical due to pricing and is yet to really show any gains due to the processor multipliers, and their architecture, although since Intel loves bandwidth, unsyncing the ram and running on a divider (4:5) will improve read write speeds marginally.  Still, it exceeds the target budgets.  I'm sure you can finagle parts, but I am planning on adding two more budget based builds when reusing parts for Intel, and will create an AMD section too.

I meant to add that processor you linked, but when I did, it wasn't available and I chose the 2x512kb model on accident. 

You are right when it comes to new chipsets, the P45 clocks higher on average versus the X48.  Same with the X48 vs P35 and X38 chipsets.  The 790FX chipsets on that DFI board and that Foxconn overclock really nice, better than that 790GX board you linked.  I like the price range though, at $144 it's a really good buy if you can get a deal on some DDR3 RAM from Mushkin, Kingston, Corsair, or Patriot. 

Note:  Most of the DFI's engineers moved over to Foxconn, really look for them to move forward over the next year and become a real powerhouse in the motherboard industry.  It will also be just as interesting to see how DFI can/try's to remain on top of the industry in terms of overclocking and options.

[Hayame]

its not ddr3 o_o its ddr2 lol i think the ddr3 1333 sideport memory confused you, anyway its the same chipset as the others you recommended. and if amd could use ddr3 memory they'd be one step above intel, i wouldn't really know any of the intel chipsets, thought i do look at reviews.

i was willing to ask if this thread was a new rig for urt and life, but since urt don't support cf and sli. it would best not to pay more for it, even though other programs could use it, it isn't so great unless your willing to pay for full on performance.

id highly would suggest to wait for one of the phenoms to actually have 4x1mb L2cache(maybe even 4x2)but 512kb still would par up to one of the intels 6mb cache. doesn't make sense if you dont use all that 6mb.

[|it| Nexu]

LOL, tbh for UrT a simple single core AMD64 3500+ or something like that will do the trick paired with something like a 6600GT or better.

BTW, InTheStreet, which site are you writing for reviews for?

[InTheStreets (old)]

Quote

LOL, tbh for UrT a simple single core AMD64 3500+ or something like that will do the trick paired with something like a 6600GT or better.

BTW, InTheStreet, which site are you writing for reviews for?

LOL yeah well UrT isn't the ONLY game in the world, although it is the only game I play right now  

UrT can actually run on an Athlon XP and as low as an Radeon 8500LE AGP.  It doesn't require much, I bet you could run it on a p3 and a geforce 2 800x600 low detail.

The site is http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/ They have a main review section where they link to other reviews written on the net.  The few forum members write their own, unbiased review in the forums for others to view.  It's a cool community, and a great source for information.  Once I get my i7 system in, and the first bios revision, I will be posting my first review on the Rampage Formula vs. the new X58 chipsets and i7, their practicality performance and budget wise.   

Rev just finished his latest update to the review of the DFI DK X48 board, heres the link.  I think it will be updated one more time though. 
http://forums.extrem...ad.php?t=303716

Heres Ethers Image Quality Comparison on the 4870x2 vs. the gtx280.  http://forums.extrem...ad.php?t=301267
Ether also reviews for cluboc.net - the website looks like they are trying to be to flashy, but the reviews are really good.

[Hayame]

Quote

UrT can actually run on an Athlon XP and as low as an Radeon 8500LE AGP.  It doesn't require much, I bet you could run it on a p3 and a geforce 2 800x600 low detail.

i still run mines on an amd athlon xp 

[Nitro (old)]

also just a quick typo i noticed was  you have saud the  Asus Rampage Formula  supports  DDR3  when its actually  DDR2  the Asus Rampage Extreme supports DDR3