Hardware Revolution

This system was updated on Nov 11th. See the High-end gaming Computer post for the latest revision.
For other computer systems, see: Computer Systems

Howdy! Today, I’m proposing to you one very powerful gaming system, with a budget of 1500$. With its two Radeon HD 4870 in Crossfire and the rest of the setup, no game will stop this, not even Crysis at max settings!

This system was such fun to design, I mean, can you imagine a computer with Intel’s latest wolfdale processors, the E8400, with two Radeon HD 4870 in Crossfire?! I call that fun =) It’s ready to handle any video game, from WoW to Crysis!

So, let’s start with my recommendations for what hardware should be used to answer your needs. These are the parts that I believe that will answer your needs, for a gaming system, with outstanding performance of course. Call it the best gaming computer for 1500$ For each part of the system, I will tell you my choice, the reason for it and give you a link to buy the item. Of course, I’m open to suggestions, comments, questions so please post them.

Cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400: At 3.00Ghz, dual-core, 1333Mhz fsb and 6MB of cache, the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 will be perfect for your gaming needs, especially with the two Radeon HD 4870 in Crossfire, as this cpu will not bottleneck them. This cpu will also offer plently enough power to play video games, especially with multi-threaded games which take advantage of multiple cores. With the 2 cores, its speed of 3.00Ghz and the huge 6MB of cache, this cpu will definately answer your needs now and be future-proof for quite a few years. This Intel cpu is also a great bang for the buck in my opinion, considering the performance it offers, at only 189.99$
Click here to buy the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor for only 189.99$

Video card: 2X Radeon HD 4870, in Crossfire : I’ve stopped my choice on two Radeon HD 4870, which I believe offers incredible performance at this price! For only 599.98$, this setup offers one of the best perforance possible, only slightly behind the Geforce GTX 280 which cost over 1000$! It support HD content and offers 4 DVI output to support multiple screens. It will handle Crysis at max settings and any games you’ll throw at it. It will help with video decoding, with the majority of formats. I also believe that ATI offers better image quality, especially in movies. This will offer breath taking performance, for a reasonable price.
Click here to buy two VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 Video Cards, for CrossFire, for only 599.98$

Motherboard: With the X38 chipset, this motherboard is exactly what you need, as it offers 4 RAM channels, with Dual channel support, 2x PCI-Express 16x 2.0, 6 SATA connections with RAID support, a firewire connection, dual gigabit LAN and 2 e-sata connections. WIth the 2 extra ram channels and 4 extra SATA channels, it leaves room for future upgrade! Reliable, supports everything we want and CrossFire ready, with two full 16x 2.0 PCI-Express lanes.
Click here to buy the ABIT IX38 Quad GT ATX Intel Motherboard for only 209.99$

Ram(Memory): Two sticks of 2GB of DDR2 800, running in dual channel, for a total of 4GB of RAM and all the bandwidth you need in your games. Enough memory for all your multi-tasking needs and just what you need to play video games as well.
Click here to buy the CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory for only 86.50$

Hard Drive: Two Western Digital Hard Drive, with 500GB of space each for a total of 1000GB, in a RAID 0 setup. Perfect to reduce games, programs and Windows loading times. SATA connections, 7200 rpm and a low price tag. Reliable, fast and silent. Simple and effective.
Click here to buy two Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive for only 149.98$

Dvd Burner: A Samsung 20X DVD Burner, for all your burning needs.
Click here to buy the SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SH-S202J for only 22.99$

Case: A nice mid-tower computer case from Cooler Master, with 2 120mm fans and a side air duct included for additional cooling , which is what you need to keep your computer cool and reliable. Comes with 2 USB 2.0 connection and a firewire connection in the front. It has 5 external bays for Dvd-Burner, CD-Rom and hard drives and 4 hard drive bays in the inside. I like the design of it as well.
Click here to buy the COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Computer Case for only 52.99$

Power Supply: In order to power up your computer in a safe and reliable way, you need a quality power supply. This is what this Corsair CMPSU - 750 Watts will do for you, with it’s 750W of power and it’s single 60A 12V line. With a dual-core processor, 2 hard drives, 4GB of RAM and two Radeon HD 4870 in CrossFire, this is perfect. It also have some overhead, so you won’t have to worry if you adds more RAM, more hard drives, overclock or upgrade in the future. This is perfect to power up this powerful computer.
Click here to buy the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W Power Supply for only 129.99$

Sound Card: Integrated Sound Card with support for 8-channel audio.

Cooling:
Heatsink: With a dual-core processor, we need adequate cooling, to increase its lifespan and also to save your ears from the loud and inefficient Intel stock cooler Of course, you need this to improve your overclock speed!
Click here to buy the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler for only 31.99$

Thermal Compound: Who hasn’t heard of Arctic Silver 5? This high quality thermal paste is essentiel to ensure good thermal transfer between the cpu and the heatsink.
Click here to buy the Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound for 5.99$

Case fan: The case comes with two 120 mm fans, one on the back and one on the side. This extra case fan will be for the front. This will help with cooling the entire case, especially with the two Radeon HD 4870.
Click here to buy the COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-12AK-GP Case Fan for only 7.99$

Screen: Although I don’t include the screen in the budget, as the price is only for the computer itself and you may already have a screen,  I now recommend the new Samsung T240HD screen. The T240HD is part of Samsung new screens just were just recently released. Excellent with programming, gaming and simply outstanding for movies. 5ms reaction time, 300cd/m2 brightness and an amazing 10000:1 contrast ratio! Very nice, but the best is that it comes with a DTV Tuner, which will dramatically enhance the picture quality, especially when you watch TV or movies, both in analog and HD format. If you intend to watch videos, TV and/or movies, on your computer, I definately recommend this screen

Click here to buy the SAMSUNG ToC T240HD Rose-Black 24″ 5ms Widescreen HDTV Monitor Built in Speakers for only 509.99$

Kebyoard and Mouse: That is entirely up to you, as each gamer have his own preferences.

Operating system: For the Operating system, I still do recommend Windows XP Pro, as it is way more mature than Vista and has way less compatibilities issues than it. It also uses less ressources. This system is Vista certified however, so you may use Vista if you desire. I recommend using Vista 64 bits, to fully access your RAM if you have over 3GB of ram. The OS is not included in the budget, as you may already own it, but here’s a link if you need it =)

Windows XP Pro Service Pack 3: Click here to buy Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 English for only 139.99$


Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit Service Pack 1: Click here to buy Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit English for only 179.99$


Total price, for the computer only: $1488.38, taxs not included, as they vary depending on where you live.

Ratings -On a scale of 10- :
Gaming : 10/10 You will be able to play every game with max quality and with max AA and AF in most games. You will be able to play on high to very-high resolutions without any problem. This system was designed with gaming in mind, so if you plan on playing Crysis or your favorite games, this is your answer, go for it, it will handle it all!
Office : 8/10 This system is based on a dual core processor; it will run any applications quickly, it will run several cpu intensive programs (Image/Video editing, media burning, programming, calculations) at once without latency(lag). Very quick on multi-threaded optimized applications, great at multi-tasking. The speed and the 2 cores will help you a lot.
Overclocking : 6/10 This system was not specificly designed to overclock, but considering the cooling used, you can go ahead and give it a try on the cpu and ram. I don’t recommend overclocking the video card, as the stock cooler won’t be able to handle the extra heat. However, have fun overclocking the cpu, as it’s a wolfdale core, which are known to be awesome overclockers!
Power consumption : 3/10 With a dual-core processor, two hard drives and 2 powerful video cards in Crossfire, this system will consume a large ammount of electricity. The video cards will be the parts which will consume the most energy.
Value for the money: 9/10 This system will offer you outstanding performance for a great price tag. A blazing fast dual-core cpu, with 4GB of Ram, 1000GB of storage in RAID 0 and two Radeon Hd 4870 in Crossfire, with the possibility of playing video games with the maximum resolution, details and full AA/AF, is simply amazing. It will also allow you to watch movies, including HD content, offer to you a lot of choices and options for a reasonable price tag.

Well, what do you think of this system? I think that you’ll be able to do all the gaming you wish on it, with a hugh improvement in speed compared to your actual system! I also think that you’ll be future proof and that you know that you will be able to upgrade your cpu, ram, hard drives and video cards in the future if you want to. Enjoy!