PC Perspective Hardware Leaderboard Sponsored by Newegg

 What is the PC Perspective HW Leaderboard? The PC Perspective Hardware Leaderboard is going to become the first place you look to find the components that will make up your next computer. On this page you will find our editor's combined opinions on the best systems you can build based on three different budgets. You can expand each of the systems (High End, Mid-Range and Budget) to show you all the components that we believe represent the best products in their price ranges.

 Why a Leaderboard? We like the idea of a Leaderboard because it presents a no non-sense way of looking at the best hardware available. On this page, you won't find paragraph after paragraph telling you why this processor is better than that processor. Instead you'll find the quick and dirty on our editor's choices for the best hardware you can get. No beating around the bush here. Of course, if you still want to get our full and detailed opinions on various hardware, you can look through our reviews page. But the HW Leaderboard is going to give you our final decisions in one quick look.

 Why a sponsor? What is the point in giving you these recommendations if you can't get a hold of what we think the best parts are? At PC Perspective we are an advocate of making sure hardware companies get you the hardware that they show to us, and the best place to shop for those new parts has consistently been at Newegg.com, a long time sponsor of PC Perspective and our readers.

 Updated Jun 20, 2006:

I said last month that with the pending launch of the AM2 platform from AMD and the Conroe processor release from Intel that upgraders were better holding off.  Well, one half of that statement has come to pass as AMD released the AM2 platform with DDR2 memory support on May 23rd.  You can click on that link to read all about the new processors and technology behind them. 

As a result of that, all of our leaderboards have moved from Socket 939 platforms to Socket AM2 platforms; 939-pin processors are officially dead, no more will be released so buying into that platform now would be building a box around you without any upgrade paths.  Luckily for enthusiasts, AMD not only released the high end parts with their AM2 platform, but also a lot of budget CPU options too, so that the entry price for AM2 is relatively low.

Our Dream system moves from a 2.6 GHz FX-60 to a 2.8 GHz FX-62 processor with support for DDR2 memory up to 800 MHz.  The latest flagship Asus motherboard, based on the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset was my selection for the top motherboard here as it still offers the top SLI gaming performance and lots of overclocking and tweaking options for hardcore users.  The other dramatic change is a move from dual 7900 GTX cards in SLI mode to a single 7950 GX2 card that uses two GPUs on a single card.  While the dual 7900 GTXs would no doubt be faster in most situations than this single 7950 GX2, when NVIDIA releases Quad SLI support for the DIY market, you'll be able to buy a second 7950 GX2 card and plug it in for Quad SLI action!  The other move was to a high-end DDR2 memory kit that was a requirement of the platform change. 

The high end platform goes to an Athlon X2 4600+ that runs at 2.4 GHz, but is less than half the price of the FX-62 CPU.  I chose the Foxconn C51XEM2AA motherboard for this platform as it was slightly less expensive and offers much of the same features and overclocking options.  The DDR2 memory is the same choice that the Dream System uses and most of the other components remain the same.  The power supply was moved from an Antec 550 watt model to a Silverstone 520 watt model simply because I have been very impressed with the quality of Silverstone's units here in the lab. 

The mid-range system sees a similar amount of change, going from the S939 X2 3800+ to the new AM2 X2 3800+ processor for the exact same price.  Asus' 570 SLI motherboard was the choice here for a great performing board for a low price, under $150, which is surprising for such a new product lineup.  The BFG Tech 7600 GT card was recently out of stock at Newegg, so we moved to an EVGA model that is priced at $150 and has some nice clock speeds on it.  The memory continues to be a 1GB kit, but this time is moved to a DDR2 option that raised memory prices just a bit. 

Finally, the budget system is based on the Athlon 64 3200+ for the AM2 socket priced at just above $100 -- a good start for a gaming system that allows the user to upgrade to other AM2 CPUs as their budget allows.  The lowest cost board that I could recommend was the MSI K9N Neo-F based on the NVIDIA 550 chipset; it doesn't have SLI support but sports some good features and should be more than enough board for most users.   OCZ makes their first appearance here on our leaderboard by having the lost priced DDR2-800 memory I could find on Newegg.

Will Intel make an appearance on the leaderboard next month?  It's hard to tell, but with the launch set for the 23rd of July, the Conroe CPUs are getting mighty close...

Again, I welcome all comments on our new Hardware Leaderboard and my choices for the products...