Every component in the Luxury System guide was thoughtfully scrutinized in order to offer you the most for your money. If the additional cash didn’t bring about a justifiable performance leap, it didn’t make the cut. Neither you or us want to choke up 150% more money to see a 3% increase in oomph.
Our full review of the Asus P6T Deluxe can be read here.
While the Nehalem (Core i7) line has been a major success and is by far the best performer in the market, Intel is cooking up some new chips. They are expected to launch their Lynnfield architecture mid-September and their 32nm line should show early next year. If you can wait until then you may be able to catch what is going to be the top platform in the near future, but the fact is, no system you build is going to be king of the hill forever, and the Core i7 brings top speed your way today.
A typical GTX 295 has a core clock frequency of 576MHz, VRAM frequency of 1998MHz, 480 stream processors, has a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600 and hosts 2 DVI ports as well as an HDMI port.
If for any reason you want a screaming fast graphics card that only sports a single GPU, it doesn’t get much better than the GeForce GTX 285.
If by chance you prefer something a bit more mainstream or need support for the latest EAX titles, the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty might be right up your alley.
Our top pick for the High-end Luxury System is the upcoming Intel X25-M 160GB using 34nm technology. Intel is touting improved performance for their new drives: 25% reduction in latency and twice the random write performance, compared to its older 50nm siblings. This drive was supposed to be selling already, but a small firmware bug had its launch delayed. We are still including it as our top recommendation considering it should be a matter of a week or two until they reappear in stores. Another solid alternative to the almighty X25 comes in the form of OCZ’s Vertex drive (the non-Turbo version). A winner along Intel in our two past SSD round-ups, the Vertex is available in 120GB and 250GB capacities. The latter will set you back a staggering $700, however.
But if you need to have a Blu-ray drive on your desktop PC, the Pioneer BDR-203BKS will write up to 8x on BD-R (25 GB) and BD-R DL (50GB) media and can write to DVD+R media at up to 16x, DVD+RW up to 8x, DVD-R at 16x and DVD-RW at up to 6x, CD-R at up to 32x, CD-RW at up to 24x, BD-R DL at up to 8x, BD-RE DL at up to2x, DVD+R DL up to 8x, and DVD-R DL up to 8x. It will read BD-ROM at 8x, DVD-ROM at 16x and CD-ROM at 32x.
It ships at a featherweight (for a full-tower) 29.1lbs and features a tool-free assembly, three 230mm" fans (front, top and side), one 140mm" fan (rear), six 5.25" drive bays, one externally accessible 3.5" bay, 5 internal 3.5" bays and much more than you would expect from a $150 chassis.
Weighing in at 25lbs, it houses four USB ports, a 9-in-2 media card reader and sits atop an adjustable base (height, swivel and tilt). For the price, we think that the only thing that can top this display is two of them running side-by-side. If you don’t feel the need to use a large 30-inch monitor, there are quite a few good options in the 24" realm that escaped our mid-range recommendation due to budget constraints. These are also prime candidates for running dual displays: Dell 2408WFP, BenQ G2400WD, and HP LP2475w. Also watch out for the newly released Dell U2410, which uses a IPS panel and is expected to deliver similar performance to the near extinct 22" Dell 2209WA.
Touting THX certified sound, onboard 5.1 digital decoding, a 10" long-throw subwoofer and tuned bass port, aluminum phase plug satellites, digital SoundTouch control panel, a wireless remote and tons more, the Z-5500 is well worth the coin if you have any interest in high quality sound.
For a wired gaming set up, take a look at the Logitech G15 keyboard and Razer Lachesis mouse. In our last gaming mice round-up we also loved the performance of the Logitech G5/G9 and the Microsoft Habu. Should this system be used for HTPC functions or if you’d prefer a sleek wireless alternative, see the Logitech diNovo combo or the Logitech MX Air Silver mouse.
Other excellent keyboard options are the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 or the Das Keyboard, which is reminiscent of the old IBM keyboards.