Aren't we a bit in need of another guide? Prices have changed a bit, competitiveness, etc.

I have never built a PC but would like to build TR's "Sweeter Spot". However, I would like to read the comments of people who have built it to see if they ran into problems with it.

Where can I find their comments on "The Sweeter Spot" in "TR's April 2009 system guide"?

Some comments.

1, Not a gigabyte fan, their service is some of the worst I've delt with in my life.
It is my life duty to tell people to avoid them, they are nothing short of greedy scumbags ('hey give us money to fix this item under warranty') (at least in Australia, no I'm not joking)

Asus P6T all the way

2, if ANYONE is considering these parts - be sure if you buy one of the new Nvidia cards that your CASE will fit it! - the GTX 285 is monster huge, my Antec SX 635 II and an Antec Solo will not fit it, period. (we opted for a P183, it's a lovely lovely case)

3, I'd seriously avoid purchasing Windows Vista, if you like it or not, it's a dead purchase - 7 is coming, when it does Vista will be droppedl ike a bag of .... by Microsoft.
You're better off removing the OS from your old machine or looking up the key from your old machine and using that (magic jellybean key finder) - even use the Win 7 beta in the meantime but don't pay for an OS which is being essentially replaced.

Here's a full writeup of the machine I built, all high end components and high quality but the machine absoloutely pumps and will last al ong time.
(example a case like that will outlive 5 systems or more, my old Antec SX 635-II was an expensive case and it lasted me 6 years)

I just got done building my brother something very similar to the econobox, but for even cheaper (he is on a very tight budget). I went with the ASUS board, a 320GB HDD, an MSI 4830, and only 2GB of RAM (he doesn't run memory intensive games/apps, and still runs XP)

The full build came out to just over $600 before rebates, and that included a mouse/kb, 20" acer LCD, and logitech subwoofer/speakers. It's amazing how good a computer you can build for the money these days.

I just wanted to say thanks for the guide(s). Even if I didn't follow it exactly, they are still a great starting point. I really like the Antec case/PSU combo as well. It seems well put together, and seems to be keeping things cool. That is generally the thing I am most unsure about, so thanks for the recommendation.

P.S. That antec case is now "deactivated" on newegg, so it looks like I got one just in time.

Once again tech report suggests 4GB of ram over 8GB of ram on their econo systems even thought the price difference is $45 max, I really don't get why.

Please, again, update the "Cooling" section.

Why is it that every hardware site is so centered around gaming all the time. Hey, I mean there are a lot of gamers that build their own rig, but than again, when you call a thing a workstation and then put in two expensive graphic cards...

I would love to see at least one rig in the system guide, that for example gives you huge cpu and I/O power without being a pure gaming machine. Same is for testing, please, with sugar on top, do not forget about the needs of hardware enthusiasts that are not all about gaming.

I am not asking to drop gaming performance as a measurement completely, but rather taking a broader view on things. There are a lot of people that care about video rendering performance, audio editing and post processing capabilities and all this. As long as GPGPU is not much more than a buzz word, graphic cards do not make much sense for them, and they could maybe life with a passively cooled 4650.

Two things:
1. The AverMedia Combo PCIe card. I checked the specs and it mentioned "Stereo sound" as a feature. Does that mean if the OTA HD channels are transmitting in Dolby Digital 5.1 I won't get it? Can it pass through that DD5.1 through say, an HD4xxx card with HDMI out to the TV/receiver? It also did not exactly mention that it can record the 5.1 stuff, did it? I guess TR needs to do a full review of this?
http://www.avermedia-usa.com/AVerTV/product/ProductDetail.aspx?Id=24
2. The card reader mentioned in the peripherals/accessories page does not explicitly mention SDHC support. Chances are if they do not mention it the support is not there. These days I think we should put one that has SDHC support.

Integrated audio is still garbage. My 4 year old Audigy 2 ZS produces much deeper bass and clear highs than ALC662 from Realtek. Not only that, but Realtek cards have these annoying screeching and high pitched noises when you don't have anything running (in terms of sound).

At least they made decent integrated Ethernet controllers.

the price is wrong, bitch! on the Utility Player's RAM. It's $45.99.

This Kingston set is $43.99 tho

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134641

The AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe we picked for our last home-theater PC build has returned here, since we figure you might want to watch or record TV on your PC. This tuner has a PCI Express x1 interface, inputs for both analog and digital TV, support for ATSC and Clear QAM high-definition digital TV standards

If you don't need the analog capability, AverMedia FINALLY released the dual-digital tuner DuetHD they showed at the trade shows earlier this year.

The Hauppauge 2250 (with dual analog/digital hybrid tuners) has been out for a couple of months, but that runs about $130-150 at NewEgg, and far worse, necessitates the use of Hauppauge's drivers.

The Aver is $60 at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815100041

Cosmos 1000 is a horrible case for SLI suggestions.

Having that case with sli = no ventilation between the graphics cards and the power supply. This basically ensures the power supply will fry, as well as the cards will get some serious heat.

If you get a cosmos 1000, be sure to buy the cosmos S side case so that you have ventilation and not insulation on the entire side. Also, the V1X is a piece of total crap and does horrible for cooling. I tested it and it actually does no better than stock. Had a professional installer test it too in order to make sure I didn't use too much AS5, etc.

"You're one of those people who thinks adding ram upon ram upon ram to a machine makes it perform better, it doesn't - there's a point where there is diminishing returns, 45$ could DEFINITELY be spent better elsewhere."

Yea it does make a difference, that's my point all along. A benchmark isn't gonna show that cause you are running one application at a time. In real usage you may play 2 or 3 different games. Extra memory means all that data you read from disk stays in memory, decreasing load times, not to mention giving that "Econobox" much more utility.

What does one have to do with the other? I comment on whatever I feel is worth commenting on. I like TRs articles, I believe it can be improved by mentioning the stuff I brought up in some manner.

Great roundup of suggestions TR!

I wonder if it would make sense in the sweeter spot to drop the BRD drive, extra HDD, GTX260 and extraneous sound card and double up on an HD 4850 x2 for quad-GPU folding madness for only $30 more? ;-)

This was a great system guide. The monitor run down was pretty good. It's not worth getting anything, but an IPS panel unless you have the money for a $200 price premium.

Wow. Already time for a System Guide? Time flies...

Thanks for the hardwork put into this!

Have a new power supply arriving in the next day or two, so I get to find out whether or not my PC is gone, or just hungry. If it's gone, the Utility Player config is honing in pretty close to my typical budget.

I can't see a $103 motherboard in the econobox. Newegg has a combo deal on the E5200 + Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2l for $112.98 total. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.... Mine are happily running at 4GHz right now!

In the article you refer to 2 x 3GB memory kits. Should not it read 3 x 2GB?

*edit* Thats in the component lists for Sweeter spot and Double Stuff.

I guess I will be passing on this round of intel products. My E8400 is still plugging along rather nicely and compares pretty well with other CPUs. Maybe when intel gets settled on a new socket for a while, I'll move on, but for right now, a better videocard would better bang for the buck performance than a new CPU.

SHEESH! I cannot believe those 500 and 700 dollar builds. It's amazing what you can get nowadays.

4GB RAM in a bottom rung build.... Amazing...

Thanks TR! These are always fun!

Suggestion: if you are going to recommend the Ph2 X4 940, it would be benevolent of you to restate the obvious that it is NOT AN AM3 CHIP and so no one is going to be taking that with them to the land of DDR3.

A 4850, the eqiv of an 8800GTX, in a $500 machine. Amazing. That is an amazingly potent machine for $500.

Kind of amazing that the 4840 is now the econobox GPU of choice.

I like the Gigabyte UD3R, but dropping the two RAM slots is just kinda dumb. Granted, 6gb seems fine for now, but I hate saying a year from now "Damn, I guess I gotta buy another board now !" if some oddball application arrives that wold benefit from more than 6gb.
Truthfully, 1 year on a board is about my limit, but at some point it becomes economically unwise to spend $500+ on new parts just to continue to play the same games that I was playing on the older build (TF2, Comp. of Heroes, CoD4).

that heatsink above the cpu on the Asus P6T clearly appears to be pushing against the capacitor next it. that cant be good. lol

I've built digital audio workstations around the i7 920 and 940 chips. Audio production is one of the few applications that can consistently utilize muliple cores, and to be honest, the 940 is not worth it. Both chips overclock into the same range in my experience, and if you're just going to run at stock frequency then the small bump up to 2.83 ghz is hardly worth the cost.

On newegg the reviews indicate the Adapter Kit to Mount 2.5" drives isn't compatible with several cases. Go Duct Tape.

Not that I have read the article, I'm about to, but it seems a tad early for a system guide. It seems like we just had one, and aside from the 4890/275 release, has much changed? Those thoughts aside, maybe there'll be a killer twist in this TR plot.