Mimicking the Superior

Sallie over at WELSTech recommended Lifehacker's List of Essential Free Windows Downloads by Kevin Purdy. It's a very nice list of free software that will definitely enhance your computing experience. Every Windows user should check it out.

I have used many of the programs they recommend and I agree with many of their recommendations. They've also suggested some things I haven't tried yet but will soon. There are a small number of items on the list that I can't say I would recommend because I feel there are better alternatives.

I'd like to go over many of the items on this list with my own comments. I'll also be offering a slightly different perspective, being the Linux advocate that I am. You see, one of the best ways to get used to Linux is to use Linux-compatible software in Windows. That way it becomes easier to switch between the two operating systems.

I will also look at whether the software is open source, though this probably won't affect my own recommendations much. In addition, I will talk about other possible software needs they did not address.

Foxit Reader
Linux: Yes
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? Yes

Foxit Reader is absolutely wonderful and I completely agree with Lifehacker here. I switched to Foxit after Adobe Reader tried installing other junk on my computer in a rather sneaky manner. I've been using it for years, and so should you.

Most Linux distros come with their own built-in PDF readers that are also fast and friendly, so Foxit isn't really needed there.

Notepad++
Linux: N/A
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

Notepad++ is another sweet piece of productivity software. I'm a big fan of plain text because it's usually all I need to get the job done. The colors, tabs, and plugins great features.

While Notepad++ is open source, it does not work natively on Linux. However, this doesn't matter yet again. Linux distros often come with text editors that already include my favorite features in Notepad++.

OpenOffice.org
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

Lifehacker didn't actually put OpenOffice on the list, but they did recommend it in their Notepad++ paragraph. I also recommend it. OpenOffice serves as a great replacement for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and others.

Yes, it will still allow you to read, create, and edit .doc, .xls, .ppt, and other file types used by MS Office. If you're daring enough, you can even adhere to the OpenDocument standard. OpenOffice is free and open source, and is often automatically bundled with Linux distros. There's a very good chance you have absolutely nothing to gain by using MS Office, which costs a lot of money. So don't!


Texter
Linux: No
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? No

It looks like Texter is Lifehacker's own design. I can see how it could definitely be useful for some people with specific needs, but I don't think I'd get much use out of it at home. I might try giving it a whirl at work because I can see the advantages for a software developer. For most people, it will probably become another ignored app running in the background.


Firefox
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

The question of whether Firefox is the best browser available is not easy to answer, but you'll be hard pressed to come up with a good reason to use Internet Explorer instead. I've used Firefox for years. When I made the switch from Internet Explorer, my spyware detectors stopped finding crud on my system. I also super customizable, and Lifehacker has some awesome Firefox tips! I'll be trying many of them soon.

Again, Linux distros often come bundled with Firefox. The fact that it's open source is what really gives Firefox its strength. The community behind this product is massive.

Pidgin
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

I recently installed Pidgin and have been loving it. It works with my AIM account that is over fifteen years old, my Yahoo account that I created for communication with family, my Google account that I use more than the others, Xfire, Twitter, and many others that I don't use. I have all the mentioned chat accounts running at the same time using one simple, small program called Pidgin.

Linux distros often come with Pidgin too. You may need to install plugins for various services like Xfire, Twitter, or Facebook, but the process is not difficult.


Postbox
Linux: No
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No

Lifehacker mentions several features Postbox has that Thunderbird doesn't, but the only one I think I'd use is tabbed e-mail views. I've never used Postbox, but I'm sure it's a good piece of software.

There are a few problems with Postbox, however. First, it's in beta. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself, but it does mean that there is less support in the form of addons. It's not open source, so people are unable to change it to fit their own needs. (While it's not supported by default, people have developed addons and source changes that implement tabbed messaging in Thunderbird.) Thunderbird supports calendaring through the Lightning addon, but Postbox has no calendaring support yet. Also, the Postbox FAQ says that "pricing has not yet been announced." No thanks.

Thunderbird is installed by default on some Linux distros such as Linux Mint, which is my recommendation for Linux beginners. If your distro doesn't come with it built in, it's easy enough to install. Lifehacker says they have previously recommended Thunderbird. They should continue to do so.

7-Zip
Linux: N/A
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

There's not much to say here. It lets you open pretty much any kind of archive. Use it and love it.

Linux distros usually come with their own archivers that support .7z, .rar, .zip, and other archive formats. This 7-Zip falls under the same category as Foxit and Notepad++ in that you simply won't need it if you use Linux.


Everything
Linux: N/A
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No


Maybe it's faster than the basic Windows search, but I don't use that often enough to care. I wouldn't bother with this.

Linux distros come with efficient search tools built in.

µTorrent
Linux: N/A
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? N/A

The only reason I'm reluctant to recommend µTorrent is because I don't like recommending things I have never used. I don't use BitTorrent, but if you do this sounds like a sweet piece of software. I see no problems with it.

Many Linux distros include their own Torrent clients.

I'm starting to see an interesting trend here. I'll elaborate later.

Revo Uninstaller
Linux: N/A
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No

One word comes to mind: overkill. While I do recommend running RegCleaner every now and then, I don't see a need for this uninstaller. Most programs provide their own uninstallers, and you can just delete leftover folders manually if for some reason they don't go away. If, however, you want your hand held through the entire process I suppose this might give you some comfort.

Linux installation and uninstallation is vastly superior to Windows, so solutions like this are laughably unnecessary.

TeraCopy
Linux: N/A
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No

This is cool. However, like Texter and Everything, I don't see myself benefitting from it much at home. Back when I was doing tech support in college, I totally would have loved this. I just don't do much playing around with large files now. This probably fits in the same categories as Texter and Everything, where I can see how they could be useful in the right situation. However, they're just not awesome enough for me to bother with them.

I'm pretty sure Linux handles files a bit more efficiently and safer than Windows, but I'd have to do some reasearch before I could explain how.


ImgBurn
Linux: Official Wine Support
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? N/A

This sounds great and I plan on giving it a try, but as of right now I haven't used it yet. The burning software that came with my DVD burner does everything I need it to. However, I'm tempted to uninstall it and try ImgBurn, and I may do just that if I ever have some time to kill. (Yeah, right!)

Linux distros often come with their own burning software, though I can't really elaborate on all their features. ImgBurn isn't natively supported in Linux. However, it is officially supported in Wine, which means that it "works perfectly" in Wine.

Picasa
Linux: Yes
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? N/A

I don't really have much to say about Picasa because I have never tried it. It does work with Linux. I might suggest it to my wife, who manages our family pictures.

VLC
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

VLC is an absolute winner. I've used it for years and love it. It's open source and works with Linux.

iTunes
Linux: No
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No

I don't have an iPod or iPhone, so I don't use iTunes. If you do, I guess you don't have much of a choice. It doesn't work with Linux.

Songbird
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? N/A

I think I will download Songbird soon. I've only used Windows Media Player and Amarok, but Songbird definitely sounds like a winner. I do like Amarok, so I'm curious to see how they compare. Amarok, however, doesn't really have native support for Windows.

Dropbox
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Partially
Do I recommend it? N/A


I can see how some people might like Dropbox's synchronization features, but I'd probably never use them. However, Dropbox does get points for its security measures and the fact that you can upload files through a web interface. I'm assuming this means you don't have to install software just to store files somewhere else. I'll probably try it out soon.

Mozy
Linux: No
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No

While Mozy has good security, it doesn't support Linux or allow for much free space. However, ADrive has 50GB free storage space and supports Linux. Adrive doesn't use too many security features in the free version, so you might want to keep your sensitive stuff on Dropbox. However, the massive space is great for large photo albums.

KeePass
Linux: Yes
Open Source: Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

Well, the cross platform version (Windows, Mac, and Linux) is actually KeePassX. Martin over at WELSTech recommended this a while ago, and I just started using it. It's a great concept! I recently had a hard time trying to remember all my chat logins when I set up Pidgin. KeePassX will prevent me from having similar problems in the future while keeping everything secure.

AVG Free
Linux: Yes (Hah!)
Open Source: No
Do I recommend it? No

AV-Comparatives, an independent antivirus tester, shows that AVG just isn't cutting it when compared against other antivirus software. Instead, AVIRA does a much better job, runs faster, and is also free. AVIRA's only problem (which AVG also shares) is the fact that is comes up with more false positives than the two best (non-free) scanners, Kaspersky and NOD32. All this means is that if AVIRA catches something, you'll want to make sure it actually is a virus before having it removed. Quarantines work well for this.

I used to use AVG and I love the fact that they provide a free scanner for personal use. However, AVIRA's product is simply superior.

If you need a virus scanner on Linux, you're probably doing something wrong.




Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware
Linux: N/A
Open Source: No
Do I recommend them? No

If you use Avira and Firefox, these two programs will get bored with nothing to do. Therefore, don't waste your time on them. If you're really paranoid, go ahead and use Ad-Aware. However, Spybot got old a long time ago and just isn't as effective as it used to be.

Spyware and Linux don't belong in the same sentence together. Oops.

So there you have it. I haven't read much on Lifehacker before, but I thought this article was pretty good. I do disagree on a few things, but I'm also looking at this from a different angle. I'll definitely be trying out some of their recommendations. Below is a summary of my thoughts.

Things I recommend:

Foxit Reader
Notepad++
OpenOffice.org
Firefox
Pidgin
Thunderbird
7-Zip
RegCleaner
VLC
KeePassX
AVIRA

Things I would like to try:

µTorrent
ImgBurn
Picasa
Songbird
Dropbox
ADrive

Things I do not recommend:

Texter
Postbox
Everything
Revo Uninstaller
TeraCopy
iTunes
Mozy
AVG Free
Spybot Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware

By the way, remember that trend I said I thought I saw? After scrolling through this list, I came to realize that most of the items (2/3 of them) are attempts to give Windows features that exist in Linux by default or fix problems that don't exist in Linux. So basically, if you want a superior computing experience out of the box you should seriously consider my ultimate recommendation: Linux Mint.

Silent but Deadly

Let's take a closer look at noise. If you're like me, you'd rather not be able to hear your PC from the other room. Noisy components can be quite irritating, and your computing experience may be enhanced by not just increasing performance, but by reducing noise.

What causes noise in a computer?

Noise is caused by components in your machine that move. Most of these moving components are fans, but there are two other common components with parts that move often and generate noise:

Hard Drive
Optical Drive (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray)

Both of these drives use moving components to read and write data. You may recognize their sounds - audible hard drives will often start clicking when you fire up a program and DVD drives will whirr up when you pop in a disk. These sounds are often in sync with lights on the front of your computer case.

The electrical components in your computer can get quite hot. This is bad for electronics, because they can only tolerate so much heat before they become damaged. These components are usually very small, so heatsinks are used to dissipate the heat over a large surface area. Larger heatsinks can spread the heat over a larger area, keeping things cooler.

In order to help heat spread from an electrical component to a heatsink, a form of "thermal paste" is usually applied between the two parts. The purpose of this paste is to displace the small pockets of air that end up between two touching pieces of metal. Air acts as an insulator, (keeping your components hot by preventing the spreading of heat) but the paste is made of components that conduct heat well, allowing it to spread more evenly.

To better understand this effect, imagine a metal pot with a wooden handle. The handle is safe to hold while cooking because the wood is full of air pockets that insulate your hand from the heat. If you touch any metal, however, you will get burned because the heat travels through the metal much easier. Inside a computer, this free travel of heat is actually desired because we want to suck all the heat out of those little microchips. (Did you know your pot would heat up more efficiently if you put thermal paste on the burner? ...until the paste burns up, anyway. Not recommended.)

Whenever you buy a heatsink, it will usually come with its own thermal paste. However, you can also purchase thermal paste separately. People often praise Arctic Silver as being more efficient than other thermal paste, and there are some benchmarks out there to support these claims. I am of the opinion that the marginal difference is not worth the added cost, but I that's really up to the buyer.

Having a fan blow air through heatsinks helps to drastically cool hot electronics. Fans are what cause the general humming that you hear in the background whenever your computer is on. They rarely change speed during use, so it is often easy to forget they are running. Generally, larger fans can move more air while spinning at slower speeds. This means that larger heatsinks and fans tend to keep things cooler and quieter.

Common components that use fans include:

Processor
Motherboard
Video Card
Power Supply
Case

Basically, this means that just about any component in your computer, except for the RAM, has the potential to generate noise. It is a good idea, then, to do a little research on each part before deciding it is right for you. Sure, that Radeon 4870 might be a bargain, but it has the potential to turn your otherwise quiet system into something that will make the dog howl.

How do I find out if a component is noisy before I buy it?

There are two main ways, other than personal observation, to determine whether a component will be noisy. First, look at the customer reviews. Newegg's customer reviews are a vital part of making purchasing decisions. If the sound generated by the component is noteworthy, people will talk about it. People will either complain that it is too loud, or remark at how pleased they were with its silence. Go to the customer review pages for a part and do a search for words like, "quiet," "noise," and "silent." These reviews are objective, of course, but it still gives you a good place to start.

The other way to find out how loud a component will be is to look for hardware review articles. Benchmark sites sometimes compare sound levels between components in order to give potential buyers a more objective measurement.

What can I do to reduce noise?

One way to reduce noise is to buy an "aftermarket" cooler for your component. This is mostly done for processors and video cards. CPUs and GPUs always come with their own stock heatsink and fan, but they are often not as effective as one would like. CPU stock coolers seem to be consistently mediocre. However, GPU manufacturers are often more flexible with their solutions and you will sometimes get lucky with a very silent and cool stock solution.

If you want a good aftermarket cooler for your Phenom II or Core 2 processor, I recommend the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. You can see my personal results with it in my first blog post. For $27 plus shipping, it's a steal. It's also very large, so you'll need to make sure your case has room for it. It comes with its own large fan which is very quiet. The heatsink is so effective that you might even be able to get away without using the fan at all! You'll need good case airflow if you want to try that.

Apparently, there are two good solutions for a video card, which I mentioned in my last post. The Thermalright HR-03 is the most effective, but it is also a bit pricey at around $45. You'll have to go somewhere other than Newegg to find one as well. A more reasonable choice is the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev.2. This one is also very effective and only costs $25 plus shipping. Neither of these two coolers come with fans, but they are able to keep things cool anyway. You can attach a quiet 120mm fan if you like.

Another way to reduce noise in your system is to adjust the fan speeds. For CPUs and motherboards, your BIOS may allow you to set fan speeds that will be used at certain temperatures. As long as your components are staying cool, you might as well let the fans run at around 20% because faster speeds are not needed. Of course, different motherboards will allow you to do different things.

For GPUs, you can try using ATI Tray Tools for ATI cards or RivaTuner for NVIDIA cards. These software programs allow you to change many settings on your video cards, overclock them, and even adjust fan speeds for different temperatures. You can even use them to monitor temperatures for most components in your system. Your options for fan speed will depend on what video card you have.

If a component of yours is running cool enough and you are unable to adjust the fan speed, you may be able to get away with simply removing the fan. Always check the temperatures after doing this to ensure that the heatsink alone is enough to passively keep your parts cool. I did this with an annoying motherboard chipset fan in my previous machine, and it hardly made a difference on the chipset temperature at all.

Another option is to purchase a fan voltage regulator. These usually come with panels of knobs that can be attached to either the front or back of your case. You can wire up knobs to just about any fan in your system and use them to manually control the fan speed. This is usually done for case fans when there is no other way to control them.

If you use headphones while you game, you will notice the computer's noise less. You could also try noise reduction headphones for an even greater effect.

Finally, just try turning up your stereo. With Metallica rocking away, your computer won't stand a chance.

What are some good components that are natively quiet?

Most motherboards are generally quiet, so if you don't see any noise comments you probably don't have anything to worry about.

Stock CPU coolers, while often not the greatest at dissipating heat, are generally not too loud either.

The Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 I suggested earlier is probably very quiet with the stock cooler. You'll notice that many commenters had very positive things to say about the heat and sound level.

While the Cavair Black hard drives are not necessarily known for being exceptionally hot or loud, the Caviar Green disks are known for being exceptionally cool and quiet. There are several versions of these, so pick the size and price that are right for you. Do note that while all Caviar Black disks have 32MB cache, the Caviar Greens below 750MB do not.

Owners of the LG Black 22X SATA DVD+-RW drive seem to agree that it's very quiet.

I haven't mentioned this power supply yet, but you might want to check out the Raidmax Hybrid 2 RX-530SS 530W PSU. It uses a huge 135mm fan, and the commenters consistently note how silent it is. It's also modular, which means you can detach the power cables you don't need. For $40 with free shipping, it's hard to ignore.

The NZXT Tempest is $90 and the shipping is usually pretty hefty because it's so large. Still, there is no denying that getting this case is probably the best way to keep everything inside your machine cool. Its airflow is ridiculously effective, and this is very important. All the best heatsinks in the world won't do you any good if your case can't move the hot air out. This case is also incredibly silent; it uses four 120mm and two 140mm fans. It's a cool breeze on a summer day.

One of the neat things about the NZXT Tempest is that the two 140mm fans push the air out the top. My huge Xigmatek CPU cooler is located near the top of the case, and I have the fan located on the bottom so it pushes the air up through the heatsink while the case pulls from the other side. There couldn't be a better arrangement.

As you can see, you don't necessarily have to spend a lot to get a noiseless machine. There's something very satisfying about having a computer that is both powerful and silent. Teddy Roosevelt would be proud.

What a Little More will Get You

It looks like I spoke too soon regarding midrange video cards. A rebate has come along that gives us a Radeon HD 4870 1GB for $140. In addition, it has a $15 combo with the OCZ DDR2 RAM I've been suggesting. The shipping isn't free, but the overall cost will still be less than the GTX 260 I suggested earlier. This card will also outperform the 260. Since this is a 1GB model, it will do well even at very high resolutions. It also has integrated HDMI. It even comes with a free wireless mouse!

While the HD 4850 is still the best bang for the buck, let's assume you want to spend a little more than $424 on a gaming system. Perhaps you want a processor that's more overclockable, better cooling, and more power.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition - $139
Motherboard: ASUS M4A78 Plus - $70 (after $10 rebate)
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 - $30 (after $20 rebate)
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-R487D5-1GD Radeon HD 4870 1GB - $140 (after $20 rebate)
Case: NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel - $90 (after $20 rebate)
Power Supply: NZXT PS-NT-PP600-R 600W - $70
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB - $75
Optical Drive: LG Black 22X SATA DVD+-RW - $24
CPU Heatsink & Fan: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 - $27 (after $5 rebate)

Discount: $55 (CPU/MB, VC/RAM, Case/PSU combo deals)
Shipping: $40
Total: $650

This build is basically superior to the bargain build in every way. You have a faster processor, better video card, more power, more hard drive space, and a case with more room and cooling. You'll also notice that I included a heatsink and fan to give you more flexibility when overclocking the processor.

At stock speeds, the gaming performance of this processor will be almost the same as the Phenom II X2. However, this one will give you greater gains when overclocking, and that's what you're expected to do with this build. The Xigmatek heatsink will allow you to overclock to your heart's content while keeping your CPU at reasonable temperatures. The NZXT Tempest case is known for its excellent airflow, which will also help with the cooling.

And it's a good thing we'll have decent airflow here because it sounds like the 4870 GPU will be running hotter than the 4850. You might also want to see if ATI Tray Tools will allow you to adjust the fan speed - the reviewers said it likes to run at max. If you can find a Thermalright HR-03 for a decent price anywhere, you might want to consider getting it. Newegg doesn't carry them anymore. However, Newegg does carry the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev.2 for $25 plus shipping. Either of those heatsinks are able to passively cool this video card to great effect, though you can also attach a quiet fan if you wish. A silent GPU would actually turn this system into a decent home theater PC.

The 500GB version of the Caviar Black seems to have gone up to $70 now. For $75 you can have the 640GB version, for $80 you can have 750GB, and for $100 you can have 1TB. I suggested the 640GB version here, but get whatever you like. There don't seem to be any amazing combos, though you can still get the deal with the 500GB version and the Rosewill case. If you don't like any of the combos, be sure to at least get a free SATA cable combo because it won't cost you anything. It does have combo deals with OEM versions of Windows Vista, such as $20 off Home Premium x64 which is my recommendation.

The hefty power supply will give you much more flexibility with your system. It has a $30 combo savings with the NZXT case, so they're a great pair.

Overall, this system shows you several inexpensive upgrade paths you can choose in order to enhance the bargain build to your desires. You can mix and match as you please. For example, the biggest difference in performance would come from simply popping in the better video card for an extra $50.

If you just prefer silence you can get the heatsink, case, and PSU for an extra $110 while keeping the 4850 and X2 550. You also might consider the cooler and quieter Caviar Green hard drives. That would make a nice HTPC, and for only about $550. Maybe I'll dabble more in HTPCs later. Anandtech has mentioned they will be covering the topic soon, so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

Video Cards - The Easy Part

The component that makes the most impact on a computer's gaming performance is the video card. However, choosing a video card is not as complicated as choosing the right combination of processor, motherboard, and RAM. Basically, any modern video card will work to its maximum potential in any of the system builds I listed earlier.

I won't be suggesting SLI or Crossfire setups, or video cards that are much over $200. I don't do this for the same reason I don't recommend $300+ processors. It's generally not worth it. If you really have the money to blow, however, I'm willing to help on a case-by-case basis.

I also won't be suggesting processors that just don't make sense for the price, such as the GeForce GTS 250 or anything in the GTX line beyond the 260. AMD's counterparts simply have better performance for the price right now.

Moving on, let's start with the inexpensive piece:

SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB - $100 (after $15 rebate)

This card has free shipping as well as some other possible deals. First of all, it has many amazing combo deals. One of these combine with DDR2 RAM that I recommend for an extra $20 in savings! If for some reason you don't want to use a combo deal, there is a promo code for $15 off the card until June 11th. You can't use it if you use a combo, but it does "stack" with the rebate to make a new price of $85.

To see how this card performs when compared with the competition, see this low-end benchmark article as well as this high-end benchmark article.

If you want to move up from the Radeon 4850, you really have to pay for it. There just aren't any good deals in the midrange right now. Last month, there was a Radeon 4870 512MB for about $130 with two free games, but that deal is gone now. Besides, the 4850 will smoothly play just about anything except Crysis on high settings at 1680x1050. (See the benchmarks above.) However, if you really must have more power and don't want to spend $200, I suggest you consider the following:

BFG Tech BFGEGTX260896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB - $145 (after $20 rebate)

This 260 is the original 192 core version. It doesn't come with any combo deals that I would suggest, but the shipping is free. It does have the potential to serve as a Physx processor in the future, but that technology isn't really taking off. It will certainly outperform the Radeon 4850, and its larger RAM will especially serve it well at higher resolutions. Check out this old benchmark article to see the differences between the various GeForce 260s and Radeon 4870s.

Finally, if you really must play all the latest games at the very highest detail, you will want to consider this one:

HIS Hightech H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB - $200

The shipping isn't free, but it does come with both Stalker: Clear Sky and EA Battleforge.

Anything beyond this, and you're just wasting your money. Video cards are easy to upgrade, so it's pointless to bother with SLI, Crossire, or uncompetitive products unless money is simply not an issue.

Remember, when factoring in the cost of going with SLI or Crossfire, you also need to make sure your motherboard and power supply are up to the task. While the motherboard in my last post will run any single card at PCI-E 2.0 x16, it will only run crossfire at x4. In order to get a dual x16 board, you'll have to pay an extra $10 and lose the $20 combo deal. That's an extra $30 in addition to the cost of the new board. Also, you won't have the option of using the 400W PSU because you'll definitely need more juice. Then there are the driver bugs that everyone is *still* complaining about. And the heat. And the space. Seriously, just stay away from multiple GPU configurations.

(Though I was able to come up with a neato triple Crossfire 4850 build for $867. It had a NZXT Tempest for the case and the triple-core Phenom II x3 720 BE for the processor. I call it, "Rise of the Triad.")

Finally, I'd like to mention something about PCI-Express 2.0. None of the major benchmarking sites seem to have done any recent PCI-E 1.0 vs PCI-E 2.0 comparisons. I think this is mostly due to the fact that most modern motherboards use PCI-E 2.0. However, Tom's Hardware, in its seemingly endless failures, is still recommending PCI-E 1.0 motherboards in its system builds. Yes, it may not make a big difference now. However, I found one site with some more recent benchmarks that suggest we are getting close to the point at which it will make a noticeable difference. Page 7 has a good example using Crysis. If we're already noticing small differences on today's $200 cards, and very significant differences on today's X2 and Crossfire setups, what about next year or the year after? Your next video card upgrade should be able to work to its maximum potential with the system you buy today, and PCI-E 2.0 can be had for excellent prices right now. That's why I never suggest PCI-E 1.0 motherboards. AnandtTech won't either, even in their "Entry-level" PCs. Ignore Tom's Hardware. This is the least of their bad advice.

Bargain Gaming Rig

Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition - $110
Motherboard: ASUS M4A78 Plus - $70 (after $10 rebate)
RAM: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 - $30 (after $20 rebate)
Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB - $100 (after $15 rebate)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB - $60
Case: Rosewill TU-155 Black Steel ATX Black - $60
Optical Drive: SAMSUNG Black 22X SATA DVD+-RW - $27

Discount: $55 (CPU/MB, VC/RAM, and Case/HD combo deals)
Shipping: $22 (to my area, anyway)
Total: $424

Wow! This is one killer machine for only $424!

The video card may not be the latest, but it's better than what I have at home. It should be able to play most of the newest 3D games smoothly at high settings. It even comes with an integrated HDMI port. I'll talk more about video cards later, but let me just say that you won't find anything better for anywhere near this price!

The hard drive is built for performance, having 32MB cache and dual processors.

The DVD drive is pretty straightforward. When shopping for these, make sure you get one with a SATA interface instead of IDE. It's much easier to manage SATA cabling inside the case. By the way, this optical drive as well as the hard drive do not come with their own SATA cables. Thankfully, the motherboard comes with two.

Cases are mostly about personal preference, but a family member of mine owns this one and loves it. It's definitely a bargain.

The power supply that comes with the case should have enough power to support this hardware, but if you plan on using more devices you might want to consider something just a little more beefy. As it is, you will need to use the power adapter that comes with the video card. You will also need to use the Molex-SATA adapter that comes with the motherboard in order to power one of your SATA devices (hard drive or DVD drive) because the PSU only has one SATA cable. If you'd rather have a power supply that takes care of all these issues, try this:

Power Supply: SIGMA Power Engine SP-535 535W - $25 (after $15 rebate) + $3 shipping
New Total: $452

Obviously, you'll need a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and speakers. If you're upgrading from an old machine, you'll already have these. I'm only dealing with the stuff inside the box for now, but feel free to ask any questions if you want an opinion on something else.

Again, this machine is simply awesome for the price. Good luck finding a better deal anywhere else. If you want one, contact me about building it for you. Enjoy!

Note: At least one of the discounts ends on June 20th.

Again with Feeling

It's time to re-evaluate the processors we will want to use in a gaming system for a few reasons. First of all, I would like to discuss overclocking. Second, AMD has just released something that I feel is absolutely perfect for a budget gaming system. Let's take a look.

AMD's new surprise is the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition. This is basically a quad-core processor with *two* cores disabled. If you thought the X3s were a steal, you'll be thrilled to know that you can have this guy for only $110. You'll also be thrilled to know that it's no slouch on performance.

Now, let's talk about overclocking. If you really want to get the most bang for your buck, you are going to have to overclock. There are no buts about it. If you choose to ignore this option, you are not utilizing one of the best features of these great 45nm processors. Ultimately, my purpose here is to show you how to get the best gaming performance for your dollar. Therefore, I am going to base my suggestions in this post on the assumption that you will be overclocking these processors.

Here is a breakdown of the processors that I suggest, and the overclock percentages they are able to obtain under reasonable conditions:

[Updated 8/8/09]

Athlon II X2 250: 25% - Stock: 3.0 GHz, OC: 3.75 GHz ($79)
Phenom II X2 550 BE: 20% - Stock: 3.1 GHz, OC: 3.7 GHz ($103)
Phenom II X3 720 BE: 35% - Stock 2.8 GHz, OC: 3.8 GHz ($119)
Phenom II x4 940 BE: 30% - Stock 3.0 GHz, OC: 3.9 GHz ($189)
Phenom II x4 955 BE: 22% - Stock 3.2 GHz, OC: 3.9 GHz ($200)
Core 2 Duo E8400: 40% - Stock 3.0 GHz, OC: 4.2 GHz ($168)
Core i7 920: 43% - Stock 2.66 GHz, OC: 3.8 GHz ($280)
Core i7-975 Extreme: 23% - Stock 3.33 GHz, OC: 4.1 GHz ($1,000)

Remember that the price of the processor alone is deceptive. The motherboard and RAM also make a huge difference in price. I might revisit this later.

Anyway, these overclocks show us a few important things. First of all, the x2 550 might just be the right chip for you if you really don't want to bother with overclocking. It already comes with a high stock clock speed (higher than any of the others) so overclocking really can't push it much farther.

Second, the Phenom II x4 955 BE only overclocks by about 22%. This puts it at exactly the same speed as the x4 940, but for a lot more money. Therefore, I can't really justify it.

Third, the E8400 stands out as a possible sweet spot here. Its gaming performance is roughly on par with the x4 940, depending on what benchmarks you look at. The price and the overclock may give it a nice edge depending on your motherboard needs.

Finally, the value of the i7 920 really stands out. At a 43% overclock, it will very clearly outperform anything else here. The price is a little more justified with this in mind.

There are also some other considerations. First, you can disable hyperthreading in the i7 920 for a small (5%) boost in gaming performance. Second, you might be able to get away with "unlocking" the disabled cores in the Phenom x2 and x3 processors. There is no guarantee that it is doable, and it depends on your motherboard and its BIOS version. I don't recommend doing this because you won't be able to overclock as much and the game performance really won't improve a lot.

The Xigmatek heatsink and fan that I'm using should work with all of these processors except the i7 920. Overclockers will love it.

Remember, the performance of these processors really doesn't make a huge difference in gaming results as long as you have a modern video card. The GPU will be your bottleneck. However, having a faster processor will help to ensure that your machine is "future proof." A faster CPU will be able to keep up years down the road when games are more demanding and video cards are more powerful. This is why the unrealistic low-res benchmarks out there still have some value.