System Buyers Guide: $1000 to $2000

AMD Performance Midrange

The introduction of Phenom II has made putting together an AMD Performance Midrange a joy again. While the Phenom was an honest competitor at the price points where AMD chose to compete, the poor overclocking of the AMD Phenom compared to Intel Core 2 dual/quad-core processors was always a nagging reality. Phenom II changes all that, and AMD in 45nm clothes is once again a screaming overclocker. We reached 3.9GHz in our testing for the Phenom II launch with a Phenom II 940 CPU. That same CPU is the starting point for our AMD Performance Midrange PC.

You can read our review of the Phenom II X4 for additional information. The Phenom II 940 X4 at 3.0GHz is the fastest of the currently shipping AMD Phenom II processors. The Phenom II is very similar in L2/L3 cache configuration to the recently introduced Intel Core i7. Performance is also comparable to the best Intel chips. As the first 45nm AMD processors the Phenom II also overclocks very well, finally approaching the overclocking levels enjoyed by Intel since the introduction of the Core 2 Duo.

We've paired the Phenom II 940 with the superb ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe. At $190 the ASUS is not cheap or even a great value for a 790FX/SB750 setup, but it is one of the most loaded and best performing AMD boards we have used this year. ASUS loads the board with Gigabit LAN, IEEE 1394 support, four PCI-E x16 slots (dual x16, tri x16/x8/x8, or quad x8), two PCI slots, a single eSATA port, and six 3Gb/s SATA ports featuring RAID 0/1/10/5. The M3A79-T Deluxe also works very well with Phenom II and end-users will not be disappointed in performance or overclocking capabilities.

The ASUS also includes superb onboard sound with the ADI AD2000B 8-channel HD audio. This is probably the best onboard sound solution we have tested so far. A Creative 7.1 Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium audio card was included in the components mostly for game compatibility. You can save $90 and use the onboard ADI sound without sacrificing much if anything in sound quality.

The GPU choice is the top-performing Sapphire 100251SR Radeon HD 4870X2. This dual-GPU card is an exceptional performer on the 790FX chipset, as you would expect. The selling price has been around $500, but with current promotions you can buy this Sapphire 4870X2 for just $400. That is an exceptional buy that delivers top performance at a very fair price, and if you ever want more gaming power a quad-GPU (two 4870X2 cards) is an option, albeit one we don't really recommend unless you have a 30" LCD.

The Tuniq Tower 120 cooler was also used on the AMD Value Midrange System described on page 4. The rest of the components are the same as the Intel Performance Midrange PC. This includes the Seagate 1TB hard drive, the LG GGC-H20LK BD/HD reader and 16X DVD burner, the Antec Nine Hundred case, the Silverstone 700W PSU, the Logitech G51 powered speakers, the ASUS 1080p 24" 1920x1080 LCD Monitor, the Microsoft OEM keyboard/optical mouse, and Microsoft Vista Home Premium OEM. You can find more information on these choices on the previous Intel Performance Midrange page or on page 3.