Our Econobox is suitable for budding enthusiasts, but its budget only allows for so many goodies. That budget gets doubled for our mid-range build, allowing us to assemble a pretty powerful box while keeping the total cost close to a grand.

Processor
Intel's Core 2 Duo E6750 is still the speediest dual-core processor available for less than $200, so it gets our vote for the Grand Experiment. The chip is clocked at 2.66GHz, packs 4MB of shared L2 cache, and has a 1333MHz front-side bus. We've looked at quad-core alternatives for this machine, but our budget doesn't really allow for them. We'd rather have a well-rounded machine with adequate graphics horsepower for games and a good sound card than the fastest CPU we can afford.

Should you wish to go with an AMD processor, we've featured one in the alternatives section on the next page.

Motherboard
For the Grand Experiment, we've picked the Asus P5N-E SLI once again. Nvidia's nForce 650i SLI chipset is a worthy alternative to Intel's latest offerings, and it has the advantage of supporting SLI multi-GPU configurations. That's a nice plus should you wish to add an extra GeForce 8800 GT to boost game performance once prices drop.

This motherboard also features four Serial ATA ports with RAID support, one eSATA port, two IDE channels, Gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire. The P5N-E SLI does have fewer Serial ATA ports than the latest boards based on Intel chipsets, but it makes up for that shortcoming with excellent overclocking potential. In our labs, we've been able to crank the P5N-E SLI up to a front-side bus speed of 470MHz—enough to push our recommended Core 2 Duo E6750 to 4.7GHz.

Memory
We've been hesitant to outfit this system with DDR2-800 memory instead of DDR2-667 considering the price gap and relatively small performance difference between the two memory types. However, with Mushkin's 2GB DDR2-800 memory kits now going for less than $60, we think you may as well spring for the faster RAM. The Grand Experiment has a bigger budget, faster processor, and higher front-side bus speed than the Econobox, so there's no sense hampering it even slightly just to save $20.

Graphics
Our choice of graphics card for this system isn't in the least bit surprising, but then again, Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GT is the performance champion of the $200-300 price range. As we saw in our review, the GT's performance rivals that of the pricier GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB for around $100 less, making it a no-brainer for this system. However, the GT's tight availability complicates matters somewhat. At the moment, finding a GeForce 8800 GT both in stock and near its intended price range is like playing a game of cat and mouse. Cards go in stock every now and then, but they quickly disappear from store shelves for indeterminate periods of time. Worse yet, many of them are marked up far beyond their intended $199-249 price range.

Despite these availability problems, we've tentatively recommended XFX's flavor of the GeForce 8800 GT, which is "factory overclocked" from default core and memory speeds of 600MHz/900MHz to 640MHz/950MHz and features a "double lifetime" warranty covering second-hand cards. The card may or may not be in stock as you read this, so if it isn't, we suggest hitting our price search engine and finding a GeForce 8800 GT that is. Supply will hopefully catch up with demand before long, but until then, shopping around is the best course of action.

Should the 8800 GT prove too difficult to find, we've suggested a decent Radeon alternative below.

Storage
We've gone with Western Digital's Caviar SE16 500GB drive for this build. We're selecting it over the Seagate alternative for the same reasons as in our Econobox: the WD drive is simply cheaper, quieter, and faster, and we don't think Seagate's five-year warranty is enough to tip the odds in favor of Seagate's Barracuda 7100.11 500GB. Again, though, we've featured the Seagate drive in our alternatives for this system.

On the optical front, we're sticking with the Samsung SH-S203B. It's a fine DVD burner that should be a good match for this system.

Audio
Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer gets our vote here. We used to recommend the X-Fi XtremeMusic, but Creative has discontinued that card and effectively replaced it with the XtremeGamer. The two cards are essentially identical, although the XtremeGamer has a smaller form factor and lacks an AD-Link connector for the break-out X-Fi I/O console. The XtremeGamer does have an Intel HD Audio-compatible front panel connector that can be hooked up to front panel ports in many cases, though.

Vista support note: Creative has Vista drivers out for this card, but because of Vista's new audio pipeline, there's no audio acceleration support in games that implement EAX via DirectSound. Luckily, Creative has a workaround available.

Enclosure and power
Our recommended Sonata III delivers everything we need for this system: a beefy 500W power supply with an 80% efficiency rating, a clean layout with sideways-mounted hard drive bays, and a host of noise reduction features, including a speed-adjustable, rubber-damped 120mm exhaust fan. This case even has an eSATA port on its front bezel, should you wish to plug in a speedy external hard drive.

$130 is a fair amount of money to spend on a case, but the Sonata III is actually a smashing deal when you take into account its bundled power supply, which is normally worth $90 on its own. You'd be hard pressed to find a stand-alone case with the same noise reduction features and finish as the Sonata III for significantly less than $40.