The Grand Experiment is a solid system that should be able to handle a little bit of everything, but its specs aren't exactly drool-inducing. For that, we have our high-end build, a machine that avoids hefty price premiums while packing enough hardware to make you the envy of the next LAN party.

Processor
The Sweet Spot gets a $1,500 budget, allowing us to splurge on a Core 2 Quad Q9300. Four 45nm Penryn cores clocked at 2.5GHz not only deliver exceptional performance with multithreaded workloads, but they're also fast enough on their own to remain competitive in single-threaded tasks.

Motherboard
We mentioned a couple of pages back that we got rid of the Grand Experiment's old SLI motherboard in favor of a more recent offering based on Intel's P35 chipset. However, we actually have use for SLI in the Sweet Spot build, so we've opted for a newer SLI mobo based on Nvidia's nForce 750i SLI chipset here. The Asus P5N-D has two second-generation PCI Express graphics slots capable of handling GeForce graphics cards running in tandem, with full support for 45nm quad-core processors in tow.

One area where this mobo is somewhat bare is in the storage department, where it delivers only four 300MB/s Serial ATA ports. Should you favor additional SATA ports over SLI support, you can either check out our AMD alternative on the next page or swap in the Grand Experiment's Gigabyte EP35C-DS3R motherboard.

Memory
We're going with the same 4GB Mushkin DDR2-800 kit we used in the Grand Experiment, largely because tricked-out modules rated for operation at higher speeds and tighter timings don't deliver enough of a performance advantage to justify their higher prices. If you have extra cash to burn, you'll see greater returns from upgrading other system components.

Again, you'll want to run a 64-bit operating system to take full advantage of 4GB of RAM. More detailed operating system analysis is available on the second-to-last page of the guide.

Graphics
This is where things get a little crazy. Yes, we've outfitted our $1,500 Sweet Spot system with a pair of GeForce 8800 GTs. Before you roll your eyes, consider the following: even with two GPUs, a quad-core processor, and an otherwise complete assortment of quality components (including a top-of-the-line 750W power supply), we're still slightly under our grand-and-a-half budget.

What's more, doubling up on 8800 GTs improves performance rather dramatically at higher resolutions in newer games. In Half-Life 2: Episode Two at 1920x1200 with 4X antialiasing and 16X anisotropic filtering, for instance, a single 8800 GT hits 48.1 frames per second, while two of 'em manage a much more comfortable 89.8 FPS. If you intend to play games on a relatively large monitor (and, if you have this much dough to spend on a PC, we hope you will), an 8800 GT SLI config will pay significant dividends.

Of course, there are downsides to SLI. The way Nvidia's multi-GPU scheme handles multiple monitors leaves a lot to be desired, and two graphics cards take a good amount of room inside a PC. That said, our recent hardware survey tells us most TR readers only have one display, and our recommended graphics cards have single-slot coolers that should leave enough expansion slots free to not be an encumbrance.

If you're not a serious gamer or can't live with the trade-offs associated with SLI, feel free to grab only one of our recommended graphics cards for this system.

Storage
Western Digital's Caviar SE16 640GB hard drive is as good a pick here as it was for the Grand Experiment. For additional storage options, check out our alternatives section on the next page.

We're sticking with the Samsung SH-S203B here, since more expensive SATA DVD burners don't have anything particularly worthwhile to offer.

Audio
Again, Asus' Xonar DX replaces the X-Fi XtremeGamer that we used to recommend for this system. With fantastic sound quality, support for real-time Dolby Digital Live encoding, a PCI Express interface, and the ability to emulate the latest EAX effects, the Xonar is easily the best mid-range sound card on the market.

Power Supply
An all-in-one case and power supply bundle is great if you're on a relatively tight budget, but The Sweet Spot has both a bigger budget and more power-hungry components, so discrete solutions make more sense here.

PC Power & Cooling's Silencer 750 won an Editor's Choice Award in our enthusiast power supply round-up, and its output capacity makes it a good companion for any quad-core, dual-GPU system. With a five-year warranty, remarkably low noise levels, very clean power delivery, efficiency that puts comparable offerings to shame, and dual 8-pin PCI Express power connectors, we believe the Silencer is a straightforward choice for the Sweet Spot.

Enclosure
Antec's P182 case is a newer version of the P180, which we've recommended for previous incarnations of this build. The P182 has the same upside-down design, composite panels, adjustable-speed 120mm fans, and partitioned cooling zones as the P180. However, it improves greatly upon its predecessor's biggest flaw: cable management. Unlike the P180, the P182 is designed to run cables behind the motherboard tray, helping to avoid tangled messes. And, of course, the case's design and composite panels should enable prodigiously low noise levels given the Sweet Spot's relatively quiet components.