The Sweeter Spot
Indulgence without excess

The Utility Player might be good enough for many gamers, but the Sweeter Spot more closely represents what TR's editors would buy for themselves if they were in the market for a new PC. Here, we recommend paying a premium for more processing power, a better platform, better storage options, better audio, and a bigger enclosure with fancier noise-reduction features—among other things.

Processor
Thanks to recent drops in DDR3 memory and X58 motherboard prices, the Core i7-920 has become our CPU of choice for the Sweeter Spot. This is admittedly the cheapest and slowest member of Intel's new processor family, but it's still fast enough to outrun higher-clocked Core 2 Quads more often than not, and it can leave 'em choking in a trail of dust (so to speak) when overclocked.

We didn't just choose a Core i7 for its raw performance, either. While the LGA775 socket is more or less a dead end, Intel recently revealed that Gulftown, a 32nm six-core processor due in 2010, will happily work with existing X58 chipsets. That means there's a good chance you'll eventually be able to slap a shiny six-core CPU in our recommended X58 mobo.

Motherboard
At just $200, Gigabyte's GA-EX58-UD3R is one of the cheapest Core i7-compatible motherboards around. That low price does come with some drawbacks, of course. Compared to the GA-EX58-UD5 we recommended for our Crushinator build last year, this board is missing two DIMM slots, one PCI Express x16 slot, two SATA ports, and one Gigabit Ethernet controller.

Frankly, though, we don't expect you'll regret any of those omissions. You still get two 16-lane PCIe slots (with SLI and CrossFire support) and eight SATA ports. The reduced number of DIMM slots does require you to arrange memory sticks in a particular order to populate all three channels, but once that's done, you probably won't need to upgrade until the whole platform is obsolete—6GB is a lot for a desktop PC.

Memory
We won't start saying DDR3 memory is cheap just yet, but look at it this way: the 1333MHz kit we picked last time was around $120, whereas our 6GB DDR3-1600 selection this time around is just $98. We could even reach below $90 by going with something a little slower, but all Core i7s should be able to run DDR3 RAM at 1600MHz—and doing so can make a real difference. There's no point in limiting a $1,300 PC just to save 10 bucks.

Graphics
What we said on the Utility Player page applies here, too. This BFG GeForce GTX 260 reloaded has enough muscle to run every current game at 1920x1200—typically with a generous dose of antialiasing—so most gamers probably won't need anything faster. Those who do are welcome to peruse our alternatives section.

Storage
This storage recommendation might seem odd, but we find a pair of 640GB WD Caviar Blacks more compelling than a single, higher-capacity drive. Few drives offer the same mix of great performance, long warranty coverage, and low noise levels. And 640GB is a heckuva lot of capacity as it is. Also, picking two identical drives opens the door to RAID—more specifically, a mirrored RAID 1 array.

RAID 1 arrays can improve read performance, and their redundancy allows systems to survive single-drive failures without data loss. Having a real-time mirror of the contents of your system's hard drive can save loads of time when a drive fails—so much so that at least two of TR's editors run RAID 1 in their primary desktops. If you value storage capacity over redundancy, though, nothing stops you from running these two drives independently or combining them in a 1.28TB JBOD array (or an even riskier but potentially faster RAID 0 setup).

Last, but not least, LG's GGC-H20L optical drive should please both backup freaks and movie lovers. It burns dual-layer DVDs and can read both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs—and its price tag makes it a reasonable addition to the Sweeter Spot.

Audio
Sticking with integrated audio might be fine on our $700 Utility Player build, but it starts to get a little ridiculous in this price range. That's why we've put Asus' Xonar DX in our primary configuration. 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, this is easily the best mid-range sound card on the market today.

Power Supply
A high-end Core i7 system calls for something a little meatier than a case-and-power-supply bundle, so we've picked out a Corsair TX650W. This unit has a single, beefy 12V rail, plenty of connectors, 80% or greater rated efficiency, active power factor correction, a single 120mm fan for cooling, and—best of all—a five-year warranty. We weren't all that thrilled with load noise levels when we tested this unit's 750W big brother last year, but reviews around the web suggest that the TX650W is quieter.

TR system guide regulars might be wondering why we didn't pick PC Power & Cooling's 750W Silencer PSU, which earned our Editor's Choice award and spots in several previous guides. The Silencer costs the same as the Corsair and actually has a higher rated wattage, but we skipped it for two reasons. First, the Silencer's elongated design makes it a tight fit in our recommended case, especially if you decide to throw in a second graphics card or extra hard drives. Also, an unusual number of Newegg users reported dead-on-arrival units recently. Since the Corsair PSU is a worthy alternative, we feel more confident with it right now.

Enclosure
Antec's P182 case isn't particularly cheap, but it has many upsides, including composite panels, adjustable-speed 120mm fans, partitioned cooling zones, and a cable management system that lets you run cables behind the motherboard tray. The cooling design and composite panels in particular should enable delightfully low noise levels given the Sweeter Spot's relatively quiet components.