By Bjorn3D, published 03-05-2011
CPUs, RAMs, Mobos ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 at techPowerUp AMD E-350 Accelerated Processor at iXBT Labs Video Cards ASUS Radeon HD 6950 2GB DirectCU II Overclocked Video Card Review at Tweaktown Peripherals Razer Chimaera Wireless Gaming Headset Review at HardwareHe

By MaximumPC, published 17-02-2011
You don’t need to spend a fortune to take advantage of Intel’s newest platform Previous builds in this section have tended toward the expensive side, whether they’ve been the $8,600 photo studio or our $1,800 mini-ITX gaming build. While we stand by those choices (this is Maximum PC), we’ve also heard your cries for more affordable options. Often, a budget build means buying parts that are a little past their prime—and don’t get us wrong, you can find great deals there. But for this month’s build, I knew I wanted to explore Intel’s hot new Sandy Bridge architecture—and, if I could swing it, one of AMD’s new Radeon 6800 series GPUs—while keeping my total budget under $1,000. (Editor's Note: This was written before the Sandy Bridge snafu, but hey, it's still a great bui...