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HOW FIRED UP IS YOUR RIG?IN CPUs

P C G 0809

++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009

The best of the best. Intel’s fastest
THIS
F
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009
ALTHOUGH UPGRADING YOUR VIDEOCARD and CPU should involve more than just Core i7 965 Extreme Edition consumer CPU shatters benchmark
AUGUST 2009
ISSUE
picking the latest and fastest models—you’ll also want to consider features, bundled
games and price, for example—performance is still king in a gaming PC. So we’ve com-
+++ WWW.PCGAMER.COM +++
Core i7 940
Core i7 920
records and is an overclocker’s
dream, if you can afford it.

F120
pared virtually every single consumer videocard and processor on the market today in
AUG Core 2 Extreme QX9775
AtheBegin
THE
chart on these two pages, which you can use as a reference
PLAYLIST
by looking up your current 0809
2009
and upgrading guide.
hardware, and if you find that you’re falling too far
down the scale, it’s time to heat things up in your rig.
Core 2 Extreme QX9770
Core 2 Extreme QX9650
Core 2 Quad Q9650
PC GAMER AUGUST 2009

#190 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 08 AUGUST 2009

AUGUST 09 Core 2 Quad Q9550
#190 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 08 AUGUST 2009
ISSUE NO. 190 Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
#190
The new speed king combines AUGUST 2009
two GTX 260 boards into
Geforce GTX 295
one 2009 • NO. 190
AUGUST
GPUs
120 Phenom II X4 945
Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition The preferred Core-i7 proces-
AUGUST 2009 190
card. Surprisingly, thisAUGUST
beast
Radeon HD 4890 X2 2009 • NO. 190
only requires one six-pin and one
Radeon HD 4870 X2
Phenom II X4 910
Phenom II X4 920
sor for high-end gamers—easily
overclocked past 3GHz with a
eight-pin PCI-E power cable. third-party air cooler.
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009
Geforce GTX 285
Radeon HD 4850 X2
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009 110 Phenom II X4 810
Core 2 Quad 9450
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009 ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009 Geforce GTX 280 Core 2 Extreme QX6850

55nm version of the Core 216

Radeon HD 4890
Geforce GTX 275 110 Core 2 Extreme QX6800
Core 2 Duo E6850
Geforce GTX 260 Core 216SP Core 2 Extreme X6800
Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 Core 2 Extreme QX6700

100
Geforce GTX 260 Core 2 Quad Q6700
Radeon HD 4870 Core 2 Quad Q9300 Compared to the performance of
Geforce 9800 GX2 Core 2 Duo E6750 the Core i7 family of procs, only a

100
R eplaced the GTX 260 Radeon HD 4770 Core 2 Duo E6700 fool would pony up a grand for it.
Geforce GTS 250 Core 2 Quad Q6600
Geforce 9800 GTX+ Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
GeForce 8800 Ultra Phenom II X3 710
Geforce 9800 GTX Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition
AMD’s top single-GPU videocard
resides at the intersection of
GeForce 8800 GTX
Radeon HD 4850 90 Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition
Phenom X4 9850
peak performance and afford- Geforce 9800 GT Phenom X4 9750
able pricing. GeForce 8800 GTS 512
Geforce 8800 GTS
90 Phenom X4 9650
Core 2 Duo E8600
AMD’s top-end CPU can’t com-
pete with Intel’s fi nest in terms
GeForce 8800 GT Core 2 Duo E8500 of speed. But for its admirable
Geforce 9600 GT Phenom X3 8750 performance, you can’t beat it’s

80
Radeon HD 3870 Phenom X3 8650 sub-$200 price.
GeForce 7950GX2 Core 2 Duo E6600
Best $100 graphics card
GeForce 8800GTS 320/640 Athlon 64 X2 6400+
Radeon HD3850
Radeon X1950XTX 80 Core 2 Duo E6550
Athlon X2 6000+
Radeon X1950 XT Phenom 9600+
Radeon HD2900 XT Phenom 9500+
Actually just a rebadged
9800GTX+ based on the G92
GeForce 7950GT
Radeon X1900 XTX 70 Athlon 64 X2 5800+
Core 2 Duo E6420
/// CONTENTS ///

architecture, but with a smaller GeForce 7900GTX Core 2 Duo E6400

board. Radeon X1900 XT
Radeon X1900 70 Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Athlon 64 X2 5400+

60
60
This card delivers incredible Radeon X1800 XT Athlon 64 X2 5200+ One of our favorite chips looks a

50
performance for its price, almost Radeon X1800 XL Athlon 64 FX-74 long way down the list, but don’t
equalling the best here. Unless GeForce 7900GTO Athlon 64 FX-72 be misled: the performance dif-
you’re playing on a 30-inch Radeon X1800 GTO Pentium D EE 965 ferences between here and the

50
monitor, the framerate differ- GeForce 7900GT Pentium D 960 top are minimal.
ence between this and an Ultra Radeon HD2900 Pro Athlon 64 FX-70
just isn’t worth worrying your GeForce 8600GTS Core 2 Duo E6300
pretty head about.
GeForce 7900GS Athlon 64 FX-62
GeForce 7800GTX Athlon 64 X2 5000+
GeForce 7800GT
GeForce 7800GS
40 Athlon 64 FX-60
Pentium D EE 955 A tough start for AMD’s new
Radeon X850 XT Pentium D 950 chip, but sooner or later the four
You’ll need at least an Nvidia
8-series GPU if you want to take
advantage of CUDA features like
Radeon HD2600 XT
GeForce 8600GT
40 Core 2 Duo E4600
Athlon 64 X2 4800+
core advantage will push it clear
of the older Athlons.
accelerated PhysX and video Radeon X850 Pro Core 2 Duo E4500
encoding. Radeon X800 XT Core 2 Duo E4400
Radeon X800 XL
Radeon X800 GT 30 Core 2 Duo E4300
Athlon 64 X2 4600+
Radeon HD2600 Pro Pentium D EE 840
30
There are some serious bargains
WWW.PCGAMER.COM

GeForce 7600GT Athlon 64 X2 4400+

to be had around this part of the
Two chips on one card, but GeForce 6800Ultra Athlon 64 X2 4200+ thermometer. If you’re self-build-
they’re not DX10 capable and rely Radeon 9800 XT Athlon 64 X2 4000+ ing or upgrading from an older
on sometimes iffy SLI drivers. Radeon 9800 Pro Athlon 64 X2 3800+ machine this is where those on a
Radeon 9800
Radeon X1650 XT
Radeon X1600 XT
20 Athlon 64 X2 3600+
Athlon 64 4000+
Athlon 64 FX-55
tight budget should start.

There are a lot of cards here

spanning several generations
Radeon 9700 Pro
Radeon 9700
GeForce 6800GT
20 Athlon 64 3800+
Pentium D 945
Pentium D 840
of hardware, yet performance
between them all is pretty much GeForce 6800GS Pentium D 820 Once the best of the best—even
the fastest single core CPUs
10
identical in modern games. Don’t GeForce 6800GTO Pentium 4 3.8GHz
switch from one of these chaps Radeon X800 Pro Athlon 64 3700+ are struggling to keep up with
to another—it’s just not worth it. GeForce 6800 Athlon 64 FX-57 modern games. If you’re lucky,
though, your motherboard will ac-

10
GeForce 6800XT Pentium 4 3.6GHz
cept a cheap dual core upgrade.
GeForce 6800LE Pentium D 940 The FX chips of this generation,
GeForce 7600GS Athlon 64 FX-53 however, used the server spec
Radeon 9600XT Athlon 64 FX-51 socket 940, which you’ll struggle
3D cards below this point may GeForce 6600GT Pentium D 930 to find an upgrade for.
well boast high levels of DirectX
ability, but are hampered by low
memory bandwidths and data
Radeon X1600 Pro
GeForce 6600 0 Athlon 64 3600+
Athlon 64 3500+
Radeon X600 Pro Athlon 64 3400+
0
processing ability to the point of
being near useless for games. Radeon 9600 Pro Pentium D 830
GeForce 6600LE Pentium 4 3.4GHz
IN
PCG 0809
P C G 0809

GeForce 8500GT Pentium 4 3.2GHz ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009

Radeon 9600LE
Radeon HD2400 XT
Pentium D 805
Pentium D 925
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009
THIS
GeForce 8400GS Athlon 64 3200+
AUGUST 2009

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ISSUE
Radeon HD2400 Pro Pentium 4 3.06GHz
AUG
GeForce 7300GT
Radeon X1300
Radeon HD2350
Pentium D 920
Pentium D 915
Pentium 4 3.0GHz
A THE PLAYLIST 0809 2009
Radeon 9550 Athlon 64 3000+
#190 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 08 AUGUST 2009
#190 VOLUME 16, NUMBER 08 AUGUST 2009 AUGUST 09
GeForce 7300GS Athlon 64 2800+ ISSUE 190
NO.
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GeForce 7200GS Athlon XP 3200+ #190 AUGUST 2009

IN GeForce 7100GS Pentium 4 2.8GHz AUGUST 2009 • NO. 190
PCG 0809

190
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GeForce 6200 Pentium AUGUST
4 2.6GHz 2009 AUGUST 2009 • NO. 190
++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009
THIS GeForce 6150LE
GeForce 6100
Athlon XP 2800+
Pentium 4 2.4GHz
AUGUST 2009

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ISSUE ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009 ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009 93

AUG ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009 ++ PC GAMER MAGAZINE ++ AUGUST 2009