Last month we took a $1300 US budget and constructed what we believe was one of the best all round mid-range PC configurations. This budget allowed us to build a highly overclockable gaming system that comprised components such as the Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 processor , ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard, 2GB of DDR2 memory, an Acer 22” LCD, an eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card and a 400GB hard drive, amongst other things.

This system delivered excellent gaming performance at 1680x1050, delivering highly playable performance in games such as F.E.A.R, Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander and X3: Reunion. Then earlier this month we took an even more conservative budget and set out to build an all rounder capable of gaming for just $900 US. A saving of $400 meant that the processor was downgraded to an E4400 which used the slightly cheaper Gigabyte 965P-S3 motherboard. The 2GB of DDR2 memory was kept along with the 400GB hard drive and 18x DVD burner. However the graphics card was downgraded to a GeForce 7900 GS which meant a 19” LCD supporting the 1440x900 resolution was more appropriate.

Today we take what could be a far less realistic budget for some gamers, but it is the type of budget we have really been hanging out for. This time we plan to spend much more than $900 US, even more than $1300 US, this time the budget is locked in at $2500 US. With this kind of budget you would imagine that the sky’s the limit, but as we found it's not! While you can build an incredible gaming system capable of a wide range of tasks, we still found ourselves wanting to add more.

Building a gaming computer to a tight budget is difficult and does take careful planning and consideration to achieve. However that said, we believe building a high-end system can be just as difficult, though with limited competition for Intel and Nvidia in this segment some options have become rather more obvious. While we still appreciate the AMD Athlon64 X2 processor series, the Core 2 Duo processors are a serious threat at the high-end of the scale. Although the Athlon64 X2 6000+ can hold its own in most games and it is incredibly cheap, the faster Core 2 Duo processors we find are better all-round performers.

The next difficult choice was choosing between the GeForce 8800 GTX and the Radeon HD 2900XT. Honestly we are still not entirely sure which of the two is the better option, as both products appear to have their own strengths and weaknesses. That said, the GeForce 8800 GTX appears to be more of a sure thing, at least it does to us anyway. Although our own testing has found the Radeon HD 2900XT to be superior in some select games, the Radeon performance tends to fluctuate far too much depending on the game and the quality settings being used.

Therefore once again we have taken a Core 2 Duo processor along with a GeForce graphics card and built them into a serious gaming system that can be built for just under $2500 US. Of course we have selected several more high-quality components to make this high-end gaming system, which also includes a 24” LCD monitor, 1TB of storage, 4GB of DDR2 memory and the latest Logitech gaming hardware, along with a few other essential components.