Several PC tech-type sorts have put the new card through its paces, and have found that it just blows right on by the previous record-holder, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 295.

Course, it had want to. It's got two GPU's on the one card, and will cost you around $600.

I always knew the day would come where my 8800GT felt truly inadequate. I believe that day is today.

A report over on VentureBeat says that the debut of this "next gen" tech will be so important to both companies that "it's bound to drive the stock prices of the rivals involved either up or down through the rest of the year".

At the moment, AMD are tipped to have their new hardware on the market first, timed for release alongside Microsoft's new Windows 7. Nvidia, meanwhile, are keeping quiet on the release of their new chips, leading some to speculate that they've fallen behind a little with their design.

Both companies will be making extensive use of 40nm chips on their new cards, and both are expected to have support for DirectX 11 across their range within a year or so.

Graphics chip rivals race to deliver next-generation chips [VentureBeat]

The new ATI Radeon HD 4890 GPU does get to say "First!" to reach those speeds straight from the factory, but AMD does note that processor is overclocked, running at a higher speed than it was originally designed for. (In the 4890's case, the standard speed was 850 megahertz.)

But in AMD's defense, it is using plain old air-cooling techniques to keep the card from having a meltdown, not some fancy liquid-cooled solution that some aftermarket providers offer and PC modders go for. And look how pretty it is! All red and fancy!

So good on you, AMD. You've got the FLOPS to back it up. All we need now are seven sample cards. Wait, make that eight.

AMD Launches the ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 Graphics Card [AMD]

AMD calls the "Hollywood" graphics chip, the central Smile Processing Unit that outputs those eye-blistering Wii visuals, "the most successful AMD game console chip to date in terms of unit sales." And we'd think that "in terms of unit sales" is pretty much the primary term that AMD and its shareholders give a toss about.

Sure, they may care that AMD's stock price has dropped from about $21 at the Wii's launch to two bucks and change today, but don't blame that on the Wii!

"AMD's graphics technology expertise as displayed in the ATI 'Hollywood' chip is a great part of the momentum of Wii. Our combined efforts help deliver entertaining experiences to create many smiling faces in living rooms around the world," said Genyo Takeda, general manager of Integrated R&D at Nintendo.

Congrats, AMD chip fabrication plant. We bet you have plenty more Wii business to fall back on over the next few years.

Nine hundred workers will lose their jobs, with the remaining reductions coming from attrition and the sale of another business unit. All told, it represents 9 percent of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company's workforce. This is the third round of layoffs for AMD in the past year, and all told more than 3,000 have been fired.

As for the survivors, their paycheck will be a little lighter. CEO Dirk Meyer and executive chairman Hector Ruiz take a 20 percent hit; top management lose 15 percent; salaried employees drop 10 percent, and hourly workers lose 5 percent. The pay cuts are described as temporary, but at least the structure is somewhat progressive.

Times are tough for everyone, but AMD's been broke before broke was cool. The 2006 acquisition of graphics-card leader ATI is getting plenty of blame. It was a $5.6 billion deal, but in a regulatory filing, AMD revealed it plans to write down ATI's value by another $684 million. That's in addition to a previous $2.5 billion writedown, which means ATI is worth less than half of what AMD paid for it.

AMD to Cut 1,100 Workers, 9 pct of Staff [Associated Press]

AMD, as you may know, merged with graphics card manufacturer ATI back in 2006. So Bergman obviously has a sizeable stake in the future of the PC gaming market. And it's a future he sees as healthy:

There is a very compelling story on why PC gaming is so healthy now. When you consider shipments of high-end gaming rigs and strong sales of online games such as World of Warcraft, you can see how strong it is. Sales at the high end continue to astound me.

Don't know what a low-end game like WoW has to do with the fortunes of a bleeding-edge tech company, but...oh, I see. Console cash money means it doesn't really matter.

The gaming platforms tend to be the first place where games appear, but we are in about 80 percent of the gaming consoles sold, since we’re in the Microsoft and Nintendo consoles.

That's millions and millions of consoles with ATI chips in 'em. Good, safe business, that.

Q&A with AMD’s Rick Bergman on the graphics sweet spot [VentureBeat]

We welcome AMD’s broad support for DirectX 10.1 compliant hardware and we’re pleased to see our newest technology brought to market so soon. One of the great advantages of PC gaming is the rapid pace at which the experiences evolve and improve.

Hit the jump fro the full AMD press release.

AMD Works with Leading Developers to Drive High Performance DirectX® 10.1 Gaming

Elite Developers Including Electronic Arts and SEGA® to Introduce DirectX 10.1 Titles with Improved Features and Better Overall Game Experience Available Only on ATI Radeon™ HD Products

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that leading game developers are working with AMD to create a new generation of game titles utilizing Microsoft DirectX® 10.1 to deliver improved features and performance, and an overall better game experience. Developers including Electronic Arts Phenomic Studio and its forthcoming fantasy online real-time strategy game Battleforge™, SEGA and its futuristic military real-time strategy game Stormrise, and NHN Games and its 3D role-playing game Cloud 9, all exploit DirectX 10.1 for advanced gaming performance and visual realism. Only AMD graphics offer top-to-bottom DirectX 10.1 support: the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 series and the new ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 series.

“We welcome AMD’s broad support for DirectX 10.1 compliant hardware and we’re pleased to see our newest technology brought to market so soon. One of the great advantages of PC gaming is the rapid pace at which the experiences evolve and improve. The ATI Radeon HD 3000 series and now the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series hardware delivers on the promise of DirectX 10 gaming with significantly improved visuals and enhanced performance,” said Kevin Unangst, Global Director, Microsoft Games for Windows.

“With Battleforge, EA is pushing the boundaries of the real-time strategy genre introducing social and community technologies to deliver a whole new online experience. It only makes sense that we leverage the latest technology such as DirectX 10.1 supported by the new ATI Radeon HD 4800 series of graphics cards from AMD to deliver an amazing experience for gamers,” said Dirk Ringe, vice president, EA Phenomic. “We’re working hard to deliver a new fantasy RTS experience never seen before. Using DirectX 10.1 and AMD’s graphics technology will enable Battleforge to look its absolute best.”

“SEGA welcomes the chance to deliver one of next year’s most technologically advanced titles, Stormrise. AMD’s enthusiastic commitment to new standards such as DirectX 10.1 in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series is helping us develop a game which looks better and runs faster than was possible on previous platforms,” said Chris Southall, CTO Europe, SEGA. “SEGA is delighted to team up with AMD on one of our forthcoming games. AMD’s firm commitment to cutting-edge technology makes them a natural partner for us on Stormrise.”

ATI Radeon HD 3000 series graphics products and ATI Radeon HD 4800 series graphics products are widely available now at leading e-tailers, retailers and system integrators worldwide.

To showcase the difference that DirectX 10.1 technology makes, AMD recently unveiled a real-time 3D demo called “Ping Pong” to illustrate some of the new graphical techniques made possible by the new features DirectX 10.1 and supported by both the ATI Radeon HD 3000 series and ATI Radeon HD 4000 series of graphics processors. The interactive demo shows off advanced lighting techniques only possible through DirectX 10.1. For more information and to view the demo, please visit: http://ati.amd.com/developer/demos/rhd3000.html.

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing and graphics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit www.amd.com.

In short, that means things will look prettier and more realistic, giving game creators nearly limitless depths of brown to explore, with space marine armor achieving nearly unimaginable levels of detail.

AMD has a brief tech demo that show off the RV770 at its official site, featuring a DOG from Half-Life 2 clone chasing graphics card mascot Ruby. You'll probably find it as rewarding as the corporate promise of "Cinema 2.0." That's definitely gonna catch on.

Cinema 2.0: The Next Chapter in the Ultimate Visual Experience Story [AMD - thanks, Fred!]

AMD also sponsored the Games For Change event, where it announced that its AMD Foundation will offer grants to non-profits that teach social game development to kids, including Girlstart, GlobalKids, Institute for Urban Game Design and Science Buddies. AMD also told us at the event that beyond donations, its employees will do volunteer work supporting these efforts.

Part of AMD's support for Games For Change includes "Let the Games Begin," a workshop co-sponsored with the MacArthur Foundation that aims to teach nonprofits how to build games around social issues, and the company will also create a how-to toolkit for Games For Change that includes information and guidance on building these projects.

Full details follow the jump:

- New Initiative Designed to Enhance Education through Game Development -

New York — June 2, 2008 —AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the launch of AMD Changing the Game, the first initiative of the newly formed AMD Foundation. The AMD Changing the Game program is intended to improve critical technical and life skills by teaching kids to develop digital games with social content. The program is rooted in AMD’s commitment and experience in supporting education with the company’s passion and expertise in the gaming industry. The program’s launch accompanies AMD’s sponsorship and participation at the Fifth Annual Games for Change Festival to be held June 3 - 4 at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City.

AMD Changing the Game is a natural fit for AMD, which features products powering the visual experience of the two most popular gaming consoles in the world today1 and which recently launched AMD GAME!, a program designed to help consumers select perfectly suited PCs for high-definition gaming.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to harness the passion that kids have for gaming while teaching the skills they need to be successful in our 21st Century digital economy,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and chief operating officer.

In addition to technical skills such as science, technology, engineering and math, digital games can be used to help teach youth how to be more engaged citizens, to see conflict from another’s viewpoint and find positive ways to respond to challenging social issues such as poverty, hunger, disease, energy conservation, water use and global warming.

“Today’s youth are highly concerned about social issues and the current generation of youth gamers is among the most socially conscious in history,” said Suzanne Seggerman, co-founder and president of Games for Change. “The movement toward educating and engaging youth through digital games for change not only raises awareness of the importance of social issues, but gives youth an opportunity to make a difference. As this movement continues to build momentum, we believe that partnerships and grant support from leading technology companies like AMD will be critical to its success.”

Through AMD Changing the Game, AMD Foundation grants will go to nonprofit organizations that inspire young people learn while creating games with social content. Employees will also support the initiative through volunteer opportunities. In its pilot year, the following organizations will be funded:

* Girlstart, is an Austin, TX-based nonprofit organization created to empower middle and high school girls to excel in math, science, and technology. In the summer of 2008, the AMD Foundation’s grant will enable 60 Girlstart participants to attend a program focused on games with social content. As a capstone project, girls will be creating a social awareness event in Teen Second Life, a virtual gathering place for teens 13-17 all over the world to make friends, play, learn and create. The Girlstart team will identify a social issue of importance to them and create an event in Teen Second Life that will help raise awareness and inspire action around the issue.
* Global Kids, is a Brooklyn, NY-based nonprofit organization that seeks to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders. Through its grant to Global Kids’ Playing for Keeps program, AMD has joined The Microsoft Corporation in enabling 20 young people from underserved communities to work with game developers to develop, create and distribute a game about the heroic role of residents following Hurricane Katrina. Last year, young people worked with developers in the Playing for Keeps program to create the game Ayiti: The Cost of Life which allows players to assume the role of impoverished people living in rural Haiti with the goal of meeting some key health, education and quality of life challenges.
* Institute for Urban Game Design, is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills through the hands-on creation of digital games. Beginning in the summer of 2008, the AMD Foundation’s grant will enable IUGD participants to apply their learning in 3-D modeling, animation and computer programming to the development of a game focused on the issue of energy usage. Students will learn about and explore the social issues associated with different types of energy.
* Science Buddies is a national, non-profit organization based in California's Silicon Valley offering a variety of web-based tools that help K-12 students explore science through research-based projects often done at Science Fairs and other school and community events. AMD Foundation’s grant will enable Science Buddies to launch a Video and Computer Games Interest Area on its site aimed at helping students understand and practice what is required to design digital games. AMD volunteers will work with Science Buddies staff scientists to develop project ideas to spark student interest in exploring topics such as human behavior in games, ergonomics, game design and programming and the incorporation of social or educational content in games.

As part of launching the Games for Change Festival, the AMD Foundation, in partnership with the John G. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is sponsoring “Let the Games Begin,” a day-long workshop for nonprofit organizations focusing on how to create social issue games. The workshop will feature interactive lectures by some of the nation’s leading authorities on social issue game development and cover fundamentals such as game design, fundraising, evaluation, youth participation, distribution and press strategies.

Following the Festival, the AMD Foundation and Games for Change plan to co-produce a how-to digital toolkit for nonprofits that includes examples of games with social content, interviews with key experts and additional guidance for nonprofits creating social issue games for the first time.

AMD is also working with PETLab, a joint project of Games for Change and Parsons The News School, to create a social issue game development curriculum for youth. The curriculum is expected to be piloted in the fall of 2008.

For more information about AMD Changing the Game, including a video and other materials, visit www.amd.com/changingthegame. Also visit AMD Unprocessed on Facebook for additional information and regular updates.

About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide.

About the AMD Foundation
The AMD Foundation connects and empowers individuals with knowledge, thereby opening doors to opportunity.

Foundation assets are specifically invested in: Initiatives that inspire and facilitate science, technology, engineering and math learning for current and future generations (STEM skills); Support of employees’ community interests by matching their personal donations of time and money to local organizations and schools (AMD Employee Giving Program); Contributions of aid when disaster strikes the communities where we operate (Disaster Relief).

About Games for Change
Games for Change (G4C) provides support, visibility and shared resources to individuals and organizations using digital games for social change, giving special assistance to non-profits and foundations entering the field. G4C was formed in 2004 as a sub-group of the Serious Games Initiative. Today, G4C acts as a national hub to help organizations network and develop videogame projects beyond their traditional expertise. Its members represent hundreds of organizations and include partners in the games industry, academia, nonprofits, local and state governments, foundations, the UN and artists.

AMD launches "Good Housekeeping" stamp of approval for gaming computers [VentureBeat]

One of our main major objectives is to provide one voice on PC gaming market. There's no one source that says 'hey this is where the PC market is going'. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are always calling their market share - we're going to call our market through this group.

AMD Phenom processor family performance [techspot]

New York's attorney general is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust laws by penalizing computer makers, cutting off competitors' distribution channels and improperly paying customers for exclusivity.

Specifically the investigation is probing whether AMD has a fair chance to supply its X86 computer processing units for desktop and laptop computers and servers. Currently Intel has 80 percent of the market, according to AG Andrew Cuomo.

''Our investigation is focused on determining whether Intel has improperly used monopoly power to exclude competitors or stifle innovation,'' Cuomo said in the statement. ''We will also look at whether Intel abused its power to remove competitive threats or harm competition in violation of New York and federal antitrust laws.''

The preliminary investigation into the matter shows that there is a need for a full investigation Cuomo said in a prepared statement. This investigation comes on the heels of a string of allegations and investigations surrounding Intel's dominant market share. In July the EU charged Intel with violating antitrust rules there. In August the FTC was asked to investigate the company by two senators.

ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO LAUNCHES ANTITRUST INVESTIGATION OF INTEL [The Associated Press]

ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO LAUNCHES ANTITRUST INVESTIGATION OF INTEL

Subpoena Seeks Information on Potentially Monopolistic Practices

NEW YORK, NY (January 10, 2008) ‑ Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today served a wide-ranging subpoena seeking documents and information on Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), the world's largest maker of computer microprocessors. Cuomo is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust laws by coercing customers to exclude its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), from the worldwide market for x86 computer processing units (CPU).

"After careful preliminary review, we have determined that questions raised about Intel=s potential anticompetitive conduct warrant a full and factual investigation," said Attorney General Cuomo. "Protecting fair and open competition in the microprocessor market is critical to New York, the United States, and the world. Businesses and consumers everywhere should have the ability to easily choose the best products at the best price and only fair competition can guarantee it. Monopolistic practices are a serious concern particularly for New Yorkers who are navigating an information-intensive economy."

The subpoena served today on Intel seeks documents and information concerning Intel's pricing practices and possible attempt to exclude competitors through its market domination. The information sought is relevant to whether Intel, among other things:

* Penalized its customers, primarily computer manufacturers, for purchasing x86 computer processing units (CPU) from competitors;
* Improperly paid customers for exclusivity;
* Illegally cut off competitors from distribution channels.

Modern x86 CPUs are currently the industry-wide standard for a majority of desktops, laptops, notebooks, servers, and workstations. The x86 market accounts for over $30 billion in annual worldwide sales, with Intel retaining the lion's share of the market, estimated at 90% by revenue and 80% by volume.

"Our investigation is focused on determining whether Intel has improperly used monopoly power to exclude competitors or stifle innovation," said Cuomo. "We will also look at whether Intel abused its power to remove competitive threats or harm competition in violation of New York and federal antitrust laws."

Similar antitrust allegations have been examined by authorities in Europe and Asia and resulted in formal actions, including a cease and desist order, against Intel. In July 2007, the European Commission reached and the Korean Fair Trade Commission reached preliminary conclusions that Intel violated competition law. In 2005, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission concluded that Intel violated its competition laws and Intel agreed to cease and desist.

Both Intel and AMD are based in California.

Truth be told, I was a complete AMD man until a friend of mine convinced me to ditch my aging Athalon 64 FX for an Intel dual core processor. We'll see if they manage to win me back with what they've packed inside this demo system.

System Specs:
- CPU: Phenom 2.4GHz

- Graphics: single Revelation RV670 256mb

- Motherboard: Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe (RD790)

- Floppy: Sony (black)

- DVD Rom: SATA Asus (black)

- DVD RW: SATA Sony (black)

- Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD SATA (150GB)

- Western Digital SE16 500GB SATA

- Power Supply: SEASONIC M12SS-700HM 700WATTS

- Chassis: Lian Li PC-7B Plus (Black)

- Heat Sink: AMD validated B3 model AJIGO MF091-096 CPU COOLER

- Memory: Corsair CM2X1024-8500C5D (2x1GB = 2GB total)

- Operating system license (Vista Ultimate 32-bit - OEM version)

We want you to play, play, play and tell your Kotaku readers what you think.

In the interest of full disclosure and satisfying my curiosity, let's see what's inside!

Uh oh. Vista mouse pad? I'm scared to look further.

Huh. Not too bad. That's not a copy of Vista, mind you, merely a Windows Vista Launch Kit CD. But that is a full retail copy of the crtically acclaimed Company of Heroes. Score! Plus, there's a 2GB Sandisk pen drive, a Vista branded pen drive of unspecified capacity, a Belkin Easy Transfer Cable and two cards for free Office Live Basics. That last one is going right in the trash!

At least I'll have plenty of storage space.

Oh, by the way, another pen drive was just brought to my hotel room, courtesy of AMD. These things are worthless! Michael McWhertor

I finally got around to re-ordering the missing CPU for my soon to be built computer. A few months back I ordered a bunch of pieces and parts to build a new PC. I went with NewEgg for everything but the CPU. And wouldn't you know it, WiredZone decided to screw me on my CPU order. I had ordered an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Dual Core S-AM2 from them because it was listed for so little, but after waiting for a month they emailed me to say that the order had been canceled. When I contacted them they claimed that the chip has been canceled by AMD.

Hello Brian,The AMD shipment never came to us. AMD is not providing us with ETAs. We have several backorders for this processor and your order will be one of the first to ship when this arrives. Unfortunately we depend on AMD to ship the products and they haven''t been able to keep up with the demand.We value your business and look forward to answer any questions you may have.

That's right, AMD had decided to stop making their top of the line CPU for their brand new socket a month after launching it.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I suspect the truth is that AMD is having trouble meeting demand and everyone is price gouging because of it.

WiredZone, I suspect, wanted to take part in the fun.

So I went back to NewEgg, head in hands and shamefully ordered the 4600+ CPU instead.

I expect it to him my house later this week.

I've put everything else together, so in theory this should be a pretty quick operation.

Speaking of computers: A funny thing happened last month.

You may recall my post about Microsoft's decision to hand out free computers to review publications as part of their launch of Vista.

At the time I said I understand the reasoning, that it's a lot like giving out consoles to reviewers, but that it still left me feeling uncomfortable.

Well, the day I received the parts for my new computer (sans the CPU) I also received a big-ass box from Microsoft.

I opened it up to discover a top of the line Voodoo computer inside.

Turns out that I was among the 25 or so reviewers they sent the computer out to.

After a longish conversation with a Msoft rep and Chris Donahue, director of Windows graphics and gaming, I went to my editor at the Rocky to discuss whether I should return the PC.

The final decision was that I should keep it as a loaner, meaning it remains the property of Microsoft and not mine partly because it was loaded with an advanced copy of Vista and there were no rules about my reviewing or writing about the operating system early. Msoft also said I would be getting software updates for the computer as time went on. So I went ahead and ordered the new CPU for my personal computer and hooked up the Voodoo computer to my big screen downstairs. My desktop will be my personal computer and home to an immense stash of illegal music and video files.

Hahahaha, just kidding Microsoft, you know I love you.

I will be keeping my personal computer and its contents separate from the loaner sent me by Microsoft.

Later this week I'll be posting up a feature about my lengthy interview with Donahue about their push for Vista and the issues that I think could be caused by loaning the main PC reviewers in the country identical computers.

I finally got down to the nitty-gritty, here's what I think I'm going to buy to put together for my PC:

Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Mid Tower Case: $65
Rosewill RP550-2 550w power supply: $60
Abit KN8-Sli motherboard: $97
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ CPU: $257
Two Kingston 1GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM: $99 each
XFX Geforce 7950GX2 1G graphics card ($550) or eVGA Geforce 7950GX2 1GB graphics card ($580)
Total: 1158

I decided to go with a Sli-enabled motherboard because I really, really want the Geforce 7950GX2 graphics card. I also decided to skimp a tad on the CPU to make sure I could afford that particular graphics card. The 4800 AMD chip would have cost an extra $130 and I'm not sure if it's worth the money. I still plan on using my two harddrives and the bits and pieces I don't have listed here.

So what do you think? Any fatal mistakes before I take the plunge and go on an ordering frenzy? Brian Crecente

I spent some time over the weekend trying to mock up a desktop that would let me use at least some of my current bits and pieces.

I'm not exactly thrilled with all of the components in the system, but staying at about $1,000, this seems to be the best I could do.

I leaned heavily, very heavily, on Ars Technica's Hot Rod specs for this system. (thanks, Dan) I also tried building systems with Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo PC and Hypersonic. I found that Alienware was the most reasonably priced (they came in at $2,120), but I wasn't happy with some of their options, including graphics card, so I think I'll build my own.

I think I'm going to go with an Abit KN8 Ultra motherboard. It isn't SLI-capable, but I don't think I will be using that anytime soon, and it's super affordable, coming in at under $90.

For the processor I decided to go with AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4600+. I'm still going back and forth on the processor speed. The 4200 runs $350, while the 4600 comes in at $530. I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money. I'm a little worried about the whole AMD over Intel. I know I probably shouldn't be, but I was one of those people who bought an AMD chip right when they were getting started and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

As you guys almost all suggested, I'll be going with two 1GB sticks of ram. I'm leaning toward the Kingston PC3200s (about $88 each), but if you have a better suggestion I'm all ears.

My graphics card selection was between Radeon's X1800XT or X1900 XT (both with 512) or Nvidia's GeForce 7900GT. The Radeons were considerably less expensive and since I opted for a non-SLI card, I think I'll go with either the 1800 or 1900. There's a $90 price difference between the two, so I'm still pondering which to choose.

I'm going to stick with my two Barracuda 7200 120GB harddrives. I'm also going to keep my SoundBlaster sound card and my three flat panel monitors.

Since my power supply is way too weak (250 watts), I'm going to go with an Antec SLK3800B case which comes with a built in 400W power supply. I'm a little worried that even 400W, won't be good future proofing, but upgrading that down the line shouldn't be a problem. My other option is to stick with my Gateway case and just buy a power supply like the 600W Coolermaster, which uns about $78.

This system rings up at about $1,000 to $1,200 (depending on my choices), which isn't that bad.

So here are my main concerns. Is it a bad idea to skip out on the SLI-enabled motherboard and go with ATI? And, do you think mixing AMD and ATI is a bad decision? Brian Crecente

Ars System Guide [Ars Technica]