This category seems to be made for this bad mutha of a CPU. At stock speeds, the Core i7 makes all other CPUs seem like pitiful little toys. And when it’s overclocked, the Core i7-975 Extreme Edition is untouchable. With its integrated memory controller, tri-channel DDR3 and capability to run SLI and CrossFire X, performance addicts need to look nowhere else.

If you use the Goldilocks formula, this new quad-core, Hyper-Threaded CPU is “just right.” It’s just the right blend of performance to price. The 860 is generally faster by five percent thanks to its 5 percent clock advantage. That’s pretty much what we saw in our tests, too.

Of the troika of new chips, Intel’s Core i5-750 is likely to be the big hit. With wholesale prices of $200, the average joe or jane can now build a Nehalem-based system for almost as much as a Core 2 or Phenom II box. In the final analysis, the Core i5 falls right where Intel’s bewildering branding scheme puts it: faster than Core 2 and Phenom II but slower than i7 and really damned cheap to boot too.

The MSI Eclipse SLI features support for dual and tri-SLI cards, CrossFire X and a built-in X-Fi chip so there’s no need to authenticate your drivers. And unlike Intel’s DX58SO, MSI stacks the main SATA ports so you can actually use the ports when huge graphics cards are installed.

We like the Maximus III Forumula for it's top-notch audio subsystem and memory-tweaking MemPerfect Utility. We also dig the MIIIF's remote overclocking and monitoring functionality, which lets you use a USB-connected machine to control the board.

Based on the ATI 790FX chipset, you can be assured that the K9A2 is compatible with all of AMD’s CPU offerings. The board itself is actually of the AM2+ variety which means that it uses a split power plane that will theoretically lead to potential power savings.

For the low price, you have to give up some graphical amenities, like antialiasing. It’s worth noting, however, that the HD 5770 still delivers 38fps in the Far Cry 2 action scene and 51fps in Ubisoft’s HAWX flight sim with AA and AF enabled. And like all the HD 5000 series, you can connect up to three displays to a single card.

The Radeon HD 5850, with its 1,440 stream processors, 72 texture units, and DirectX 11 support, delivers a robust gaming experience at a mid-range price. It's no monster, but it's faster than any of Nvidia's last generation single-chip cards and should fit into most builders' budgets.

What do you get if you put two of the fastest GPU's in the world on a single board, along with a whopping 2GB of GDDR5 memory? Only the fastest videocard ever! With Nvidia's fall refresh MIA, the HD 5970 is the only game in town. Intrepid overclockers with a thirst for power can overclock their 5970s--but only if their PSU is beefy enough to handle the load.

The 2TB Caviar Black is spec’d to impress, with four 500GB platters, two processors, 64MB of cache, and a dual-stage actuator system that puts a fine-tuned piezoelectric actuator head at the end of the standard magnetic actuator, enabling fine-tuned tracking for speedy seek times.