What is the PC Perspective HW Leaderboard? The PC Perspective Hardware Leaderboard is going to become the first place you look to find the components that will make up your next computer. On this page you will find our editor's combined opinions on the best systems you can build based on three different budgets. You can expand each of the systems (High End, Mid-Range and Budget) to show you all the components that we believe represent the best products in their price ranges.

Why a Leaderboard? We like the idea of a Leaderboard because it presents a no non-sense way of looking at the best hardware available. On this page, you won't find paragraph after paragraph telling you why this processor is better than that processor. Instead you'll find the quick and dirty on our editor's choices for the best hardware you can get. No beating around the bush here. Of course, if you still want to get our full and detailed opinions on various hardware, you can look through our reviews page. But the HW Leaderboard is going to give you our final decisions in one quick look.

Updated May 27, 2009:

First, let me take this chance to point everyone to the new PCPer Hardware Leaderboard forum! Use this area to discuss my selections here, offer you own suggestions or just about the new system build you are working on even if it's NOT based on anything here.

Our Dream System keeps the same processor and motherboard combination, you can't find faster components on the market right now. The pair of GeForce GTX 295 from BFG stay as well since it beats the only competitor, the 4870 X2, by a good margin. The Intel X25-M 80GB solid state drives remain as our primary storage configuration in a RAID 0 array. You will need a large storage drive as well but at less than $100/TB, it should not be hard. We have also swapped out the PSU for an incredible deal on an Emermax Revolution 1050W PSU; the MIR may not last for long, but the PSU will.

The High End System has undergone a few changes; we have moved up from MSI's Platinum to the more feature rich Eclipse. The GeForce GTX 260+ no longer qualifies as a high end card and has been replaced with a BFG GTX275. The price may have gone up a little bit, but the value is undiminished as the new components should have you gaming happily at 2560x1600.

Our Mid-Range Leaderboard still the Intel Core i7-920 processor, it is a hard value to beat! The slowest part on this system, GeForce 9800 GTX+ has been dumped, we have replaced it with an overclocked BFG GTX 260 which only brings the system price up by $26. With that extra graphics power, and the temptation of SLI, it seems best to bump the PSU up a bit and the Anitec TruePower 750W certainly fits that role perfectly.

Finally, the Budget Leaderboard includes the new Phenom II X3 720 X2 550 Black Edition processor from AMD on an AM3 motherboard with DDR3 memory. It's a big step up, as every recommended system now uses DDR3, as both AMD and Intel are switching their efforts to the new memory standard.

That's it for this month readers! Don't forget to drop by the Hardware Leaderboard forum to share your comments!

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Dream System Leaderboard

Estimated Cost: $3547

High End System Leaderboard

Estimated Cost: $1671

Mid Range System Leaderboard

Estimated Cost: $998

Budget System Leaderboard

Estimated Cost: $500