Keep in mind this is the "ultimate" gaming PC being built for the gamer who has unlimited resources. In other words - "Money Is No Object". But we are also looking for QUALITY, so some of our selections might not be the most expensive alternative out there - just what we think is the best.

NEW for 2005
This year our Ultimate Rig saw a huge cosmetic upgrade with the enw Dream Tower from Thermaltake. With sexy curves and a high-tech blue glow you'll be the envy of your next LAN party. We kept our nForce mobo, processor and memory from last year, but now we are keeping it cool with a new CPU cooler and PSU, also from ThermalTake.

Storage options haven't changed although prices did come down. With new titles finally arriving on DVD we did upgrade to a Plextor DVD burner and added a WDS external drive, which is great for backing up the main drive.

NVidia released the new 6800GT and we naturally upgraded to Leadtek's latest Winfast A400 model. While flat-panel monitors may be all the rage we still swear by our Sony 24" 16:10 CRT for both movies and games. It also has HDTV support so you can jack in your Xbox or PS2 for progressive scan gaming.

Nothing has really topped the Audigy 2 ZS but we did upgrade to the new THX S750 speakers for unbelievable 7.1 surround. And for those late-night gaming sessions, the Altec Lansing AHS602 gaming headset will let you listen in private while surrounding you in rich SRS surround sound.

We swapped out our MX Duo from last year and replaced the mouse with the MX1000 Laser mouse, accurate enough to play from orbit, and the Saitek Gaming Keyboard with its handy command pad for programming all your favorite macros and shortcuts. Nothing could top last year's MOMO Racing Wheel but Logitech did nudge out the Saitek P2500 (and P3000) as our favorite gamepad. Did I mention it rumbles and it's wireless?

We will be updating this system as new innovations in technology become available. If you are a hardware manufacturer and think your component should be part of our Ultimate Gaming Rig please feel free to contact us and make arrangements to have your hardware reviewed.