It’s the holiday season, and that means it’s time to send yourself spiraling into crushing debt made possible by the power of plastic. While you could responsibly commit to a reasonable budget, we know that the seductive potential of a $600 PC that isn’t terrible may be too much for your feeble will. If you’re looking for a little rationalization to pull the trigger, chalk it up to aiding our abyss of an economy.

Icrontic swears to do right by you, and we promise that this system isn’t a flaming hunk of fail. Every component has been meticulously hand-picked to deliver Crysis-level performance without sending you running for a bailout. If $600 is too wimpy for your checkbook, our alternate suggestions bring the system closer to the $1000 pricepoint.

Motherboard - DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL

Why it’s good: Despite even more recent chipsets, the P35 is a time-tested powerhouse of overclocking prowess. Couple this mastery with a no-frills/all-thrills board like the ascetic BloodIron and you’ll have an overclocking festival reminiscent of ABIT’s beloved NF7-S 2.0. Of course, this may have something to do with DFI sniping the NF7-S 2.0’s lead engineer a few years back. You’ll love this motherboard because it stands head and shoulders above anything else in its price range.

How you can do better: This board has a lot to offer an overclocker, but it isn’t all that and a bag of donuts. If you’re looking for more advanced features like solid caps, 8-phase power, and an abundance of extras, you should turn elsewhere. We’ve heard that the DFI LanParty DK P45-T3RS and the Asus P5E3 Deluxe are shiny contenders.

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200

Why it’s good: The Core 2 Duo is Intel’s best product in the history of forever. Since its 2006 introduction, Intel has held the crown for speed, heat, and efficiency. Not content with standing still, Intel continued to step up their game with the release of the 45nm Penryn architecture. With heat output reductions and speed increases of up to 20%, it seemed like a no-brainer to cram a Penryn-based dual core into our ho-ho-holiday box.

How you can do better: Your only way up is to add more speed (a faster Core 2 Duo) or more cores (Core 2 Quad). If you’re jonesing for a quad, the Yorkfield-based Q9300 is a real looker that adds about $120 to your bill.

Memory - G.SKILL PC2-8500

Why it’s good: Four gigabytes. 1066. Discuss.

How you can do better: Maybe some DDR3 if you’re snuggling up to the Asus P5E3, but 8GB? Get outta here.

Video - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

Why it’s good: The NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is a marvel unto itself. For more than a year it has offered outstanding performance at or around the $100 pricepoint. Thanks to recent advancements in the devaluation of hardware, we’re happy to bring this little guy back on board.

How you can do better: From here, you’re on the road to a better video card. Today’s GPUs are more inexpensive than ever and have cultivated a gluttony of fast and cheap video cards. Luminaries like GeForce 9800 GTX+, Radeon 4850, and GeForce 260 put more at our fingertips with more in our wallets than ever before.

Power Supply - Corsair CMPSU-450VX

Why it’s good: The VX-series of power supplies is getting rave reviews all over the web for the quality of its power output and the quality of its construction. While 450w doesn’t seem like much with today’s 1kW monsters, be assured that it’s more than enough to power our rig with juice to spare.

How you can do better: This depends on your fancy and aspirations. If you’re a fan of modular cables, there are greener pastures to be had on this front. If you’re a soul looking for an overclocked quad with titanic disk space and an array of video cards that could re-render Jar-Jar out of Star Wars, you might want a bigger power supply. Corsair’s VX line of power supplies entertains a respectable pricepoint without sucking a whole bunch.

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3808

Why it’s good: Seagate is a respected brand and the Barracuda is a respected product line. This hard drive won’t win any races to the finish line, but it won’t hurtle towards the checkered flag a miserable wreck of bits and bytes either. In fact, we chose the drive for its cost to size ratio and its long-standing reliability. Sometimes it pays to respect ol’ faithful.

How you can do better: While we’re not going to scoff at 250GB, we prefer something slightly larger like, oh, 1500GB. Price scales with capacity, so be prepared shell out the dough for a bigger drive. Particularly speed-addicted individuals will enjoy Western Digital’s Raptor 10K series, but ownership commands a price that will hit your wallet like the fist of an angry god. You know, relatively speaking.

Optical - Optiarc AD-7200A

Why it’s good: The optical writer market has become so homogeneous that it’s become a great mass of black-bezeled beauties that all service the same way. Coasters? Bum drives? Forget about it. Optiarc is a decent OEM company that makes decent products. A burner is a burner these days, and we picked the first one from a brand that didn’t suck.

How you can do better: Blu-Ray? Ack. Thbbpt!

Case - Antec 300

Why it’s good: Once upon a time, there was a swank case known as the Antec 900. Receiving rave reviews all over the internet for her knockout combination of beauty and prowess, she was the toast of the town. But she was too expensive for our low-town box… So we hooked it up with her little sister. Zing! The Antec 300 packs all the punch of the big sibling at half the price. I shouldn’t even have to explain how sweet the 300 is.

How you can do better: Bigger? Bigger’s better, right? The Antec 900 can spice up your nights. Don’t ask us about other cases.

Aftermath

The total for this little beauty clocks in at a svelte $598.88. If you fudge the cost of shipping like all good enthusiasts do, we’ve left you enough money to go nuts with about four liters of Mountain Dew.

 

It’s the season to give and be thankful, so give this to yourself and be thankful. We promise you’ll love us for it.