Athlon 64 FX-60 2006 Winter Build with Radeon X1900 XT and GeForce 7900 GT SLI - Smug & Play Builds

For our last retro PC build of 2020 we're doing something a little special. We typically shy away from 'ultimate' builds and hardware manufactured after the early 2000s, but today we're going all-out with a period-correct monster from January of 2006 that's sure to keep us warm all winter long. Settle in for the holiday Smug & Play style with an in-depth discussion of all these components and a heaping helping of benchmarks:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 2.6GHz Dual-core
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce 4 SLI, Socket 939)
GPU: ATI Radeon X1900 XT and dual NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT's in SLI
Audio: Creative X-Fi PCI SB0770 (Dell / Alienware OEM )
RAM: 2x1GB Crucial DRR-400 (PC-3200)
Cooler: Arctic Freezer 7 X CO
Case: Raidmax Sagitta
OS: Windows XP SP3
HD: 500GB 7200RPM Western Digital Black

0:00 Intro
1:15 Athlon FX-60 & Warmth & Comfort
8:10 Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
15:08 ATI Radeon X1900XT (feat. Ruby!)
18:32 Alternate: 2x 7900GTs in SLI
20:25 Alienware OEM Creative X-Fi
22:23 How hot is it? (Thank you Crysis!)
24:40 Benchmarks: X1900XT
31:44 Benchmarks: SLI
39:08 Incoherent Rambling

Games Tested:
Far Cry by Crytek, published by Ubisoft
F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon by Monolith, published by Vivendi
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by Bethesda, published by 2K
Crysis by Crytek, published by EA

Smug and Play is revisiting the most exciting era in PC gaming by playing through PC Gamer Magazine's famed demo CD-ROMs. In each episode of our YouTube show and podcast we share our impressions of the titles on that month's disc as well as the technological advances that enabled them - all with our trademark smugness.

Check out https://smugnplay.com for our podcast, in-depth articles and behind-the-scenes info and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @smugnplay for updates.