Best PC Builds (Archive)

[Guest]

Here are eight gaming PC builds that are recommended by the Tom’s Hardware community. These builds range from $500 to $2,000.

Best PC Builds : Read more

 

[adamovera]

Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3052160/builds.html

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Congrats to all the winners , fantastic builds!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Onus]

Except in the initial table, I don't see the PSUs listed in either the Homeless Overclocker or the Roswell Reality.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

The 850W B2 in my $2,500 VR is made by Super Flower and is not a Low Quality PSU.

 

[LordConrad]

What's with all the SLI in the VR builds? I have heard from multiple sources that existing VR headsets cannot take advantage of SLI. If this is true then SLI on a VR machine is just a waste of money.

 

[3ogdy]

Awesome stuff. A couple corrections to be made though: "Intel Core i5-6700K".
"Little Monster beefs up the rest of the system with 16GB of DDR4 clocked at 3200 MHz, and a 512GB M.2 SSD."
Unless I'm terribly wrong, the SanDisk X400 from the link included is the SATA version. This is the M.2 version.
Pricing doesn't change, so it's no big deal.

 

[logainofhades]

Congrats to all the winners. It's a shame that the new CX550m wasn't out, when we were selecting parts. I would have used that, instead, for Broken Frames. The B2 750 is a great unit, but more than that system really needs.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

One of the builds has a 520w S12II that's not compatible with sleep states.

 

[shrapnel_indie]

... X99 motherboards and LGA1166-3 CPUs ...

Since when did LGA1166-3 exist? The X99 platform uses LGA2011-2, does it not?

 

[logainofhades]

... X99 motherboards and LGA1166-3 CPUs ...

Since when did LGA1166-3 exist? The X99 platform uses LGA2011-2, does it not?

LGA2011-3

 

[svan71]

i5 6700k?

 

[shrapnel_indie]

... X99 motherboards and LGA1166-3 CPUs ...

Since when did LGA1166-3 exist? The X99 platform uses LGA2011-2, does it not?

LGA2011-3

Someone might just want to re-read the $1500 build text for technical accuracy. That's where I pulled that quote from.

 

[logainofhades]

I was just stating what it should be.

 

[Ne0Wolf7]

Anything with less than 500 GB of storage shouldn't even be considered.
The $500 one, although a good build, should have more storage. Yes, a SSD is better than a HHD, but you'll get windows and like three games before that fills up.

 

[damric]

@Neowulf. You can add a secondary storage later for bulk files. Starting with an SSD let's you get the OS installed and your favorite game or two. There's also the cloud.

@Onus. It's an ARC-450. While I'm not a fan of any PSU rated less than 50C, I've built many super low budget builds with the ARC series and yet to hear of a problem. Its overkill anyway for pushing a lowly i3 and RX 460.

 

[Ne0Wolf7]

@Neowulf. You can add a secondary storage later for bulk files. Starting with an SSD let's you get the OS installed and your favorite game or two. There's also the cloud.

@Onus. It's an ARC-450. While I'm not a fan of any PSU rated less than 50C, I've built many super low budget builds with the ARC series and yet to hear of a problem. Its overkill anyway for pushing a lowly i3 and RX 460.

You can, but I till find it pretty light, considering that the one for $750 used a HHD (and most of he others, despite having significantly larger budgets) and the quickly growing installation size of games.

 

[envy14tpe]

Are the builds only submitted by moderators?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Nope the whole community.

 

[IInuyasha74]

The 850W B2 in my $2,500 VR is made by Super Flower and is not a Low Quality PSU.

You are correct, but the statement was that the $2,500 VR build uses a lower quality PSU relative to the $2,000 build. The B2 is a quality PSU, but it isn't on the same level as EVGA's P2 units based on Super Flower's Leadex design.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Yeah, I know that , but the statement was misleading and made it sound like it was poor quality.

I know it's not a Leadex , it's based on the Super Flower Golden Green platform which is still very good.

EVGA's P2 < And why no OTP protection on these.

 

[lp231]

It would be nice to see the total number of votes for all the other builds, not just the winners.
As for the psu. So now bronze isn't automatically crap, and what's on the inside is more important? Last time or so, majority of nominated builds here had a platinum rated psu.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

80 plus is just an efficiency rating.​

 

[logainofhades]

Efficiency rating doesn't automatically mean quality. Raidmax has gold rated units, but nobody that understands PSU quality would use one.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I'm baffled that the P2 series has no OTP.