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BUDGET should be cost of a minimal office PC and the cost of a console system. If you can't get to console performance, then recommend a console and set the bar to match a console.

HTPC: A TV tuner card might be a good idea.

The PSU are way overkill and eating loads of budget that they don't need to. Drop the GPUs to 5770 MAX and go with a $40-$50 PSU, Corsair 450VX or even an OCZ for budget and boards that can't CF/SLI anyway.

Sorry for being brash, but I find these setups a little out of touch with reality what users are actually looking for. A "best of" should be realistic and not test the bounds or challenge popular fact. Thats what the SBMs are for. You're taking some extremes and suggesting thats the best option and its far from.
 
Chris, you've got to stop pairing Gigabyte boards with dual GPU's or 2GPU's on a stick GPU's.

Gigabytes implementation of USB 3.0/SATA 6.0 requires 8 PCIE lanes. So this means, if you have USB 3.0/SATA 6.0 enabled, you can only install 1 PCIE card running at x8, and no second card.

Running a 5970 through only 8 lanes is not a good idea, if you disable the USB 3.0/SATA6.0 for a x16 slot, then you're basically paying extra money for nothing.

Instead, go with the Asus boards as they do not steal PCIE lanes.
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621&cm_re=asus_usb_3.0-_-13-131-621-_-Product

edit: Above applies only to Gigabyte P55/H55 boards, not x58 ones.
I really think Gigabyte screwed up their implementation big time. Lets add USB 3.0/SATA 6.0 by making P55's major weakness even worse! Great idea!
 
I've have never been a budget builder, I'm running 2x5870's... But I have to agree 5870 has no bussiness being in the "budget" category. A 5770 is all a budget builder needs(they are on a budget they aren't gonna be gaming at 2560x1600). Save some cash get a $20 case, and seriously you guys overkill ever PC in the PSU department. I power both my 5870's with a 750w. So the budget needs 450-500 tops! Save some time answering questions on the forums and put the budget build on a diet. I remember when you guys said the 5870 was so powerful could anyone really benifit from 2? Now you think everyone needs to have 1?

We all love the over the top builds, but people don't want the budget builds going that way too
 


I really like this idea about adding a resolution tag to the category
+1 mate
 
skora's first point about pricing to match a basic PC + a console is good, in fact I liked the whole post. I also noticed the oversized PSUs in a lot of these builds, where 500W would have been enough. I saw a lot of RAID drives, where most gamers wouldn't need them.
Other than a few oversized PSUs, the only build I really didn't like was the home theatre. Why buy a muttly and overpriced Pentium G6950 and a HD 5670 when a much cheaper, faster Athlon II X2 or X3 on a 785G or 890G will outperform it for less?
 
What about a PC somewhere in the middle? Maybe 1,100-1,200? Something with power (i5-70, maybe a 5850 or dual 5770's) but not super high end, or budget.
 
[citation][nom]skora[/nom]BUDGET should be cost of a minimal office PC and the cost of a console system. If you can't get to console performance, then recommend a console and set the bar to match a console.[/citation]

Spot on. A budget gaming rig rivals consoles + some more to be a bit future proof. 99% of todays games a always console ports.

my own gaming rig builds are usualy in the 400euro range without keyb/muse/LCD. it's got plenty of power for usual gaming (not obsessed with AA) and lasts a few years.
 
Really... I think a lot of people get caught up in the "best of the best" type hardware and forget what budget means (Guilty myself).....Take the AMD budget Gaming PC. Quad-Core CPU, HD 5850, Corsair 650W, 1TB HDD, 4GB DDR3.... thats not budget, I'm sorry... it's just not.

I'm still able to play games, like Battlefield Bad Company 2 on medium settings, on my aging AMD 6000+, 2GB DDR2, HD 4850 512MB, 160GB/8mb cache HDD. I really think Tom's have been shooting a bit high on their "budget" systems lately. You can play games at decent sttings for around $450 to $550.

Take for example this quick budget build I threw together in 5 minutes, not looking for combo deals or anything like that... just a couple of minutes.

BIOSTAR TA770A2+SE AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard $64.99
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 $58.99
WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $38.99
POWERCOLOR AX5750 512MD5-H Radeon HD 5750 512MB $119.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD253GJ 250GB 7200 RPM SATA $44.99
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA $22.99
Rosewill R223-P-BK 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower $29.99
Antec Basiq BP500U 500W $49.27

That's $442.42 Shipped

Sure, the Build isn't flashy.. but Ive used Rosewill cases for budget builds and they work.. period. The CPU/GPU combo will handle games on decent settings for those looking to get into PC gaming. 2GB of DDR2 ram is still more then enough for most any game out there. The motherboard is a decent low price unit and has all the features one needs for a basic set-up. The power supply will handle the pc with room to spare. 250GB is enough space on a HDD to fit a lot of games (Im still using a 160GB and got more games then I need). And finally a dvd burner.

Now, tell me that wont play games... if you do, then your a bold-faced liar.

Budget is just that, budget.... when I think of budget, I think of someone who does not have a lot of money to spare, but would like to throw their hat into the PC gaming arena. When you start talking higher-end hardware.. and lets not kid ourselves, that's what Tom's put into the "budget" gamers.. then you defeat the whole purpose of budget building.

Listen, I, like many of you, read all the tech pages.. drool over the new releases, write about the latest and greatest on forums and love me some face melting extreme PCs... but when talking about budget, then you have to be realistic with yourself and say "what do I really need to play a PC game?" The answer is "Not that much". All the rest is for the extra eye candy, max settings and bragging rights.

Just my two cents
 
if you guys are going to do something like this .... why not include a Server Whitebox?

If you take the current Work AMD build + INTEL nic for $30, you can run the free ESXi on it. then you have a viable server platform to several systems on to take care of a lot of things (bittorrent, file server .... even a domain controller for those that want to lock down your kids systems.)
 
[citation][nom]Rehnquist-[/nom]Aw come on, guys- $900 is perfectly fine for a budget PC build. Your "budget" is $900 hyuk hyukI agree, though. "Budget" is something that can be scraped together with the savings of someone in college (at most $600), and the HD5850 isn't a budget-build card.[/citation]

I disagree. A "budget gaming rig" is a PS3... A Budget PC is $500, a gaming rig should cost a couple hundred more. Multiple times I've scraped together spare change and overtime funds, and scrimped on meals to build a new rig, much to the woman's questioning on why, and I've never spent less than $800 on parts for anything I'd consider a "gaming" machine. $900 might be high, but $500 is way low. $750 is a fine target, with midrange hovering around $1200, high end more like $1800-2K, and extreme pushing 3K.

A gaming machine is not the equivalent of a cheap Dell with a GPU card crammed in... its a machine that hes decent across-the-board performance as well. If ALL you do is games, buy a PS3 or XBox 360.
 
Hi Chris, I saw your configuration on Budget AMD-based Gaming PC and you recommend us to use Athlon II X4 635. Why don't you use Athlon II X3 435 instead? It only cost us $70 and since the MB is capable on unlocking the 4th core of the X3 (http://uk.msi.com/news.php?news_no=7). After you unlock the 4th core, the performance of this X3 435 will be exactly the same as the X4 635 on their stocked frequency. I and some of my friends who bought this X3 435 are all able to unlock the 4th core without any problems.

and my other suggestion in on its Graphic Card, HD5850 isn't a right choice when you use the "budget" term since it will cost you $300+. I think HD5770 is more appropriate since you can get it with price as low as $150 (512 MB version) and it has a great performance on Full HD resolution (1920x1080).

additional info: I think you can also change its power supply since 500W Power Supply (Enermax Tomahawk 500W is about $65) is more than enough to handle this system configuration. And for gamers ... I think 500 GB Harddrive is more than enough (you can buy Hitachi deskstar 500GB for $45).

That's it for now. 🙂
 
A "budget gaming build" is the answer to the following scenario:
A guy emails you, asking "What's the least I need to spend to play {title} at {resolution} ?" You come back with a build, and he says "great, that's a little less than I thought" so you convince him of the benefits of spending another $50-$75 (e.g. better performance, upgradability, more space, etc).
 
Budget AMD-Based Gaming PC: Upgraded the dual-core Phenom II to a quad-core Athlon II, switched to a 785G motherboard and a single Radeon HD 5850 (away from the two Radeon HD 5770s), added the Samsung 1TB hard drive, the Antec Three Hundred chassis, and a smaller power supply. Almost the reverse of the Intel build, we're using a more powerful quad-core CPU at your request, and using some of the money saved on the case/power supply to add a single Radeon HD 5850, too
Click to expand...

That isn't budget. First, I don't know about most people but I'd rather have a Phenom II 550 Black edition, 3.1 ghz and cheaper than the athlon, also possible to unlock the other 2 cores. Next, a gamer looking for a budget pc doesn't need 1 TB of space, a 500 GB HDD will do just fine. In addition, since when is a 5850 ever considered in a budget build? Just grab a 5750 or a 5770 and you'll do just fine on 99% of games, and you are also future proofed with dx11 capability, even though that 5850 has that aswell.

Add in your OS and you got the budget pc going for over a grand, what is this?
 
Here's what I'd consider a "Budget" build (OS not included):

CPU/Mobo combo - ~$126
AMD Athlon II x2 245 @ 2.9 gHz w/Biostar Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.352622

GPU - $95 shipped!!
SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102824

Case/PSU combo - $100 - $20 MIR = $80!! 380w is all you need for this setup.
Antec NSK 4482 Black / Silver 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129071

RAM - $90 - $30 MIRc = $60!!! Plenty for budget build and runs at stock voltages (1.8v)!!
OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8004GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227199

HD - $38 shipped!! Plenty for "Budget" build, but can spend $5-15 for double the storage or there abouts.
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098

DVD Burner - $32 shipped! Retail version that comes w/software to read/burn DVD's!!
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335

Total ~$491 - $50 MIR's = $441!!! Not bad for a budget system. If you have an .edu mail account you can get Windows 7 for ~$30 which would bring the build price up to $471 or $546 ($105 retail OEM) if you don't.

Now that is what I'd call a "Budget" system. Yes it takes a bit more thought to fit within a "Budget" system, but it can be done.
 
As an AMD system owner, I'd also like to ad that for the budget AMD build you can get a decent gaming setup for $600 at Newegg. I chose components that would OC as well as provide a good gaming experience at stock speeds.

AMD Athlon II X3 440 (Easy 3.4-3.6Ghz)
Sunbeam 120mm Core Contact Freezer (HS)
2GB Kingston KHX1333C7D3K2/2G DDR3 1333 (Easy 1600)
BIOSTAR A785G3 (Decent OC'er)
500GB WD Black
XFX 5770
Antec Three Hundred
And a Silverstone 500W 80 Plus PSU

This to me would be a "Budget Build" and would OC decent since the Athlon II X3 440 only needs a bit of FSB to 3.6GHz with minimal voltage, and some people have had up to 3.8GHz on air. With this board you should be able to tweak out the memory to run at DDR3 1600 with no problem too.

Im pretty sure with this setup you could run most games at 1680X1050 at stock and up to 1920X1200 if overclocked. Now before anyone beats me up on this one, remember this is subjective and I was shooting for the best bang for your buck.

 
Why, oh why is a workstation presumed to be used only for graphics... I'd dump the money off of the graphics card for the lowest end with two display outputs (even a lowly consumer grade Radeon HD 4650 would do, presumably with passive cooling) and upgrade to a pair of 15K RPM Cheetah 15K.7 HDDs in RAID 0 (dumping the unnecessary SSD expense in the process) and dual CPUs for some really fast compilation times! Note SSDs just don't cut it for software development due to issues with small random writes. Even regular VelociRaptors are faster than the majority of SSDs according to internal testing performed recently at the company I work for (again - for compilation times). (I wish Tom's would include a compilation benchmark in its testing suite soon...)

Here's an alternative lower end proposal based on desktop parts (to make it cheaper obviously):
CPU: Core i7 980X - $1100 (substitute Core i7 960 until that is released - $600)
MB: any X58 - $200
RAM: 6GB DDR3 - $150
HDD: 2x Cheetah 15K.7 450GB - $800
SAS controller: any PCIe-based - $300 (reasonable choices exist for $150 as well)
Case and PSU: any reasonable - $250 (price would probably be lower)
Graphics card: Radeon HD 4650 (preferably passively cooled) - $70
DVD burner: any - $30

Total cost: $2900 ($2400 with Core i7 960)
 
[citation][nom]KT_WASP[/nom]Really... I think a lot of people get caught up in the "best of the best" type hardware and forget what budget means (Guilty myself).....Take the AMD budget Gaming PC. Quad-Core CPU, HD 5850, Corsair 650W, 1TB HDD, 4GB DDR3.... thats not budget, I'm sorry... it's just not.I'm still able to play games, like Battlefield Bad Company 2 on medium settings, on my aging AMD 6000+, 2GB DDR2, HD 4850 512MB, 160GB/8mb cache HDD. I really think Tom's have been shooting a bit high on their "budget" systems lately. You can play games at decent sttings for around $450 to $550.Take for example this quick budget build I threw together in 5 minutes, not looking for combo deals or anything like that... just a couple of minutes.BIOSTAR TA770A2+SE AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard $64.99AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 $58.99WINTEC AMPO 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $38.99POWERCOLOR AX5750 512MD5-H Radeon HD 5750 512MB $119.99SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD253GJ 250GB 7200 RPM SATA $44.99Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA $22.99Rosewill R223-P-BK 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower $29.99Antec Basiq BP500U 500W $49.27That's $442.42 ShippedSure, the Build isn't flashy.. but Ive used Rosewill cases for budget builds and they work.. period. The CPU/GPU combo will handle games on decent settings for those looking to get into PC gaming. 2GB of DDR2 ram is still more then enough for most any game out there. The motherboard is a decent low price unit and has all the features one needs for a basic set-up. The power supply will handle the pc with room to spare. 250GB is enough space on a HDD to fit a lot of games (Im still using a 160GB and got more games then I need). And finally a dvd burner.Now, tell me that wont play games... if you do, then your a bold-faced liar.Budget is just that, budget.... when I think of budget, I think of someone who does not have a lot of money to spare, but would like to throw their hat into the PC gaming arena. When you start talking higher-end hardware.. and lets not kid ourselves, that's what Tom's put into the "budget" gamers.. then you defeat the whole purpose of budget building.Listen, I, like many of you, read all the tech pages.. drool over the new releases, write about the latest and greatest on forums and love me some face melting extreme PCs... but when talking about budget, then you have to be realistic with yourself and say "what do I really need to play a PC game?" The answer is "Not that much". All the rest is for the extra eye candy, max settings and bragging rights.Just my two cents[/citation]

If it's a "GAMING" build then you forgot one important thing. Windows 7.
 
[citation][nom]lunyone[/nom]Here's what I'd consider a "Budget" build (OS not included):CPU/Mobo combo - ~$126AMD Athlon II x2 245 @ 2.9 gHz w/Biostar Mobohttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.352622GPU - $95 shipped!!SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102824Case/PSU combo - $100 - $20 MIR = $80!! 380w is all you need for this setup.Antec NSK 4482 Black / Silver 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129071RAM - $90 - $30 MIRc = $60!!! Plenty for budget build and runs at stock voltages (1.8v)!!OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8004GK - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227199HD - $38 shipped!! Plenty for "Budget" build, but can spend $5-15 for double the storage or there abouts.Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drivehttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136098DVD Burner - $32 shipped! Retail version that comes w/software to read/burn DVD's!!LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106335Total ~$491 - $50 MIR's = $441!!! Not bad for a budget system. If you have an .edu mail account you can get Windows 7 for ~$30 which would bring the build price up to $471 or $546 ($105 retail OEM) if you don't.Now that is what I'd call a "Budget" system. Yes it takes a bit more thought to fit within a "Budget" system, but it can be done.[/citation]

See above post. How can you put "OS not included". It's a required component just like everything else. You wouldn't build a gaming PC without a PSU would you? Keyboards can be reused, but if you're going to buy a 5000 series video card you're going to want DX11 capability. I think Tom's ought to start including the operating system in their builds too. It's a fundamental component of a gaming PC, and I'd really like to see it included. It's easier to see it listed and think to yourself "oh yeah, that can come off my total price" than for us to forget about it altogether.
 
I kinda wonder why the highend gaming rig sports ssd drives and raid 0 ?
imo a 1366 build with an asus p6t (the old version with sas onboard) and a cheetah as system and either 2 drives in mirror or 3 in raid 5 for storage would be better.
You'd hate to lose all your storage because a drive fails ...
Alternatively just save the ssd money and stripe 3 or 4 320gb drives and setup with short stroking.

In any event - storage with striping is suicide. I've seen quite high fail rates after pmr was introduced and I don't think I'm simply out of luck.
 
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