System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2011: $600 Gaming PC

[iceveiled]

I would like to know what kind of fan speeds on that GPU were needed to keep the system from not exploding with no intake fans and the stock CPU cooler, and only a single 120mm exhaust fan. That system seems like an oven.

 

[kakashi99]

I do not understand why we compare a new December $600 PC with an old September $500 PC.

I can understand the other way around where components get cheaper over time, so it may be reasonable to compare a cheaper current PC with a more expensive old PC. However, comparing a more expensive new PC with a cheaper old PC? That does not make sense to me because it would be almost 100% sure a smash down from the expensive new PC to cheaper old PC assuming componets gets cheaper as time goes.

 

[kakashi99]

I do not understand why we compare a new December $600 PC with an old September $500 PC.

I can understand the other way around where components get cheaper over time, so it may be reasonable to compare a cheaper current PC with a more expensive old PC. However, comparing a more expensive new PC with a cheaper old PC? That does not make sense to me because it would be almost 100% sure a smash down from the expensive new PC to cheaper old PC assuming componets gets cheaper as time goes.

 

[lunyone]

It's also quite interesting that the SBM's budget system has risen to $600. I think this is to include an Intel system, but that is just my opinion. The SBM's were originally at the $500 price point, but has risen to include Intel builds over the years. At the $500 price point, AMD is favored, because of the lower costs of the CPU and mobo's (generally). A ~$500 (prior to the HD rise in price) system would generally have a 6770 based GPU and a $80-100 CPU to fit into the budget, but by having a ~$600 budget (even with pre-flood HD prices) is just interesting to say the least. I can guarantee that if we were building this build today, the budget would have to increase about $50 just to include the new HD prices. Than this build couldn't afford the $190 CPU that was in this build. So realistically this build should have been built with about a $80-125 CPU so it could have been close to the original $600 budget.

I'm just pointing out these differences in parts selection and budget. Pretty soon we will have a $700 "Budget" rig with an i7 2500k as the "Budget" CPU, because it gives us another "Data point" to reference off of.

Just my $0.02

 

[ekive]

Would this build still work with the september months memory? I was just about to purchase parts for septembers build and saw this. Memory is (Crucial Ballistix sport 4 GB)

 

[lunyone]

Would this build still work with the september months memory? I was just about to purchase parts for septembers build and saw this. Memory is (Crucial Ballistix sport 4 GB)

You should be fine as long as it's DDR3 RAM and runs at stock voltage (1.5v) you should be okay. Most DDR3 is at 1.5v and should be just fine in just about any mobo supporting DDR3 RAM. The RAM speed supported by whichever mobo you get will depend on the mobo.

 

[Onus]

Although I understand why the budget was increased this month, I still favor keeping it low. Maybe in three months (barring effects of inflation) the budget can be $450?
In reviews I have read on various games, e.g. Starcraft and WoW here, and BF3 over at HardOCP, it seems that medium settings on many games look very good; as good or better than "ultra" did only five years ago. This makes me wonder what is the least powerful system one can build to run modern games on medium settings and still get playable frame rates.
A problem for this site though is, such a system is probably very limited in how much it can be tweaked once built, i.e. an i3 system can't really be overclocked. This makes reading about them boring. How about an AMD APU? How much more can one get out of it, with or without a discrete GPU added? I think we saw disappointing results with hybrid Xfire using a 780G or 790G with the non-gaming discrete cards they supported (Xfire a HD4350?? Really???); but how about a modern APU with a HD6570? How well would that do? There's a datapoint I'd like to see.

 

[ekive]

[citation][nom]lunyone[/nom]You should be fine as long as it's DDR3 RAM and runs at stock voltage (1.5v) you should be okay. Most DDR3 is at 1.5v and should be just fine in just about any mobo supporting DDR3 RAM. The RAM speed supported by whichever mobo you get will depend on the mobo.[/citation]

Thanks for the reply. I suppose a better question to ask would be this though. Should I still continue with september months build or should I take this one? I've read through the comments on this one and as far as I can tell there isn't much difference from the previous. I wish to overclock as well, so perhaps septembers would be the better choice? Moreso I'm looking on dependability for games, so I'm unsure of which month to pick. Decembers or septembers.

 

[ammaross]

[citation][nom]ekive[/nom]Thanks for the reply. I suppose a better question to ask would be this though. Should I still continue with september months build or should I take this one? I've read through the comments on this one and as far as I can tell there isn't much difference from the previous. I wish to overclock as well, so perhaps septembers would be the better choice? Moreso I'm looking on dependability for games, so I'm unsure of which month to pick. Decembers or septembers.[/citation]
First, don't just blindly build one of these experimental PCs. They're cobbled together in an attempt to see if something pulls a miracle. If you look at the speeds and feeds, the OCed PhenomII gets pounded by a stock i5-2400. A few bucks ($30) more and you can OC the thing to bottleneck your GPU. This gives you plenty of headroom to introduce a second gfx card for XFire in 6mo when the prices fall with the mainstreaming of the 7xxx Radeons. If you were running a PhenomII, you'd already be CPU bottlenecked with a simple 6870.

You haven't spent money on parts yet? Good. Go buy an i5-2500K (future-proofing just a bit), a socket 1155 mobo with 4xRAM slots and 2 PCIe slots that run as 8x/8x in XFire (they're out there for the same price as the mobo featured here). Reuse your hard drive from your current build (save $100! heck, reuse your DVD burner and case too). Use the 6870 Radeon and enjoy (make sure it is OCable by having a good after-market cooler or the like). In 6 months or 12 when you feel you need "Mor Powaa!" you can drop another 6870 in there for $100 (prices fall). With a PhenomII, if you try to XFire, you'll bottleneck just like the cards did with Bulldozer in the $1200 build.

 

[ekive]

@ammaross. Is there any motherboard you would recommended? Perhaps a cooler too? I've never built a PC before, But I have experience in overclocking. Amazing advice thank you

 

[ekive]

Something like this perhaps?

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3849#sp

 

[Onus]

Ekive, you should start a thread in the New Builds section of the Forum, filling in the template in the sticky "How to Ask for New Build Advice."

 

[eddieroolz]

The i5-2400 does seem quite powerful for what it is, an neutered CPU. What's sad is that there seems to be absolutely no point of using AMD any more these days.

 

[Onus]

You're right, it is sad; I almost voted you up on that, but there's still the extreme budget segment at [possibly well] under $500 where the mass market lives. I suspect that's where AMD is trying to focus with their APUs, as it is all most consumers need. As weak as AMD's CPUs are, their graphics capabilities are keeping them relevant.

 

[Guest]

if i decided to go with a GTX 560 ti with the rest of the build in tact, wouldn't I need to go with a 500w+ psu?

 

[SoftwareDev1337]

Hello, I'm looking to purchase a new computer but I don't really know much about hardware. So my question is if this computer will be able to handle wow on Ultra settings with multisampling x8 during at 25m Dragonsoul raid. I would also like my new computer to be able to handle Diablo 3 when it comes out. Will this setup meet my needs? My budget can go up to around $1000 but I don't want to spend anymore then i need to because I already purchased a new laptop for school this year which sadly can't meet my standards for gaming.

 

[silent1643]

where in the hell did you get the hard drive for 50 bucks??!

 

[Pezcore27]

the hard drive was ordered before the jump in pricing from the Thai floods.