[citation][nom]yukijin[/nom]so now that all the 6950's are deactivated or $289+, is this build invalid? because a 7850 is looking really good right now...[/citation]
The HD 7800 series was not available until weeks after our window of opportunity (for ordering) had expired. So you will not see 7800s (or the GTX 680) in any of this month’s builds.
Sure, the 7850 is an option now if within budget. Although a firm $650 component cap would mean dropping to a Sandy Bridge Pentium, or AMD FX-4100 build. Otherwise, there’s the cheaper GTX 560 Ti, which could leave funding for a different case and/or mobo.
Good catch, ALL 6950s had been deactivated, now there is a single 2GB in stock for $290. Not likely, but worth keeping an eye on, since last gen parts often drop in price to offer tremendous value (before drying up altogether).
[citation][nom]jerreddredd[/nom]I'm glad they used a i3 2120 for the CPU, but I wish they would have used some of the newer cards like the HD 7950 or the GTX 560 Ti 448. these are roughly the same price. Spending and extra $20 on a PSU was a waste. the EA430D and 380W are the core of the budget build. I would like to see some testing of a few of the less expensive PSU ($50 or less) to see which are junk and which aren't bad.[/citation] Thanks, yeah, the Core i3 is very attractive for gaming, but we see overall how much it gives up in productivity.
On the GPU side - The HD 7950 is far more expensive, so I assume you meant the 7850. As stated above, those were unavailable for any of this month’s builds. The GTX 560 Ti 448 was of course available, but at a much higher cost. It was way out of reach (back then) for a $650 build.
[citation][nom]confish21[/nom]Great Job! These builds keep me at Tomshardware!Only thing 1 thing, you said an I3 was used instead of an I5 on this page...
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 159-8.htmlYou can check the 600 dec build here...http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,3097.htmlPretty sure an I5-2400 was used.[/citation]
Thanks! i3-2400 was a typo. Fixed!