System Builder Marathon, Q3 2013: $650 Gaming PC

[MajinCry]

@Trac

I'd say AMD is doing pretty damn well, considering how they only have ~10% of the CPU market.

 

[Traciatim]

@MajonCry, Yeah, it's not terrible. Just why would anyone buy this over the Q1 PC? It makes no sense what's so ever. I have no idea how AMD is even still selling CPU's.

 

[codyleemanofaction]

I've been as anxious as you it seems about the price drops on the FX 6300 series! Glad to see it perform decently.
As a side-note: I know you don't included the price of the OS and peripherals in these competitions since they're a foregone conclusion and wouldn't affect performance... but how about an article on a linux box vs. windows box using the savings to boost performance? I'm not a linux fanboy. I installed it two months ago for the first time just to goof off, and using Wine isn't my favorite thing in the world, but when you're in a pinch, it gets you through.
At any rate, great build! Here's to hoping I win it

 

[InvalidError]

Don't you think it would be a good idea to dump Skyrim out of the testing suite? This is a game coded for old architectures that will hinder the performance of this processor. But this won't be the standard from now on...

Games designed "for the old architectures" still represent something like 99% of total PC games out there and I doubt many game designers aside from the high-profile CPU-intensive names will bust their asses with writing finely threaded code unless they absolutely have to due to considerably increased complexity.

Many games simply lack the computational complexity to justify bothering with threading in the first place, so no point in bothering with the effort there.

 

[Novuake]

I stopped reading when i saw the USd 250 GTX 760 instead of the USD 200 HD 7950, a card with more memory and better results at 260x1600. TH NVIDIA's bias gets worst every day.

Let me just say this...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

How I wish there was a facepalm smiley.
And one more thing... Better results at 1600p? SUUUURE...

And I own 2 HD7950s, so stop complaining and wake up.

 

[de5_Roy]

I love that you decided to use the fx-6300 but I don't see the point of using the stock cooler. We want to see the fx processors overclocked to their limits.

that kind of o.c. requires higher budget, outside this article's budget limit unless you cut into other component's budget such as the gfx card's. a cm hyper 212 evo will push it to near $700 w/o compromising gfx card i.e. gaming budget, since this is a gaming pc.

Also, I'd rather get 4 GB of RAM and a better PSU, just for peace of mind. And where are you going to include Guild Wars 2 in your benchmarks? That is a cpu heavy game that most people are playing now.

budget contstraints, again. imho, i too, would like a beefier psu for a fx-gaming pc. 4 GB ram? not for a new gaming pc.
here's toms' gw2 testing:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,3268-7.html

I stopped reading when i saw the USd 250 GTX 760 instead of the USD 200 HD 7950, a card with more memory and better results at 260x1600. TH NVIDIA's bias gets worst every day.

underlined: that was a stupid thing to do. there is no nvidia bias in the article. did you read the prior sbm articles where radeon 7870 myst ed. was being used? nvm..
in the 'Graphics card and the Hard Drive' page (that is page 4 i.e. four), it says that gtx 760 was more affordable when they placed orders and also mentions radeon 7950's current price. your reading ability needs improvement.
i used simple and small sentences so that you can pay attention long enough to understand.

 

[Onus]

Paul (and Don, and Thomas): in future SBM articles, please place a bolded paragraph on page #1 indicating that comments made by people who clearly haven't read the entire article may be deleted.

 

[Aris Vasilopoulos]

Microcenter sells the 6300FX bundled with a free motherboard for 110$

 

[de5_Roy]

Microcenter sells the 6300FX bundled with a free motherboard for 110$

not everyone has access to a microcenter. most people might end up paying more to drive to one. mc sometimes charges more than other retailers for other components.

 

[Aegean BM]

I went without an optical drive 3 years ago and haven't missed it. Please don't include it next quarter. It's a waste. For those who insist that that they need it, use an external usb optical drive.

 

[Novuake]

Paul (and Don, and Thomas): in future SBM articles, please place a bolded paragraph on page #1 indicating that comments made by people who clearly haven't read the entire article may be deleted.

Thanks! Seems this is very necessary for the lazy ones...

 

[Novuake]

I went without an optical drive 3 years ago and haven't missed it. Please don't include it next quarter. It's a waste. For those who insist that that they need it, use an external usb optical drive.

Or just create a USB boot disc...

 

[de5_Roy]

I went without an optical drive 3 years ago and haven't missed it. Please don't include it next quarter. It's a waste. For those who insist that that they need it, use an external usb optical drive.

Or just create a USB boot disc...

cost of the usb drive or the ext. o.d.d. would have to be counted in the budget. unless o.d.d.s go the way of floppy drives, those should remain an option, especially in tower pcs.
i don't mind skipping them for small form factor builds though.

 

[-Fran-]

F1 2012? Why not move ahead and use GRID2? You guys are getting stuck in the past for this game engine.

Also, why not use an aftermarket cooler instead of the DVDR? I mean, I would always recommend going for an aftermarket cooler and get a better OC than getting a DVDR!

You guys should start recommending the external drives for long term use. Besides, they can be shared among different PCs.

Cheers!

 

[Kamen_BG]

It'd be interesting if you could build a rig based on the FX 8320 next time.
That would mean stepping down to a HD 7950 which is an even better overclocker than the GTX 760.
In my opinion a build like this would dominate the overclocked avarage performance.

 

[Aegean BM]

cost of the usb drive or the ext. o.d.d. would have to be counted in the budget. unless o.d.d.s go the way of floppy drives

That's my point. IMHO, they have gone the way of the floppies. Even if they aren't there yet, I disagree that the cost has to be counted in the budget. Monitor, keyboard, and mouse are not included, and they are essential. USB optical drive or USB thumb drive can go in the same category.

 

[InvalidError]

For those who insist that that they need it, use an external usb optical drive.

Personally, I prefer stuffing the DVD drive in my tower and not have one more external box with one more external power brick, power cable and data cable to mess with.

I have gone through the circus of taking one of my DVD drives out of a PC, putting it in an external USB box and shuffling it between two PCs because one of them didn't have a DVD drive in it a few times and the hassle isn't worth saving $30 IMO, even if I only need to do that 2-3 times per year.

 

[de5_Roy]

That's my point. IMHO, they have gone the way of the floppies. Even if they aren't there yet, I disagree that the cost has to be counted in the budget. Monitor, keyboard, and mouse are not included, and they are essential. USB optical drive or USB thumb drive can go in the same category.

i get it now. you want to count ext. o.d.d. like monitor, k/b and mouse. i think that may be true for internal drives instead. many people might have one or two usb thumb drives bigger than 4GB capacity. i can't say the same about external o.d.d.
if you want to make the internal o.d.d. external, you have to buy a sata-to-usb converter cable, or an external box with data cable. putting in the internal drive for installation and taking it out afterwards - is much less hassle.

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Would have used a different MOBO! But good build. Now that the 7950 is cheaper, I would have gotten it and put that money into an i5. An i5/7950 rig for $650 is ridiculous.

 

[Onus]

Personally, I prefer stuffing the DVD drive in my tower and not have one more external box with one more external power brick, power cable and data cable to mess with.

I have gone through the circus of taking one of my DVD drives out of a PC, putting it in an external USB box and shuffling it between two PCs because one of them didn't have a DVD drive in it a few times and the hassle isn't worth saving $30 IMO, even if I only need to do that 2-3 times per year.

I agree with this. You may or may not have one to pull from another system, and shuffling drives that way is a PITA. Plenty of software is still sold on optical media, so I think it should be included.
I'd like budgets to get smaller. If your gaming PC is built with a HD7850 or GTX650Ti [Boost], you're hardly "suffering," even if you have to settle for "only" High settings.

 

[buzznut]

I like the Athlon X4 idea. Thanks for giving AMD a shot, it looks like they are a viable budget alternative, Especially considering the threaded workloads, Most of us don't use our computers to game exclusively, but when we do we want the machine to handle whatever we can throw at it.

 

[givememetal]

Hi Paul,

I really enjoyed your article! Been waiting for the third quarter SBM anxiously and am glad its here. I also wanted to say that I appreciate your candor in explaining why you didn't get a 7950 and I'm sorry there seem to be a few folks that missed it.

Just to add to the discussion about optical drives - I do appreciate you and the other builders including them when possible. I still use optical media somewhat frequently and although I'm sure it will eventually phase out like floppies, it isn't quite gone yet. So that's my 2 cents.

I do have a question for you about your choice of power supply. I noticed that the Antec VP-450 only has one 6-pin connector and your video card requires two. Can I assume you used a Molex-to-6 pin connector? I understand it is a small detail, I'm just curious.

Last comment that may or may not be helpful- CoolMax has a 500W PSU that has active PFC, is 80 Plus rated and sports a 6 pin and a 6+2 pin connector along with all the same protection features as the Antec VP-450 for a few bucks cheaper.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/coolmax-power-supply-zx500

Its been on my radar for the last few months and the price seems pretty stable. Would you consider it an option for a budget build?

Thanks again for the article- I look forward to the rest of them!

 

[cmi86]

Cool article. Nice to see an SBM build with an FX at a price point where it is actually practical. I think there was a $1,000 SBM that used an 8350 which clearly offered less value. Also nice to have a go to article that should quell the i3 trolls without much argument lol.

 

[Onus]

While I believe this build touches the reasonable capacity limit of the VP-450, in the absence of a competent technical review, I would not trust anything with a "Coolmax" label on it. In particular, I don't see that one listed at http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppliesDetail.aspx?id=24&type=2 so the claim of certification may be an outright lie.

 

[rwpritchett]

While I believe this build touches the reasonable capacity limit of the VP-450, in the absence of a competent technical review, I would not trust anything with a "Coolmax" label on it. In particular, I don't see that one listed at http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppliesDetail.aspx?id=24&type=2 so the claim of certification may be an outright lie.

Hardwaresecrets did a complete tear-down and review of this unit in 2012. It's made by FSP and scored above average:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-VP450-Power-Supply-Review/1487/1

The PSU cannot claim any kind of certification however because it lacks PFC. It was still 80-85% efficient which would have put it in the 80+ certification category if it had PFC.