System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2010: $400 Gaming PC

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[citation][nom]pauldh[/nom]We had used 4850's or 4870's in six of the past nine budget SBM builds. Are readers getting sick of seeing these tested?[/citation]

Can't speak for everyone, but I think the budget build should feature the most powerful card that can be got for about $95, give or take $15. Last month, that was probably Sapphire's weird variant of the 4850 w/ DDR5. No one has reviewed it yet, and it would have been novel to see how it fared in the SBM benchmarks.

By the time the next SBM rolls around in December, you should be able to get an HD 5750, or maybe a GTS 450, in that price range, so maybe it'll be a moot point. But if it comes down to a 5750 or a highly discounted HD 4870/GTX 260 at the same price, I suspect most of us would be more interested in the 4870/260 for the budget build - since we tend to view that as a "most bang for the buck" test, rather than a necessarily current gen build.

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I would definitely go with a 1GB 4870, like the Asus that was on sale for $99 on newegg, then an Athlon II 250 Regor at $62.00, can easily overclock to 3.4-3.5ghz on stock fan. DDR3 boards can also be found around $60 along with a $45-$50 2gb stick.....lets say good to go~ and as far as hard drive is concerned, wait for the sale and get either a 500GB at $40 or 1TB for $55-$60. "ready, set, match won" 😛
I like to help replace people's old $1,000 crappy pre-built PC's with this type and watch their expression as they're blown away~
 
hmmm 400$ is really accessible for a wide range of users. Nice build. Only one thing bothers..I had the AMD x2 5000+ and the Phenom II x2 550, short time with stock cooling. Why didn't you removed that sticker from the cooler? Mine weren't so badly placed..and that thing made a horrible noise. After removing, it became a little bit more balanced...How about your build? Wasn't that sticker disintegrating the hole pc?
 
This system is pretty good for so little. It's quad core, has dual channel mem, crossfire board with a better chipset, maybe a better ps/case.

Here is the system i came up with. Hopefully the sempron unlocks the other core and overclocks good, I have a heatpipe 6000+ cooler i said he can have. I suggested this setup.

Pixxo CX-5C59 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500 watt el-cheapo P/S (350 watt atx actual). $31.99(you get what you pay for here).
ASRock N68C-S UCC AM3/AM2+/AM2 $46.99.G.SKILL 2GB DDR3 1333 $38.99 (single channel).Sempron 140 Sargas 2.7GHz $36.99.GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 $178.49 Total is $333.45. seagate 500 $39.99, dvd burner $24.99, both local, $64.98 plus $333.45 = $398.43.

But you have to pay for taxes and shipping, so its $49.46+ $398.43= $447.89 in Canadian dollars.
Yes the geforce 460 is overkill... but..
The geforce 460 comes in at a price of $178.49, but the much slower 4850 is still $109.99, and the even slower 5670 is $89.99. The 9800gt is $89.99.The 5830 $209, 5850 $289, a on sale 4870 is $142.99 with a $30 mail in and pray rebate. 5770 was $152.99. but has a mail in rebate and a dirt2 coupon. Most of the time they just give you some excuse why your rebate is void. Other rebates are just to "buy" your cell phone number, email and house address to spam. I would stay away from mail in rebates.

Having a card that is too fast leaves the option open to do a cpu swap later. Maybe amd will have am3 cpus later next year made on 40nm or 30nm? Ones that overclock higher maybe even to 5ghz. Or the X4 phenomII 3.4ghz will go on sale then too? Well discarding a $36.99 cpu is not so bad. In 6 months other faster am3 cpus will drop in price more than that.
If the cpu does not unlock however you are stuck with a dud, and will have to upgrade the cpu after only a few months. If it does unlock to a dual core and overclocks well, you can wait for faster chips to come out.







 
Hi, I'm going to try and build my first system using parts from the list in the article. I was wondering if I could use the power supply in my current computer. It's a BFG Tech ATX12V V2.2 550 Watt Power supply (GS Series) . I'm going to get a different case and use this http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...f=sr_1_27?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1284247386&sr=1-27. I also want to use my current video card which is a ATI RADEON HD 4650. Will these 3 parts work fine with the cpu, motherboard etc listed in this article?
 

As long as your current HD 4650 is a PCI Express version and not an AGP version, those parts would be fine.
 

This Rana is Propus-based, L3 cache has been removed not disabled.
 

My pleasure; Had been looking forward to tackling this one. Yes, hats off to all of you, for the original idea and the active feedback.
 
My pleasure; Had been looking forward to tackling this one. Yes, hats off to all of you, for the original idea and the active feedback.
Click to expand...
I've been trying hard to get back to the original $500 "Budget" Gaming rig that Tom's hard several years back (IIRC). I love that you stuck with your original budget. I think the $450-500 budget is perfect for a quality "Budget" gaming system. This allows you to get a quality PSU (one that will survive at least 1 GPU upgrade) and at least 4 gb's of DDR2/3 (which seems to benefit more and more programs). Also possibly getting a much better GPU (4850/4870/GTX 270/or whatever fits the budget and fits within the PSU's limits).

I'm glad that Tom's is starting to listen to the readers. I feel there has been a disconnect over the last year or so. I used to post a lot in the forums to help people out, but because of the changes on this site over the last year or so, has changed my outlook of where this site has been going. I do see some biases at times with some articles, but I read other sites and see similar issues too. It's not hard to have them, but for most of us readers, we like to see a neutral (un-biased) report on whatever Tom's is reporting. I liked TH before the BoM takeover/merger and have had a hard time liking the site since then. I do like your articles in general, which is why I'm still here. I still have had issues with the way things have been, but they might be changing for the better, time will tell.

Sorry for the rant, but I think I needed to get it off my chest. Maybe others have similar feelings, but haven't said anything. Keep the good articles coming, we do appreciate all of the hard work, whether we agree or disagree with them.
 


Yeah it's a pci-e card. Thanks, this system should run me under $300 now since I'm going to be using my current hdd also 😀

One quick question. Is it true the athlon 440 used in this build comes with pre applied thermal? So I wouldn't have to apply any of my own right when installing the CPU and heatsink/fan?
 
One quick question. Is it true the athlon 440 used in this build comes with pre applied thermal? So I wouldn't have to apply any of my own right when installing the CPU and heatsink/fan?
Click to expand...
All retail CPU's (ones that I've purchased) have all come with thermal paste on the stock HSF, so you should be fine to install and go. You can get some better thermal paste and apply it yourself, but that is up to you.
 


cool, thanks.
 
Very impressed with this system and the time you took to research the components used and time to build it. I have a older system with a older Asus MB, Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz, running Corsair XMS DDR 400 memory, and have been wanting to upgrade to a newer system without costing an arm and a leg.

After reading this article several times, I have decided to purchase the AMD CPU, the ASROCK MB and use a Zalman 9500 CPU Cooler which I already had, but have decided though to upgrade the Graphics Card to a XFX Radeon 5770, and upgrade the Memory . I already have a Antec 300 case that i got last year, along with a WD 32 bit 500GB hard drive, and a OCZ Fatality 550 watt ATX 12 volt power supply 80 plus certified.

My question is on the memory. I noticed the Crucial DDR3 1333 memory you used CAS Latency is rated at 9, and voltage of 1.5v, and the memory I would like to use (GSKILL) 4 GB DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) has a CAS Latency of 9, Voltage of 1.65v, an Timings of 9-9-9-24 that is recommended for Gaming or High Performance.

I checked this and it's listed in ASROCK'S Memory QVL. So, is this memory going to be a good upgrade, or is it going to cause any bottlenecks or problems?

Again, very good job and work. I liked the article, and have based many decisions and purchases on your past and present articles. Look foward to many more like this one.
 
Great article for DIY. Can anyone help me in comparing this self-built $400 machine with the refurbished $552.94 Asus Essentio CG5275-AR003 (no need to buy my own Windows 7).
 
Based on this article i built an almost identical system, just improved ram to 4gb (patriot), HD and put a 500w coolermaster psu instead of 460. I was able to unlock the 4th core with o no trouble at all but although it seems stable (and IDENTICAL CPUID as the print posted in the article after OC) my idle temperature is of 41ºC and full load 60-62ºC, im running prime95 and so far so good but im a bit affraid of temperatures. What do you guys think, too high? Im using stock cooler and 2 intake fans + 1 exhaustion fan. I read i should aim at 55ºC max load. No can do with the OC proposed on the article on my machine... Although they claim " Even stock-clocked socket temperatures during load testing approached 60 degrees Celsius" so dont know what to think... Need insights! Thanks all.
 
I'm trying to build a computer for the first time, based off this build. Which video card would you recommend from http://ncix.com? Also, will this build even work? Comments very much appreciated. ^_^;

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=42441&vpn=M3A785GMH%2F128M&manufacture=ASRock
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=47642&vpn=CT2KIT25664BA1339&manufacture=CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=50846&vpn=WD10EALS&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=46039&vpn=Vortex3620&manufacture=Apex%20Computer%20Technology
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=44248&vpn=RS460-PSARJ3-US&manufacture=COOLERMASTER
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=42349&vpn=SH-S223L%2FBEBS&manufacture=Samsung
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=53935

That's $520.50 CAD, and my budget is ~600-650, which leaves ~$130 for a video card. Thank you for your time.
 
well the 4770 could have been a better option for the price. 5670 is nt capable of running dx11 anyway so 4770 is always better than a 9800GT.
 
anyone know a website i can build it online and buy it and have it shipped to me? much thanks to anyone who can answer this.
 
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