The $500 Gaming Machine, 2007 Edition

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Where the heck are all the GAMING benchmarks for this GAMING rig? The only game reviewed is a 2 year old OpenGL game?! I was really excited for this article and read the whole thing through - and was horribly let down.
 
Here's what a real ~$500 gaming rig is:

CASE: Cooler Master Centurion similar to theirs
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119109
-> $55 shipped
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 430W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817371006
-> $60 shipped
DVD burner: Samsung 20X SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827151153
-> $32 shipped
HDD: Seagate 7200.10 250GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148262
-> $70 shipped
RAM: A-DATA Extreme 2 X 1GB CAS4 DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820211174
-> $90 shipped - $30 MIR = 60 shipped
MOBO: Intel- GIGABYTE GA-P31-DS3L All solid capcitor 1333 FSB ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128062
-> $81 shipped
MOBO: AMD- GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128034
-> $81 Shipped
CPU: Intel- Intel Dual Core E2140 1.6GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819116037
-> $76 shipped
CPU: AMD- AMD Athlon X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103774
-> $66 shipped
Video Card: HIS Hightech Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814161179
-> $105 - $10 promo code: EMC907VGA13 = $95 shipped

Total: Intel-
$524 shipped after MIR
Total: AMD-
$514

That's a REAL $500 Gaming PC
 
Also, that's all from newegg and I didn't even spend 15 minutes looking around for prices. If someone spent more time looking around deal sites and other places for the best prices on similar hardware they could probably save another $20 or so.
 
I wasn't happy.

Case: Centurion 5 $50

CPU: X2 4000+ $65

Mobo: BIOSTAR TForce TF7025-M2 AM2 $70

RAM: PQI Turbo 2GB DDR2-800 $68

GPU: PNY VCG7900SXPB GeForce 7900GS $120

PSU: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS-430-PMSR/P ATX12V Max: 400W (Continuous) $33

HD: Seagate Barracude 320GB $65

DVD: Generic $30

Total: $501
 

Yeah you could even adjust the mobo down to a $50 one that overclocks well and save $20 there. But who would put a 550w PSU for that small of a system? Sorta like having a 1000hp mustang that can't get out of 1st gear! Buy the Kia and be able to move around at 40% of the cost. Not rocket science.

I think the Intel setup made them pick the higher priced AMD board. AMD's right now are the best budget system right now. Yes they don't OC nearly as well as the Intels, but if you look at the budget AMD setup (CPU/RAM/Mobo) combo, it's hard to match that price/$ on the Intel side.
AMD
x2 4000+ $65
2gig RAM $60
Mobo $50

INTEL
e2140 $75
2gig RAM $60
Mobo $75

So basically your saving ~$35 right off the top and usually the Intel based Mobo's usually have less options for the same price as the AMD's have. I'd put the $60 savings on PSU, ~$30 savings on Mobo and put that into a x1950pro/7900gs/8600gts if I was build a $500 budget build.
 
The article is total trash. A $99 power supply? My god. $60 is just fine. And a $75 AMD motherboard with integrated graphics? Why on earth would you want integrated graphics? The HDMI is nice but this is not an HTPC. Besides my Gaming rig is also an HTPC and it does not have HDMI (My tv takes VGA). Anyway, yeah this is a joke. They purposefully skewed the hardware choices so that it made intel look better. Why not match up a better AMD cpu so that both systems cost the same. (The AMD was cheaper.) I mean come on "Tom" be a little less blatant about who you are owned by! lol. You need to remove the HDMI expense from the AMD system and replace the BE-2350 with something more reasonable. I mean, OMFFG an X2-4800 brisbane is only 7 bucks more FFSakes wtf is wrong with you??! If you had only picked that CPU the AMD system would still have been cheaper than the intel, and would have performed better. You could get a freakin X2-5200 system for less than that intel and all you need to do is get a AMD mobo without the stupid integrated graphics and HDMI. goo goo ga ga? Like I said, stop shilling for Intel and do a decent fair review of something for once. People are going to link to this guide left and right, and you are ripping them off and passing them really really bad info. I mean, omg you even screwed up on the graphics card, since the 2600pro is slower than the 8600GT. And yeah the 8600GT is 17 bucks more but wtf, you are the ones that allowed 17 bucks more in your intel budget. WWWTF??? Why did you not give the AMD system the better GPU to match the price? huh?
 

and you have to add the price of a fire wire card to the Intel system to or find a intel board with it to match the amd system.
 
Very nice, but I would go with a cheaper AMD mobo and then dump the extra cash into a x1950pro. There is no reason to match a $80 AMD mobo to an $80 intel mobo, because an $80 AMD mobo has more features or quality than an $80 intel mobo. omg are you shilling for intel too? /rant off
 

At least your system has a halfway decent graphics card in it. A x2600pro isn't a gaming GPU by any means!!
 
One would think that they would read some of the forums and notice trends and follow some of them when building budget builds. We're more budget savy on computer parts than most consumers know.
 
I just want to comment that it seems at least half of the Toms hardware articles I read have obvious grammar or spelling errors, and this one is no exception. On the first page mind you! disproportion ally? What? Was this lost in translation or what? You people should really proofread your stuff.
 
and another thing...though this has been touched on. Who builds a budget gaming pc to play Quake? Seriously. If you buy a dx10 card, it should be for dx10 games. Otherwise your money is better spent on a faster dx9 card.
 
Well I guess they set up the rig for future upgrades by including a $100 PS. IF I was doing that though I'd spend $30 more and get a 600W silencer supply from PCPowerand cooling.

Still when I build a cheap gaming rig I skimp on parts that have the least to do with gaming. hard drive, dvd drive, case, and yeah power supply and motherboard too.

So in the interest of being different from other posted builds which are better than the article's builds I'm going to show a build for a rig that has an 8800 gts in it that still stays in the $5xx range. :)

These deals available on Newegg and/or ZipZoomFly and/or Ebay.

$50 various AMD am2 socket Motherboards
$65 4000 x2 cpu
$60 2 gigs of ram after rebate on newegg (lots of deals in this price range.)
$20 DVd player
$25 80 gb hard drive from Ebay
$110 CAse w/PS to drive the 8800 gts ($30 cheap case with $80 Corsair CMPSU-450VX w/ 33A on single 12V rail)
$250 8800 gts

Total $580

 

horrible analogy... higher ceiling on a psu is NOT the same as a car stuck in 1st gear. It gives you expansion room and greater certainty that you won't have problems related to cheap/bad psu's. A powerful sports car stuck in 1st gear is just broken. Bigger psu does not give you more "power"... nor is it's capability wasted as a higher-end psu usually gives greater efficiency... which means less heat and lower electricity bills... Your car actually increases cost as the power goes up... just wrong analogy all around. 😉

The article addressed it though, and I also mentioned my thoughts on it above... who would do that? I would. Going back to jan '03 I put a 430w enermax psu in my AMD 2700+ system with a 9700pro. I STILL run that psu with massive upgrades to the system. It has at one time run 2 video cards, 4 hard drives, 3 opticals, lights, numerous usb devices and hardware monitors with the proc oc'd and still clips right along. THAT is why it is worth it to spend the money on the psu... it will last through many upgrades. That psu has lasted where friends of mine have burned through 2 or 3 $50 psu's. It cost me $99 back then. It was worth it. :sol:



bingo, my thoughts exactly.

 
Any benchmarks pitting this machine against other machines to show how it compares to bigger, badder machines?

Also, what would anyone change if you wanted to keep the same budget but have a non-gaming machine mainly for standard internet, email, etc?
 
Umm, whats with the "If you want power efficiency go with AMD" when the intel chip selected uses significantly less under load than the AMD chip and barely consumes more than the AMD idle? That and the intel chip outperforms the AMD chip chosen. Yes, core 2s typically need more power than the AMD counterparts, but not in this case, intel wins hands down in both categories with the parts chosen...
Also, a cheaper yet better performing dx 9 card can be upgraded later, dx 10 is NOT requisite for now. If you want dx 10, wait until prices drop a little more (when next generation comes out)
 
More processor, less video card, less power supply, and a smaller case.
 

Want a good car analogy? how 'bout this: Why build a 500 HP capable balanced and blueprinted shortblock containing high nickel content block with four bolt mains, micropolished forged crank, full floating forged pistons with flycut valve reliefs, chrome-moly rings, and a set of polished oversized connecting rods, if you're just going to finish off the build with stock top end components and then put this 200 HP engine in your daily driver? It's a waste of money the way it is, investing over 3 grand in a bullet proof bottom end when a simple remanned shortblock would only be a third of the cost and probably would be just as reliable in your daily driver. Sometimes a plain old 2-bolt block, cast crank, mismatched rods and some cast pistons are really the way to go. Same thing applies to power supplies.


Switch to a Celeron or Sempron, get a cheaper PSU, and get cheaper mATX mobos and use the IGPs on the mobos.
 


This is not a bad system in the least.
You should be able to clock the CPU to about 3.0-3.2 Ghz w/ little if any voltage adjustments and beat much more expensive CPUs that are not OC'd and beat what you can do with the cheaper CPU's when they are OC'd.

 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom