Your Top Picks: Tom's Hardware Forums' Q1 2013 BestConfigs

[voiidwulf]

I'm surprised Brett and his 7990 that he talks about all the time didn't win.

 

[gallovfc]

Now let's see Intel budget vs AMD Budget vs Micro ATX and Intel High-end vs AMD High-end !!

 

[gallovfc]

And how about Intel High-end Gaming PC vs AMD High-end Gaming PC vs High-end Workstation ??

 

[hapkido]

What gives you any indication a SB Pentium and 7750 will have any problem playing video files and/or overheat while doing so?

Of course you can't guarantee you won't have problems with a new build, but by that same reasoning, if Tom's built all these PCs and had no issues at all, it doesn't mean someone else buying the exact same parts won't have issues.

 

[slomo4sho]

So the AMD budget machine has a 7970 in it whereas the budget intel build uses a 7850. Shouldn't these "budget" categories have the same budget constraints?

 

[markiz]

There should be more strict budget rules.
Also a mini-ITX gaming machine category.

 

[Reynod]

Guys lets do this again in a couple of months.

Rate this post up if your keen and I'll speak to Joe (our Community Manager) and Adam.

A nice prize would seem appropriate too ...

Great work by all of those who submitted builds and many thanks to Adam for putting it all up in a neat format with some good copy.

I particularly liked the workstation build ... sadly I could not convince the wife to give me her kidney towards the cost.

 

[basketcase87]

[citation][nom]nevertell[/nom]Why do all the builds use poser ram ?[/citation]
WTF is "poser ram"?

 

[hapkido]

What gives you any indication a SB Pentium and 7750 will have any problem playing video files and/or overheat while doing so?

Of course you can't guarantee you won't have problems with a new build, but by that same reasoning, if Tom's built all these PCs and had no issues at all, it doesn't mean someone else buying the exact same parts won't have issues.

Ok i see the media pc was yours,. Do you think about encoding when you picked that dual core sandy with no h/t. ?

With a $700, sure I thought about it, and it wasn't a primary concern.

It needed to have a tv tuner card and blu-ray burner in an appropriate case for mass appeal. Otherwise it's just a computer hooked to a tv. That's fine for many of us, but it's not fine for people with cable + dvr and rent discs from redbox.

It also needed to be quiet and relatively efficient. 2x4GB RAM is close enough in price to 2x2GB to warrant the excess and any users who don't leave it on overnight will really appreciate the SSD.

That leaves the GPU as really the only "extra", and if you're not going to play any games, you could leave that out and upgrade the CPU instead. I don't think it's worth it for several reasons.

-People with kids and a decent-sized Steam library will definitely appreciate the GPU -- which is much better than the APU in the upcoming Piston Steambox.
-The tuner card already has built-in dual mpeg-2 encoders so it's going to put very little strain on the CPU while recording.
-Depending on what program you're using, you may be able to off-source some of the load to the GPU.
-If you're compressing recorded shows or ripping discs, you can schedule them when the PC is idle or overnight.

Could it have been better? Yes. Could it have been better while keeping all functionality in the given budget? I don't think so.

 

[g-unit1111]

Congratulations on your win.

For a small increase in cost you could have gone to 2133 RAM (8GB) and seen a 2%-3% improvement in performance. The small additional cost would be worth it.

I also don't understand using a bronze rated PSU for a "high-end" system when gold and even platinum PSUs can be found so very cheap. I used the Corsair HX 850 for my build and because my computer draws about 40% - 50% of the PSU's capacity I am running at approximately 92% efficiency. Plus, my PSU fan rarely turns on and it is silent in my case. More importantly, because of the high stability of the PSU, I have peace of mind that my expensive components protected. Mg Corsair HX 850 cost $140.00 which is very reasonable.

The case is beautiful, I have not read a review of it yet. But NZXT makes good cases.

Great choices with the 840 Pro and the Barracuda. I have the Barracuda and it is a great HDD.

Congratulations again.

Faster RAM won't necessarily affect the performance of your CPU and GPU one way or the other.

The Platinum PSUs that can be had for less than $100 are generally made by a lot of brands that produce a lot of junk (like Coolmax and Sentey). They are not to be trusted. Energy efficient doesn't always mean that the power supplies are made with quality components. It's better to buy a PSU that is from a good OEM like Super Flower or Seasonic, getting one of those will be better than having your PSU blow up in your face.

 

[JonnyDough]

"The total build price when originally configured by Zared619 was $999.89."

Yeah, that's not even "budget". Good job though.

 

[JonnyDough]

[citation][nom]JerryC[/nom]These systems arent really complete. You need to include a monitor, keyboard and mouse to complete these systems.[/citation]

They assume you have these, just as they do for ALL builds. In truth, you need an operating system and many sites seem to omit that. Unless of course you use Linux, which works with Steam now, and many decent games including TF2. Let's let the days of spending $100+ every few years DIE!

 

[HideOut]

some of the PSU's are WAY overkill for the builds. Loss of efficiency + overpriced when bought. Could use the extra $ elsewhere or just save it.

 

[g-unit1111]

[citation][nom]HideOut[/nom]some of the PSU's are WAY overkill for the builds. Loss of efficiency + overpriced when bought. Could use the extra $ elsewhere or just save it.[/citation]

Not necessarily. I input my build back into PC Part Picker and with dual 7970s the estimated wattage is 779W. So a 950W PSU for that build is justified.

 

[Azn Cracker]

When was $1000 considered a budget build (AMD budget build). I was expecting more like $500-600

 

[youssef 2010]

Congratulations, everyone. I believe all who participated have learned a thing or to from this great initiative.

 

[sanilmahambre]

Awesome reg submitted by Zared619 with HIS 7970

 

[slyu9213]

Honestly we need to lower the budget for "budget" systems. $1000 for a desktop build isn't much for the people already experienced with custom built computers, but for the newcomers who are coming from consoles $1000 is nowhere near budget. $500-700 would be a good budget for a PC, lower would be even better but highly impossible unless older parts were used.

 

[balister]

[citation][nom]nordlead[/nom]A good thing I don't use these "forum best configs" as guides. It looks like every single one of them was built by a power hungry gamer rather than an economical engineer that builds to meet specific requirements.[/citation]

Agree 100%, looking at the build chosen, I see a lot of bad builds that could have been built a lot more effciently that allow for more or would cost less.

I mean, why does an office/browsing machine need to cost $500? I can build a perfectly good machine, minus the Windows license if you go that route, for about $250 max. The NAS, could have had more space for the $750 that was chooses as you don't need a power processor nor a huge amount of RAM, the ultimate goal of a NAS is to go with maybe $200 on the process, MB, memory, and case, and spend the remaining $500 on multiple hard drives.

Likewise, I see a lot of people going with ATX boards over using smaller form factors when the smaller form factors would have been just as good or better to use.

Simply, these builds were pretty poor. Next time Tom's has a contest like this, they need to make it known on the front page for a few weeks before starting it so you can get some people in there that can really make a good build.

 

[g-unit1111]

[citation][nom]nordlead[/nom]A good thing I don't use these "forum best configs" as guides. It looks like every single one of them was built by a power hungry gamer rather than an economical engineer that builds to meet specific requirements.[/citation]

Agree 100%, looking at the build chosen, I see a lot of bad builds that could have been built a lot more effciently that allow for more or would cost less.

I mean, why does an office/browsing machine need to cost $500? I can build a perfectly good machine, minus the Windows license if you go that route, for about $250 max. The NAS, could have had more space for the $750 that was chooses as you don't need a power processor nor a huge amount of RAM, the ultimate goal of a NAS is to go with maybe $200 on the process, MB, memory, and case, and spend the remaining $500 on multiple hard drives.

Likewise, I see a lot of people going with ATX boards over using smaller form factors when the smaller form factors would have been just as good or better to use.

Simply, these builds were pretty poor. Next time Tom's has a contest like this, they need to make it known on the front page for a few weeks before starting it so you can get some people in there that can really make a good build.

How does going with a small form factor equal a better build? Please elaborate. Small form factors limit your expansion capabilities and not all mATX cases and mITX cases will be able to house the dual GPUs of the higher budget systems.

 

[hapkido]

Simply, these builds were pretty poor. Next time Tom's has a contest like this, they need to make it known on the front page for a few weeks before starting it so you can get some people in there that can really make a good build.

Ok, HTPC with $700 max budget, go!

 

[miansi]

There is one more build missing (IMHO) - Home Server (NAS + VMs + Media Server). Preferably in microATX form factor (btw - what "genius" came with the idea of microATX being bigger than miniATX? Learn your science)
These ones will be RAM, HDD and CPU core hungry.



I own Synology NAS (213j), but it is soooo underpowered, overprised and slow.

 

[miansi]

There is one more build missing (IMHO) - Home Server (NAS + VMs + Media Server). Preferably in microATX form factor (btw - what "genius" came with the idea of microATX being bigger than miniATX? Learn your science)
These ones will be RAM, HDD and CPU core hungry.

 

[balister]

[citation][nom]hapkido[/nom]Ok, HTPC with $700 max budget, go![/citation]

Ask and ye shall receive:

Office PC - AMD
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Jtxu
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Jtxu/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Jtxu/benchmarks/

CPU: Integrated with Motherboard
Motherboard: ASRock E350M1 Mini ITX E-Series E-Series E-350 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($18.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.71 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Inwin BP655.200BL Mini ITX Desktop Case w/200W Power Supply ($41.55 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $228.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-13 15:38 EDT-0400)

Intel HTPC - light gaming:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JtIB
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JtIB/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JtIB/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.85 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial M4 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($72.51 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS29 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $514.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-13 15:51 EDT-0400)

Full Gaming, add the following:
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $699.28
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)


FreeNAS (RAIDZ-1 -- one parity drive):
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ju0Q
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ju0Q/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ju0Q/benchmarks/

CPU: Integrated with Motherboard
Motherboard: ASRock E350M1 Mini ITX E-Series E-Series E-350 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Value 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 350W ATX12V Power Supply ($27.51 @ Amazon)
Total: $547.34
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-13 16:14 EDT-0400)

See how easy that was to make better machine than 3 of those listed?

 

[balister]

[citation][nom]g-unit1111[/nom]How does going with a small form factor equal a better build? Please elaborate. Small form factors limit your expansion capabilities and not all mATX cases and mITX cases will be able to house the dual GPUs of the higher budget systems.[/citation]

A smaller form factor is based on what you really need. I didn't say that all builds should be looking at M-ITX or Micro-ATX, but there are several builds (specificallythe office systems, the HTPC, and low end gaming builds) that would gain an advantage by going with smaller enclosures and smaller boards. As I posted above, you can see what is possible using smaller form factors with the AMD Office PC, Intel based HTPC (and the original created of the winning one doesn't realzie that the TVTuner card he included will only allow you to record unencrypted channels which is only local channels and a few others), and the NAS where you can buy two 2TB hard drives for the same price as one 3TB hard drive. I whiped up three systems in 30 minutes without much thought where as a number of the so called best choices show little to no thought on what the purpose of the system is (a $700 intel office PC? really?! $250 to $300 should have been all that was spent on the intel office PC).