$500 Gaming PC: Component Selection
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Gaming
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Anonymous
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Gaming
April 16, 2008 5:50:03 AM
How much performance can $500 buy? We set out to find the answer. Today we show you our choice of components. Tomorrow we present test results.
$500 Gaming PC: Component Selection : Read more
$500 Gaming PC: Component Selection : Read more
More about : 500 gaming component selection
romulus47plus1
April 16, 2008 10:41:19 AM
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Coolio_alert
April 16, 2008 12:05:41 PM
Looks cool, still better then my 3 year old $300 one but that will be changing by the summer: Armor Case, Antec 650w, Maximus Formula, E8400, BFG 8800GTS OC, 2 GB Dominator RAM, 500gb 7200.11 (Seagate Barracuda), 2 Lightscribes. Gonna run XP Home (32-bit) and no overclocking for a little bit until its needed or I feel more confident. I CAN'T WAIT!!!
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radguy
April 16, 2008 12:16:41 PM
zenmaster
April 16, 2008 12:28:13 PM
TechnologyCoordinator
April 16, 2008 12:47:29 PM
Eric Tardes
April 16, 2008 12:48:34 PM
MisterChef
April 16, 2008 12:51:18 PM
woodstock827
April 16, 2008 1:03:37 PM
woodstock827
April 16, 2008 1:06:24 PM
blader15sk8
April 16, 2008 1:09:19 PM
wild9
April 16, 2008 1:10:15 PM
If price is the prime consideration here then I think you could save a few pennies by going AMD. The one thing I hate about these latest systems is having to use DDR II memory, so unlike AMD S939 you can't save money by using existing memory you may have lying around. Aside from that I can't find a bad part..they're all branded and no corners have been cut with the PSU or memory. Historically those things are usually the one's that can cause the most grief.
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Anonymous
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Gaming
April 16, 2008 1:22:27 PM
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L $66.99
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 OEM $234.99 or Intel Core 2 Duo E2220 $91.99
RAM: Mushkin DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 1.9v $31.99 after MIR
Case hec 6K28BB8F /w 585W PSU $54.99
HD WD Caviar 320GB $69.99
Optical Drive PHILIPS SPD2513BM/17 (DVD,CD Burner) $24.99
Graphics Card XFX 8800GS $99 after MIR or Sapphire HD3870 $149.99 after MIR
HSF Zerotherm BTF92 $32.99 after MIR $149.99 after MIR
Quad setup: 619.92(88GS) after rebates, $669.92(3870) after rebates
Duo setup: 476.92(88GS) after rebates, $526.92(3870) after rebates
Gota LOVE newegg's low prices.
CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 OEM $234.99 or Intel Core 2 Duo E2220 $91.99
RAM: Mushkin DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 1.9v $31.99 after MIR
Case hec 6K28BB8F /w 585W PSU $54.99
HD WD Caviar 320GB $69.99
Optical Drive PHILIPS SPD2513BM/17 (DVD,CD Burner) $24.99
Graphics Card XFX 8800GS $99 after MIR or Sapphire HD3870 $149.99 after MIR
HSF Zerotherm BTF92 $32.99 after MIR $149.99 after MIR
Quad setup: 619.92(88GS) after rebates, $669.92(3870) after rebates
Duo setup: 476.92(88GS) after rebates, $526.92(3870) after rebates
Gota LOVE newegg's low prices.
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lightfoot__
April 16, 2008 1:31:00 PM
This is pretty much my setup only I did the 9600gt for $119 after mail in rebate. I moved over an x-fi from my last system and I definitely found my pc better then their $1k build. I even have a 600watt ultra PSU that was 8$ after rebate. My whole system (including vista, excluding monitor) was about $385. GeminII heatsink was free after rebate and vista was free from playing club live games! Great job on part selection! This baby will fly with an oc.
It needs an oc too because I scored 6800 in 3dmark06 until I overclocked the cpu to 3.0 then got 9700 marks, oc'ed video card and cpu @3.16 and got 11050 3dmark06 pts! Beat that tom's!
It needs an oc too because I scored 6800 in 3dmark06 until I overclocked the cpu to 3.0 then got 9700 marks, oc'ed video card and cpu @3.16 and got 11050 3dmark06 pts! Beat that tom's!
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night_wolf_in
April 16, 2008 1:34:15 PM
lunyone said:
Is it me or was their first price list have the Phenom 9500 and when I looked at the next page they were mentioning the e2160 w/DS3L? I'd much prefer this setup over the $1k that they listed last month. I mean, I could build a $1k rig that would compete with their $1.5k or better system.yeah, the table on first page is not the right one. they have to fix it
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night_wolf_in
April 16, 2008 2:13:12 PM
animehair
April 16, 2008 2:26:08 PM
zenmaster
April 16, 2008 3:26:12 PM
animehair said:
Interesting...ive been doing my own research the last several weeks for a new sub 500$ build...I picked out the same mobo, cpu, and hard drive. I look forward to seeing some good benchmark results.And I happen to have that exact case in my office awaiting an upcoming build.
I actually got the combo for an absurd price of $35!
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autoboy
April 16, 2008 4:20:23 PM
Very nicely done. I am impressed. See, when you actually build a decent system, people don't complain. Please stop complaining when people don't agree, because your site tends to suck it up in choosing components for these builds.
Why this worked:
Ignored SLI and Crossfire in a budget build
Picked up a CPU with easy overclocking and low price. An actual budget CPU!
Got a good low price CPU cooler
Found a great case and PSU combo
Used a known high quality Seasonic made power supply and didn't go overboard on the wattage rating like your site always does.
Used a solid capacitor high quality motherboard and ignored the extra features on boards that nobody really needs like lame heatpipes when a simple extruded heatsink is cheaper and in most cases superior IMHO.
Actually picked a difficult to reach build target of $500 and reached it with excellent results.
I feel like your budgets are 2X what normal people consider reasonable. A budget computer is $500, midrange is $1000, highend is $2000.
Why this worked:
Ignored SLI and Crossfire in a budget build
Picked up a CPU with easy overclocking and low price. An actual budget CPU!
Got a good low price CPU cooler
Found a great case and PSU combo
Used a known high quality Seasonic made power supply and didn't go overboard on the wattage rating like your site always does.
Used a solid capacitor high quality motherboard and ignored the extra features on boards that nobody really needs like lame heatpipes when a simple extruded heatsink is cheaper and in most cases superior IMHO.
Actually picked a difficult to reach build target of $500 and reached it with excellent results.
I feel like your budgets are 2X what normal people consider reasonable. A budget computer is $500, midrange is $1000, highend is $2000.
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morg
April 16, 2008 4:38:42 PM
almost the same as mine...
i spent a bit more. on some components as i didn't buy new HDD and DVD-RW
for an e2200 + ocz vanquisher
an antec nine hundred and an OCZ 500W silentX PSU
a 8800GS from EVGA ( they're almost all the same except stock clocking )
same board/ but i got a single value 2gb stick(buffalo)... i can run it pass 1000 mhz alone... i guess it won't when i'll use dual channel.
i spent a bit more. on some components as i didn't buy new HDD and DVD-RW
for an e2200 + ocz vanquisher
an antec nine hundred and an OCZ 500W silentX PSU
a 8800GS from EVGA ( they're almost all the same except stock clocking )
same board/ but i got a single value 2gb stick(buffalo)... i can run it pass 1000 mhz alone... i guess it won't when i'll use dual channel.
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jakemo136
April 16, 2008 5:37:51 PM
hoihoi8
April 16, 2008 5:51:02 PM
itdoesntmatter
April 16, 2008 5:55:43 PM
Yes I would for sure use different parts buy meh, I would hope people would disagree with my choices
Congrats for tomshardware looking into this.
I love the up to date analysis on hardware but sometimes looking further than just the simple best and putting into perspective many average users needs that cannot afford the best adds merit to an already brilliant website.
Looking at something as simple as the economy shows that for Europe many tomshardware pricing schemes do not relate to us directly due to different availability and prices.
That said, the multitude of articles published, coupled with the depth and seemingly honest criticism attributed to reviews makes tomshardware truly imperative to hardware analysis.
I am still running a XP2500+ system that I feel tomshardware had a major influence in.
I think you will succeed, and well too! Brownie points for the decision to give it a go.
Just a thought, would it be possible to do follow up articles with improved components? This way it may offer some mid-end users a comparable 6-12month upgrade option.
....or is that giving ammunition for companies to slow price declines...haha
Congrats for tomshardware looking into this.
I love the up to date analysis on hardware but sometimes looking further than just the simple best and putting into perspective many average users needs that cannot afford the best adds merit to an already brilliant website.
Looking at something as simple as the economy shows that for Europe many tomshardware pricing schemes do not relate to us directly due to different availability and prices.
That said, the multitude of articles published, coupled with the depth and seemingly honest criticism attributed to reviews makes tomshardware truly imperative to hardware analysis.
I am still running a XP2500+ system that I feel tomshardware had a major influence in.
I think you will succeed, and well too! Brownie points for the decision to give it a go.
Just a thought, would it be possible to do follow up articles with improved components? This way it may offer some mid-end users a comparable 6-12month upgrade option.
....or is that giving ammunition for companies to slow price declines...haha
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zenmaster
April 16, 2008 6:41:29 PM
Jakemo136Really? They should've used an X2 5000+ BE. >$100 and easily overclockable to 3.3 GHz. Oh well.
I think the BE would have worked better with something closer to a $425 build. An OC'd E2160 will still outperform an OC'd X2 5000+, which is even slightly more expensive. However, AMD has the best Integrated Graphics at the moment. So if we decided to go ultra-low cost and move to integrated graphics, the AMD solution likely would have been the better choice.
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streetsoldier
April 16, 2008 6:48:27 PM
Anonymous
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Gaming
April 16, 2008 6:48:44 PM
afrobacon
April 16, 2008 6:52:57 PM
zak_mckraken
April 16, 2008 6:58:47 PM
oushi
April 16, 2008 7:35:02 PM
MxM
April 16, 2008 9:13:10 PM
uhhhh
April 16, 2008 9:24:31 PM
maxinexus
April 16, 2008 9:47:39 PM
dspear
April 16, 2008 10:14:53 PM
WeD@
April 16, 2008 10:34:38 PM
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porksmuggler
April 16, 2008 11:12:16 PM
joefriday
April 16, 2008 11:19:57 PM
zenmaster
April 16, 2008 11:21:23 PM
Porksmugglernice picks, my current $500 build for gamers. Which do you think would win?Intel E4500 $125Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L $88Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400-2GB $36ECS N9600GT-512MX-P $125Seagate Barricuda 7200.10 250GB $53RAIDMAX Sagitta ATX-912 w/ 450W $40Samsung SH-S203N $33
Perhaps theirs.
Yours will be held back by the Stock Cooling Fan.
RaidMax PSU not reliable.
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MN12BIRD
April 17, 2008 12:58:54 AM
togne
April 17, 2008 1:12:04 AM
zenmaster
April 17, 2008 1:15:50 AM
zenmaster
April 17, 2008 1:19:15 AM
zak_mckrakenGood choice of components but there isn't any budget left for the OS. Like it or not, a gaming machine must run Windows to play 99% of today's games (please, don't give me your open-source emulation crap).
The rules of the article are that they do not consider OS, Monitor, Keyboard or mouse.
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zenmaster
April 17, 2008 1:23:10 AM
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scryer_360
April 17, 2008 1:43:06 AM
scryer_360
April 17, 2008 1:48:09 AM
And to the guys complaining about the operating system, OS, keyboard, and mouse:
When I built my first PC (ok, partial assembled) I used a mouse out of a dumpster on an Air Force base, a keyboard from my dads old office, a monitor that wouldn't adjust color (so I had to do it at the graphics card), and an old copy of XP.
Anyone building a real budget PC will scavenge for some of it. I know people who will find an OS someone isn't using anymore and install it, and like I did for my parts, just collect the old keyboard from an old system. Hell I had a guy in my dorm who still was using a BALL MOUSE. Yah.
But for reasonable answers to those questions of "where does the rest of it come from:" 1) mouse, keyboard and monitor from old computers at home, parents place, work, or what you can find. 2) OS is either an old copy or Linux.
Done.
When I built my first PC (ok, partial assembled) I used a mouse out of a dumpster on an Air Force base, a keyboard from my dads old office, a monitor that wouldn't adjust color (so I had to do it at the graphics card), and an old copy of XP.
Anyone building a real budget PC will scavenge for some of it. I know people who will find an OS someone isn't using anymore and install it, and like I did for my parts, just collect the old keyboard from an old system. Hell I had a guy in my dorm who still was using a BALL MOUSE. Yah.
But for reasonable answers to those questions of "where does the rest of it come from:" 1) mouse, keyboard and monitor from old computers at home, parents place, work, or what you can find. 2) OS is either an old copy or Linux.
Done.
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spotless
April 17, 2008 5:28:23 AM
romulus47plus1
April 17, 2008 9:15:24 AM
It'll beat the 1000$ system in many places, like overclocking, and some benchmarks, like Crysis.
Its the 8800gs! And it plays Crysis better than the 3870! But less futureproof than the 3870...
I think they should have not used their cash to buy a new cooler, just stick with their old cooler, and get the 9600GT. Don't you think it'll be a better buy by then?
I'm glad they use the Core 2 duo 2xxx processor. Can overclock it like hell!
Its the 8800gs! And it plays Crysis better than the 3870! But less futureproof than the 3870...
I think they should have not used their cash to buy a new cooler, just stick with their old cooler, and get the 9600GT. Don't you think it'll be a better buy by then?
I'm glad they use the Core 2 duo 2xxx processor. Can overclock it like hell!
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