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System Builder Marathon: $625 Gaming PC

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Anonymous
a b 4 Gaming
November 26, 2008 9:00:07 AM

This month's System Builder Marathon is all about your feedback to us. We've revamped our entry-level and mid-range PCs with new price points. Let's kick things off with what we think is the best value at a $625 price point!

System Builder Marathon: $625 Gaming PC : Read more

More about : system builder marathon 625 gaming

a b 4 Gaming
November 26, 2008 9:21:46 AM

Very nice write up. I like the new price point :) 
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2
a b 4 Gaming
November 26, 2008 9:29:51 AM

I forgot to mention that I still would like to see power consumption charts and possibly a AMD based build at this price point.
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Related resources
November 26, 2008 9:40:28 AM

Impressive results! Who says a system price has to adhere to budget figures of 500, 1500 and 4500 dollars, you guys really showed how much added value can be had when the right OC parts are purchased and assembled into a nice package. Well done!
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November 26, 2008 10:47:50 AM

Hiya. Can you guys give a bit more detail about the 'further upgrades' you were inferring in the text of this article? So: Which P45 crossfire motherboard would have been nice; which RAM was out of stock; what would have been the benefiot of the more expensive CPU?

Im looking to spend a similar amount, but as I already have the case, PSU etc it makes sense to explore those options.

Presumably a 4870 would be better again?
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-1
November 26, 2008 11:07:28 AM

Thats a pretty awesome build thanks for the article. Although I am sorry but I have to ask. Do we have our real 4ghz dual core for $84 now?
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2
November 26, 2008 11:31:37 AM

Sorry? What's with the comment box? I can't see what I'm typing.
Anyways,my GTX 260 suffers on Crysis,so it's nothing new.
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-1
November 26, 2008 11:54:31 AM

Great choice, let the AMD fan boys whiny; I would have picked the same setup if I am to build a cheap gaming PC.
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November 26, 2008 12:22:39 PM

Nice build for the money, though i personally would have sprung for a crossfire ready motherboard, the MSI P45 Neo2-FR for example.
The only problem i have with this though is the operating system. surely that should be quite a major factor when creating a whole new system? and it would be nice to have the different vista's compared for gamers. i.e. is ultimate worth the bump in price for the extra's or is xp professional still the best option.
just my thoughts.
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2
November 26, 2008 12:33:37 PM

Nicest article, not only you did not stick to any budget but also the parts chosen could not have been any better. This is a build i'm planning except i could have chosen a less performing 9800GT since its only in Crysis where a 4850 has a usable advantage over it.
I am an AMD user for years but this pentium dual core overclocks so far over an athlon x2.
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November 26, 2008 12:47:53 PM

someone from the forums was asking me months back where i can find a 4ghz e5200.. i guess this is it.
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November 26, 2008 1:21:31 PM

great article. and great choices for the parts. though the gigabyte ultra durable 3 p45's have been out for awhile for 10 bucks more. but this is a proper gaming machine for the budget conscious.
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November 26, 2008 1:39:19 PM

Good old Arctic Freezer Pro 7, it just can't be beaten for value for money, I just hope Arctic make one for the LGA1366 socket.
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Anonymous
a b 4 Gaming
November 26, 2008 1:52:28 PM

My suggestion, or two cents as it were, is that an additional section be added. Something along the lines of suggested upgrades. Or .."If you had a little extra money". In this final section, list any possible changes, or huge increases you could see getting by upgrading a part or two. Also it would be potentialy good for adding suggested steps for the next future upgrade with said system. Personaly I'd love to know your thoughts on basicly the same system, just with e7200 myself.
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-2
November 26, 2008 2:43:50 PM

I think this would be very cool in the future:

Since you are making these system builder marathons through Newegg Paul; if you could make a link that would dump all the parts used into the Newegg shopping cart so you could order a system that you guys reviewed. This would be the ideal if you're looking for a system/price/performance and TH created a PC setup that fit all those needs. I would most certainly buy my next system this way if it were possible, because you guys really do your homework with the price points you're given. If nothing else it would be a really nice feature I think.
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2
November 26, 2008 3:10:35 PM

Great article, great overclock on that E5200 and the HD4850. Good info on the noise of that Sapphire GPU, something a buyer could do with those rebate checks as they trickle in is pick up a VGA cooler. A very sensible build at that budget price. Good job!
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November 26, 2008 3:18:22 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone.

@ Slomo4sh0,nerrawg,zodiacfml - Glad you like the flexible price range. Many parts were just out of reach for a firm $500 and reader comments showed great interest in the 600-650 range and $1200-1300 range.

@ cloudbase, matt2k, xZabx - We do try to mention upgrades just out of reach within the article, but not in a specific section. As a gamer, first place I would have put additional money would not be toward the E7200 but into a P45 Crossfire mobo like matt2k commented on, especially considering we have a PSU easily capable of running dual cards. My personal choice would be the GA-EP45-UD3P for $35 more(UD3 as zcubed mentioned).
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4
November 26, 2008 3:22:22 PM

Nice article, I would be great to have a direct comparation between the build from this SBM to the ones in the previous SBM, I'm looking forward to the other articles in this series.
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November 26, 2008 3:37:01 PM

Hey great article, and fine work for squeezing out that much performance, what a bang for the buck. What was the price for the Window's Vista OS you used? OEM or Retail? From newegg? Thanks
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November 26, 2008 3:59:46 PM

Why spend all this money to have parts congenial to OCing the e5200 when the premium paid for those parts could have gotten you an e8400?

You could have a better machine for the same price: ditch the cooler, the pricey memory, the pricey case, and get a good 450W PSU instead of a 650W overkill--now you can have an e8400 in this rig and OC with the stock cooler to 3.6GHz. That will beat the e5200 @4.3 GHz in all but the most clock speed intensive tasks. Indeed, I bet you could have gotten a decent enough cooler to get the e8400 to 4GHz on this budget.
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-8
November 26, 2008 4:02:28 PM

theirs no OS which almost every system needs
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November 26, 2008 4:17:51 PM

Hello guys! Nice article.
I think that by testing a game like Supreme commander or World in Conflict using the highest settings is a bit unrealistic. I would love to see how these games perform when using more "down to earth" settings. Like the comment you left for Crysis for example. People who would like to buy such a value system would be interested to know I guess.

Thanx!
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November 26, 2008 4:18:32 PM

KurosakiHello guys! Nice article. I think that by testing a game like Supreme commander or World in Conflict using the highest settings is a bit unrealistic. I would love to see how these games perform when using more "down to earth" settings. Like the comment you left for Crysis for example. People who would like to buy such a value system would be interested to know I guess. Thanx!

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November 26, 2008 4:42:42 PM

The best part about this article was mousing over the Hard Drive link on the first page and having a pop-up tell me where to get inexpensive surgery for my hernia.

Priceless.
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November 26, 2008 4:58:09 PM

If the Sapphire HD 4850, is too noisy, what do you suggest for a quiet system?
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November 26, 2008 5:10:19 PM

Gratz on the overclock, but it annoys me that I cannot get a stable 3.6Ghz OC on my E8400 w/o random crashes......
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November 26, 2008 5:24:16 PM

Quick question to the editors: Did you install DES?
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November 26, 2008 5:25:20 PM

One more thing, should have spent $20 more and gotten a S1283 + bolt in kit.
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November 26, 2008 6:36:14 PM

Is there a reason they couldn't try something a touch more sane in overclocking that E5200 like 366x9 or 366x10? I'm surprised they managed to eek over 4GHz by only increasing the multiplier. If your mobo can't do 400 FSB, you're picking a bad mobo. P45 can be had for around the $100 target price point.
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November 26, 2008 7:08:11 PM

philosofoolWhy spend all this money to have parts congenial to OCing the e5200 when the premium paid for those parts could have gotten you an e8400?You could have a better machine for the same price: ditch the cooler, the pricey memory, the pricey case, and get a good 450W PSU instead of a 650W overkill--now you can have an e8400 in this rig and OC with the stock cooler to 3.6GHz. That will beat the e5200 @4.3 GHz in all but the most clock speed intensive tasks.

A high quality PC case can last you 15 years (except for the cooling fans).
A high quality PSU can last many years as well.
A good heatpipe based cooler can last 5 years.

The CPU you want to add to the system instead of all these things will last 2 years before it will be horribly outdated and another 2 as a low end machine. It makes no sense to spend more money in the way you suggest especially considering how you yourself mention that it won't actually add much performance.
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November 26, 2008 7:53:25 PM

Why did you use a 32-bit version of vista?
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November 26, 2008 10:06:05 PM

I'm gonna jump the gun here for the next $625 SBM build because i'd like to see an AMD quad build in that price range. I shoehorned in a 9950BE/790GX/HD4850 by using a questionable case/PSU/cooler, but still budget (as of this moment)
9950BE combo with the 790GX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
Rosewill case combo with burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
2x2 GB DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Xigma cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Xclio 500w PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
7200.11 HD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Powercolor HD4850

Subtotal in my shopping cart is $624.90
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November 26, 2008 10:16:40 PM

twstd1Why did you use a 32-bit version of vista?

Mainly because part of our test suite itself won't run on 64-bit (see last months $4500 PC article for details)
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November 26, 2008 10:22:09 PM

How do most sites go about benchmarking SupCom? I've only played the demo of the original game, but I played at 1680x1050 at max settings with 4xAA and beat those framerates. That's with an E6600 and 9600GT.
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November 26, 2008 10:28:05 PM

ImSpartacusIs there a reason they couldn't try something a touch more sane in overclocking that E5200 like 366x9 or 366x10? I'm surprised they managed to eek over 4GHz by only increasing the multiplier. If your mobo can't do 400 FSB, you're picking a bad mobo. P45 can be had for around the $100 target price point.

A few other stable overclocks and voltages were mentioned and CPU-Z screenies can be seen in the pics. In a way this is a competition of sorts, and we want as high a stable overclock as possible without pushing too much voltage or too high temps. 4.163GHz was prime95 stable too, so 4.0GHz was far from overboard. As far as the mobo, our P45 had no problem hitting a 400 bus paired with the E4500. Paired with the E5200 it would not. If anyone has a P45 mobo running a 400 bus or higher with the E5200, make a recommendation.
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November 26, 2008 10:35:34 PM

randomizer - Forged Alliance seems (to me) to have lower fps. Not sure if the demo can crank settings as high as our settings either. Also, the test area is well into an established game during a decent size battle... it's demanding for sure.
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November 26, 2008 10:40:30 PM

pauldhrandomizer - Forged Alliance seems (to me) to have lower fps. Not sure if the demo can crank settings as high as our settings either. Also, the test area is well into an established game during a decent size battle... it's demanding for sure.

I see, I haven't really tested it in any large battles, just some base attacks with a few hundred bombers going to their deaths above anti-air turrents :D 
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November 26, 2008 11:04:30 PM

Shadow, no did not install DES. I'd like to try the S1283 with the retention bracket. Some may find it a tad pricey for a system like this.

Dad_1951, The Powercolor copper zerotherm cooled models are supposed to be quiet although I haven't tested one myself to confirm this.
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1
November 27, 2008 12:20:56 AM

I've never built a system myself, but with my budget and gaming needs, would love to give it a try with the above configuration. Does anyone have a good guide for how to put together the above components and do all the overclocking they discussed in the article?
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November 27, 2008 2:10:53 AM

Too bad I can't get these prices in Canada. I have to pay atleast 200 dollars more to get the same products.
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a b 4 Gaming
November 27, 2008 2:48:14 AM

I think it would have been better to go with the Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS for a little less and try and squeeze out a crossfire board. Good selection of parts overall though.
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November 27, 2008 4:42:57 AM

lol i think someone listened to me about the e5200 :D  FTW!
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a b 4 Gaming
November 27, 2008 6:39:23 AM

I liked this one a lot.

Antec Neo has fallen out of favor a bit on the boards lately though, as well as the Trio.

That's my only nit pick this month, so it must be a good one ;) 


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a b 4 Gaming
November 27, 2008 7:16:09 AM

ProximonI liked this one a lot.Antec Neo has fallen out of favor a bit on the boards lately though, as well as the Trio.That's my only nit pick this month, so it must be a good one


I actually like the Neo. I have a system that is currently powered by the NeoPower 650 and all I can say is that the modular PSU is a great buy. It runs quiet and there is very little clutter in the case due to there being no extra cables. I actually prefer it over the Earthwatts 650. But then again, to each his own :p 
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November 27, 2008 1:45:57 PM

nihilityA high quality PC case can last you 15 years (except for the cooling fans).A high quality PSU can last many years as well.A good heatpipe based cooler can last 5 years.The CPU you want to add to the system instead of all these things will last 2 years before it will be horribly outdated and another 2 as a low end machine. It makes no sense to spend more money in the way you suggest especially considering how you yourself mention that it won't actually add much performance.


The 650W PSU is total freaking overkill for this machine. 400W would be enough, and 450W would probably be ideal. 450W leaves about 150W of overhead on total system power consumption, which is more than enough to accommodate the next four generations of graphics cards. And given that this machine doesn't have a crossfire board, there's no reason to a 650W PSU, unless you think your going to jump price points in rigs in the near future. 650W does not mean longer life than 450W.

Case wise--again, don't confuse low-price with low quality. There are plenty of good cases out there for $20. A case doesn't do anything but sit there and it's life span (except the fans, as you mention) is pretty much only limited form factor.

I agree that a fan will last awhile and a high quality fan is great. But seriously, what's the point of adding the fan just to get the e5200 to kinda sorta rival the e8400? There isn't one.

And don't even talk about processor life span while advocating a processor with a 2MB L2 cache. If you want to talk life span on the machine, the e8400 is absolutely the way to go. Would you rather need a new processor next year or in two years?
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-2
November 27, 2008 2:07:12 PM

Why on earth do you need a 650W PSU for that? You could have saved a bit on the PSU and gone for an E7200 instead or soemthing
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a b 4 Gaming
November 27, 2008 3:12:04 PM

To those critical of the PSU, 1) the authors clearly state they know 650W is more than needed, 2) they got a good deal on it, which is a great place to focus in the budget segment where high bang for buck is an objective.
Furthermore, as they also pointed out, prices and availability fluctuate constantly. Right now, for example, the Earthwatts 500 is $50. This is the one I'd probably choose for a similar build TODAY, but doesn't make me inclined to criticize choices made THEN.
I liked the comments on the noise of the Sapphire cooler. I was considering that model (or the similar 4830), but probably will disqualify it now for the noise.
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2
November 27, 2008 3:39:26 PM

It love the article, it proves that the people at Tom's really care about the given feedback. If I were to build a system today I would copy this one, only either choose a crossfire capable board or ditch the 650 watt power supply, as is mentioned in the article. Isn't the power supply going to be less efficient when the power needed is lower than what it is made for? Thought I read that in another article a while ago.
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November 27, 2008 4:24:06 PM

At jonnyguru the Neopower Blue 650w (Seasonic built) gets a total 7.5 rating, and at 137w load to 354w load (where it's going to spend the bulk of it's time) it gives out 81%-83% efficiency. At $45 with the case combo i can't see where anyone has any valid complaints about it.
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November 27, 2008 5:25:58 PM

jtt283To those critical of the PSU, 1) the authors clearly state they know 650W is more than needed, 2) they got a good deal on it, which is a great place to focus in the budget segment where high bang for buck is an objective.Furthermore, as they also pointed out, prices and availability fluctuate constantly. Right now, for example, the Earthwatts 500 is $50. This is the one I'd probably choose for a similar build TODAY, but doesn't make me inclined to criticize choices made THEN.I liked the comments on the noise of the Sapphire cooler. I was considering that model (or the similar 4830), but probably will disqualify it now for the noise.

It's not like there's just one good 450-500W PSU out there. I'm not buying that they couldn't find a less expensive, lower wattage, similar quality PSU at around $50-60.
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-2
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