Synthetics
I'm comparing this quarter's $400 bonus build to the $650 mini-ITX-based box presented last week, as well as our most recent $500 gaming PC from the end of last year, which paired a 2.9 GHz Pentium G850 up to a beefier Radeon HD 7850 graphics card.

3DMark 11 scores depict a fairly well-balanced $400 configuration, though I fear that a poor graphics showing signals trouble ahead once I start cranking up the details and resolutions in our gaming tests. The $500 build’s 100 MHz CPU clock rate deficit results in a third-place finish in the Physics suite, while its more powerful Pitcairn-based graphics solution propels it forward in overall 3DMarks.
Sporting a 3.3 GHz Ivy Bridge-based Core i3-3220 processor and big Tahiti-powered Radeon HD 7870 graphics card, the $650 PC tops each test, appearing in an entirely different league.

PCMark7 punishes me across the board for using a dual-core processor, Radeon HD 7750 graphics, and a 5400 RPM laptop hard drive. However, when we factor in the 20-40% cost reduction, the tiniest build’s value proposition doesn't look as bleak.


The Pentium G860’s speed bump allows the $400 PC to earn second place in Sandra's Arithmetic and Cryptography components, though all three CPUs are punished for their arbitrary omission of AES-NI support, a result of bad marketing on Intel's part.

The $650 PC utilized CAS 8 DDR3-1600 memory, while the two Pentium-based systems employ DDR3-1333 at CAS 9 (stock) and CAS 7 (overclocked). Yet, we realize slightly lower memory bandwidth from today's H61-based platform than the previously-tested H77 Express.

- An Inexpensive Console-Sized Gaming PC
- CPU And Cooler
- Motherboard And Memory
- Graphics Card And Hard Drive
- Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive
- Assembling Our Little Budget Box
- How Small Is It, Really?
- Limited Overclocking
- Test System And Benchmarks
- Results: Synthetics
- Results: Audio And Video
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: Compression
- Results: Battlefield 3 And The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Benchmark Results: F1 2012 And Far Cry 3
- Consumption And Temperatures
- Performance Summary
- Can Less Equal More?
I do like how most of those games were "playable" on high settings at 1080p with that tiny rig... very cool.
Great job
Also, I can't believe you had a SG05 and didn't build with it,it has an awesome power supply. Again,if you weren't getting a disk drive the V3+ was the smaller, higher quality case than CM 120 ( though they're finished on newegg)
The obsession with ginormous cards in tiny places made your cases not tiny.Clearly,a more sensible build,like with a 670,would fit in a much smaller footprint.
The lack of the FT03 Mini is a fail. It's a Mac killing case,and should've been the go to case for the $2500 build, because at that price,my case better look it.
Otherwise I like that you were at least up to the challenge, and I applaud this last build.
Also, I can't believe you had a SG05 and didn't build with it,it has an awesome power supply. Again,if you weren't getting a disk drive the V3+ was the smaller, higher quality case than CM 120 ( though they're finished on newegg)
The obsession with ginormous cards in tiny places made your cases not tiny.Clearly,a more sensible build,like with a 670,would fit in a much smaller footprint.
The lack of the FT03 Mini is a fail. It's a Mac killing case,and should've been the go to case for the $2500 build, because at that price,my case better look it.
Otherwise I like that you were at least up to the challenge, and I applaud this last build.
You could say that nobody should even bother spending $2500 on an ITX-based system, or that a system with ITX limitations should never be expected to provide top performance. At least those opinions would make more sense than the stuff you said above.
CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Foxconn H61S Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint M8 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N180UB 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($9.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill RS-MI-01 BK Mini ITX Tower Case w/250W Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $371.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 03:06 EDT-0400)
Some improvements I would like to suggest , Maybe I am crazy , but felt I should do this.
Once the Kaveri APU's start rolling out, I wonder if you guys would end up choosing them over Intel CPU's + discrete GPU's for SFF builds like this or for any other budget configuration for that matter.
BTW, was the Athlon X4 750K/760K not chosen due to its power req. and heat or was it just not available at the time?
You could say that nobody should even bother spending $2500 on an ITX-based system, or that a system with ITX limitations should never be expected to provide top performance. At least those opinions would make more sense than the stuff you said above.
I will say,since my point was lost in the rant
Nobody should be building an ITX rig for $2500 that's bigger than the Silverstone SG10.
A system with mini ITX should crunch top numbers and remain small.The two cheapest rigs prove that.
I hope I make sense now.
AMD A10-5800K APU: http://goo.gl/XaFFP
MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Motherboard: http://goo.gl/DXM3W
8GB Samsung DDR3 1600Mhz RAM: http://goo.gl/gVqCL - Another great option: http://goo.gl/Jbtye
500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue Hard Drive: http://goo.gl/bM1Ww
NZXT Source 210 Case: http://goo.gl/2wlae
430W Corsair CX430 Power Supply: http://goo.gl/QzWZo
These parts make up the $350 build however since this is a custom PC feel free to customize it with some of these options!
OS - Windows 8 System Builder: http://goo.gl/OTZAL
OS - Windows 7 System Builder: http://goo.gl/7hc9M
Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner: http://goo.gl/DCVBn
Wi-Fi Adapter - Asus PCE-N15: http://goo.gl/JQ7Mt
RAM Upgrade - 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 2133Mhz: http://goo.gl/bTOiK
Graphics Card - Sapphire Radeon 7770: http://goo.gl/FrSHW
SSD - 120GB Samsung 840: http://goo.gl/ykuCA
HDD Upgrade - 1TB WD Caviar Blue: http://goo.gl/MZTnq
You could say that nobody should even bother spending $2500 on an ITX-based system, or that a system with ITX limitations should never be expected to provide top performance. At least those opinions would make more sense than the stuff you said above.
I will say,since my point was lost in the rant
Nobody should be building an ITX rig for $2500 that's bigger than the Silverstone SG10.
A system with mini ITX should crunch top numbers and remain small.The two cheapest rigs prove that.
I hope I make sense now.
What you're really saying is that all the people who loved the $2500 PC were wrong. It's OK to believe that, but the reality is that your opinion on their market doesn't count any more than my opinion on feminine hygiene products. Both of us are ill-equipped to speak with authority on those respective issues.
AMD A10-5800K APU: http://goo.gl/XaFFP
MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Motherboard: http://goo.gl/DXM3W
8GB Samsung DDR3 1600Mhz RAM: http://goo.gl/gVqCL - Another great option: http://goo.gl/Jbtye
500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue Hard Drive: http://goo.gl/bM1Ww
NZXT Source 210 Case: http://goo.gl/2wlae
430W Corsair CX430 Power Supply: http://goo.gl/QzWZo
These parts make up the $350 build however since this is a custom PC feel free to customize it with some of these options!
OS - Windows 8 System Builder: http://goo.gl/OTZAL
OS - Windows 7 System Builder: http://goo.gl/7hc9M
Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD Burner: http://goo.gl/DCVBn
Wi-Fi Adapter - Asus PCE-N15: http://goo.gl/JQ7Mt
RAM Upgrade - 8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 2133Mhz: http://goo.gl/bTOiK
Graphics Card - Sapphire Radeon 7770: http://goo.gl/FrSHW
SSD - 120GB Samsung 840: http://goo.gl/ykuCA
HDD Upgrade - 1TB WD Caviar Blue: http://goo.gl/MZTnq
Your case is much much bigger.
No. They chose intel for the cpu, not for it's integrated gpu. They used the fastest half height, single slot gpu available to them along with it. Swapping out the intel cpu for the A10-5800K would have been a step down in gaming performance. Don't make stupid accusations.
-a core i5 3350P or whatever haswell version is available by then
-the AFOX 7850 is available in my country :-P
-a 120 or 240Gb SSD
-more ram
-a slim optical drive
Well i have a Core 2 Quad and a GTX560, manages fine at 1024x768, but a lot of times i'm intensely CPU bottlenecked. Arma 3's killing my CPU like no other game. Ok, maybe the FreeSpace 2 Open engine, but then that's single threaded.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6670/dragging-core2duo-into-2013-time-for-an-upgrade