Build the Best PC With Us in Tom's Hardware Best Configs
Much time has passed since our last Best Configs update. We’re bringing the feature back, and need to get your feedback on the right components to use. Feel free to contribute ideas for the parts you’d recommend for each of these builds!
Much time has passed since the last time we updated our Best Configs feature. We put so much effort into benchmarking and reviewing the latest hardware (and creating our own comparisons with features like the System Builder Marathon) that it’s tough for our editorial team to maintain the community-driven guides. However, that’s what we’re looking to refresh today!
So, Best Configs is making its return, again driven by forum-based suggestions for 10 different PCs.
In case you aren’t already familiar with Best Configs, the feature first surfaced on Tom’s Hardware FR, consisting of monthly updates to 13 different builds with parts picked by the staff. We introduced a similar feature on Tom’s Hardware US and ran through a couple of different iterations. The next version of Best Configs instead drew from the substantial number of reader builds posted to our forums. And although it was sometimes difficult to pick a winning combination of hardware for all 10 of our use cases, the resulting recommendations were well-received. So, we’re going to try that approach again.
Here’s how it works: we have nine sticky threads going in the forums, under the New Build category. If you see a configuration to which you’d like to contribute, we invite you to submit it. If you’d like to add a completely new configuration, feel free to post your idea here, and we’ll consider it for the next update we do.
At the end of three weeks, we’ll pick our five favorite recommendations in each thread and let you vote on them. The top build will become that quarter’s Best Config. We’ll lay it out on a new section featured on the front page of Tom’s Hardware, give you credit for the build, and make sure it’s accessible until our next update goes live.
In this way, Best Configs will be powered by our knowledgeable community. We’ll make sure to add system classifications that are currently missing, and I’ll get to work more closely with you.
The following are direct links to each of the existing nine builds:
Budget Intel-Based Gaming PC
Budget AMD-Based Gaming PC
High-End Intel Gaming PC
Intel-Based Office PC
High-End AMD Gaming PC
MicroATX Gaming Build
Home Theater PC
High-End Workstation
AMD-Based Office PC
NAS PC
See you in the forums!
Chris Angelini
Worldwide Editor-in-Chief, Tom’s Hardware
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JohnA $1000 for a budget PC w/o ANY accessories? After monitor, audio etc you've got $1500 min, more like 1700 since nobody would have less than a $300 monitor on this rig. You totally missed the point as YOUR OWN testing shows your near the very highest end in real performance at this price. Not gonna bother with this one....Reply -
basketcase87 JohnA$1000 for a budget PC w/o ANY accessories? After monitor, audio etc you've got $1500 min, more like 1700 since nobody would have less than a $300 monitor on this rig. You totally missed the point as YOUR OWN testing shows your near the very highest end in real performance at this price. Not gonna bother with this one....From the budget PC instructions:Reply
Stay within $1,000 (without shipping) and no need to include OS, monitor, mouse/keyboard.
I'm pretty sure you can safely leave out audio as well... -
JohnA That was my point. This is not a budget PC by any stretch, because with that budget you can pick a top processor and video card, no compromise necessary. That isn't "budget".Reply