System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2010: $400 Gaming PC
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Page 1:How Low Can You Go?
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Page 2:CPU and Cooler
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Page 3:Motherboard And Memory
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Page 4:Graphics Cards And Hard Drive
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Page 5:Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive
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Page 6:Assembly
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Page 7:Overclocking
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Page 8:Test System Configuration And Benchmarks
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Page 9:Benchmark Results: Synthetics
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Page 10:Benchmark Results: Audio/Video
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Page 11:Benchmark Results: Productivity
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Page 12:Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
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Page 13:Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
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Page 14:Maximizing Graphics Potential
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Page 15:Power Consumption And Temperatures
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Page 16:Performance Summary And Efficiency
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Page 17:Conclusion
Graphics Cards And Hard Drive
Graphics Cards: PowerColor AX5670 512MD5-H
The Powercolor AX5670 512MD5-H is a reference-clocked Radeon HD 5670 with 512 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1000 MHz (4 Gb/s).
This month’s choice shares a striking resemblance to the AX5770 1GBD5-H used in our $550 PC from June. A similarly-styled cooler is again both quiet and effective, and the same output port array includes 1 x DVI, 1 x D-Sub, and HDMI.
Read Customer Reviews of PowerColor's AX5670 512MD5-H
Of course, these two DirectX 11 cards are very different with regard to price and performance. While the Radeon HD 5770 is literally half of a Radeon HD 5870, the 5670 is in many ways half of the 5770. It sports 400 stream processing units (shaders), 20 texture units, and eight ROPs.
Both cards, however, employ a 128-bit memory interface, and thus have similar memory bandwidth capabilities. It's worth noting that the Radeon HD 5670 does use slightly lower core and memory frequencies.
Once again PowerColor’s retail bundle is light. You won’t find any cables, adapters, or even a CrossFire bridge, but rather just a folded manual sheet and driver CD.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD2500AAJS 250 GB
Read Customer Reviews of Western Digital's Caviar Blue 250 GB
This $45 Western Digital SATA 3Gb/s hard drive spins at 7200 RPM, has 8 MB cache, and is backed by a three year warranty.
Although we consider this reliable and adequate storage for a budget gaming rig, it's admittedly difficult to swallow such a significant reduction in capacity just to save $10.
- How Low Can You Go?
- CPU and Cooler
- Motherboard And Memory
- Graphics Cards And Hard Drive
- Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive
- Assembly
- Overclocking
- Test System Configuration And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Audio/Video
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
- Maximizing Graphics Potential
- Power Consumption And Temperatures
- Performance Summary And Efficiency
- Conclusion
Even this $400 build packs a punch, you can get one HELL of a rig for the money any more. It really is insane, and that's not even considering the used or refurb market!
Awesome article, probably one of my favorite SBM, atleast the best I've seen in a long time.
+1 for making this statement, glad someone considered it at least. All in all decent build for the money.
You'll have to spend a little bit more there. Rosewill has a 430W (RG430 S12) unit or the Antec Neo 400W is almost the same price as the CM after a discount and rebate.
+1 for making this statement, glad someone considered it at least. All in all decent build for the money.
Even this $400 build packs a punch, you can get one HELL of a rig for the money any more. It really is insane, and that's not even considering the used or refurb market!
Awesome article, probably one of my favorite SBM, atleast the best I've seen in a long time.
150$ buys you a lot better gaming capabilities, and nothing else.
I doubt someone spending $400 can't afford to add an extra dollar. although i realize that the point in these articles is to stay under the budget, it would have been interesting to see the price/perforamce difference.
I'd bet if you could pull ~200 mhz more out of it, it would begin to match up with the missing core, and maybe start to pull away around 400mhz.
You'll have to spend a little bit more there. Rosewill has a 430W (RG430 S12) unit or the Antec Neo 400W is almost the same price as the CM after a discount and rebate.
That tells me that it could of been an even better system for the same price. I understand that you couldn't, but it's a real eye opener for us folks in the System forum.
I consider this to be a perfect benchmark system for the low budget build requests there.
I installed an upgrade disk XP once and I think its asks you to insert the disk of the OS you want to upgrade. XP then checks the disk I guess to see if its an allowed upgrade.
This was a great review. I would have when for a $450 range build with a 5770 and an X3 and got the mobo in the review. I would have gotten the $20 Gigabyte gz-ph1a3 and Antec 430W for $40. May have exceeded the price but would have been a great system.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233061
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371023
Thanks, yes felt it was worth mentioning this one wasn’t as tuned as other recent SBM budget builds. The 2140 MHz CPU-NB Frequency for this $400 OC is quite low versus 2540 MHz for the June $550 PC, and 2620 MHz for the March $750 build. I aim for 2400-2600 MHz CPU-NB, although realize many overclockers utilizing better cooling are willing to push this far higher.
This lil’ box had a few strikes against it that (I felt) didn’t warrant the additional tuning time. The mobo’s design & tame passive cooling, the lack of CPU-NB Voltage control in BIOS, and the fact the boxed cooler’s abilities were already being taxed without increasing the memory controller and L3 cache frequency.
Agreed, every little bit helps. $411 alone added an HD 4850, so $450 would have been good for 1GB HD 5750 or maybe even a 5770. $500 then adds an aftermarket cooler, higher quality PSU, and doubles the storage capacity.
The $550 overclocked June PC had a 350 MHz advantage plus further performance tuning, and it still fell shy of the $400 build in threaded-apps performance. Gaming, the system needs more GPU, so additional CPU frequency would not have a meaningful impact.
FYI, we get curious too, just need to get the work done first.