System Builder Marathon: $500 Gaming PC
Benchmark Results: World In Conflict, Supreme Commander
3D Games: World In Conflict, Supreme Commander Forged Alliance
At stock clock speeds, the $500 system is unable to reach 25 FPS at any resolution. Overclocking provides a significant increase of 10 or more FPS at each resolution.
With AA and AF cranked up, again we see our overclocked machine yielding solid gains, although performance drops off significantly at 1920x1200. Notice that once overclocked, we see the same performance at 1680x1050 with 4x AA and 16x AF as we did without overclocking at 1280x1024 with no AA and AF.
Even overclocked, the best our entry-level system manages at these demanding settings is 20 FPS. As with Crysis, it’s possible that turning things down to a more realistic setting may yield larger gains from overclocking than we see here.
With 4x AA enabled, overclocking added one FPS at each resolution. But at 10 FPS or below, there isn’t much to look at in this chart.
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radguy Thanks for the article. I always enjoy these sbm builds you guys do. I guessed wrong again but actually think you guys picked a better choice. Nice to know build quality is still taken into consideration even at the 500 dollar range. Also just to mention this again next time noise and power consumption charts please.Reply -
"The silicon hard drive grommets"Reply
That wouldn't dampen much noise.
Try silicone hard drive grommets
(They are usually silicon-oxygen based polymers) -
slomo4sho I wish you used the E5200 CPU for this build, current prices reflect a difference of $14 only.Reply
Also, in the future, would it be possible for you to have two builds for the $500 budget build. One based on Intel AND the other on AMD? -
xx12amanxx I would have spent maybe 30$ on a cheapo case and put the 50$ toward's a hd4850! Most people building a 500$ pc are going to want maximun performance and not care what the case looks like.Reply -
cangelini xX12amanXxI would have spent maybe 30$ on a cheapo case and put the 50$ toward's a hd4850! Most people building a 500$ pc are going to want maximun performance and not care what the case looks like.Reply
$30 for a case and PSU? Sounds like a build asking for trouble. I personally don't think $80 for a nice chassis and power supply is bad. -
cangelini Slomo4shOI wish you used the E5200 CPU for this build, current prices reflect a difference of $14 only. Also, in the future, would it be possible for you to have two builds for the $500 budget build. One based on Intel AND the other on AMD?Reply
Heya Slo! We're actually weighing the possibility of simply switching off each month on the $500 system since AMD has some very compelling hardware in that range. -
slomo4sho cangeliniHeya Slo! We're actually weighing the possibility of simply switching off each month on the $500 system since AMD has some very compelling hardware in that range.Reply
Well in this case, an AMD build might have allowed for a 4850. I look forward to seeing what you decide upon but I still think a monthly build of each platform at the $500 build is definitely something worthwhile.
Transitioning month to month between the two usually does not allow for comparative annalist in your "Performance And Value, Dissected" write-ups -
lounge lizard I love the article and second the notion that it would be a great idea to run it every month. I for one am a firm believer of upgrading more consistently at a reasonable cost per component rather then just throwing $1500 at new machine.Reply
At some point it would be interesting if you guys could run an Upgrade Edition of the $500 system builder. Most people that have the courage and knowledge to overclock their new parts by over 50% (wow the E2180 rocks!)would almost definitely have components that they could and would want to swap between rigs.
Again, great article. -
reasonablevoice king_edgar"The silicon hard drive grommets" That wouldn't dampen much noise.Try silicone hard drive grommets(They are usually silicon-oxygen based polymers)Reply
What the hell are you saying?