System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $500 Gaming PC

By Paul Henningsen
published

Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive

Case: Rosewill R218-P-BK ATX Mid Tower

Desirable ATX mid-tower cases have started at $40 for the past two quarters. And, rather than dip into the money we'd rather use to bolster performance, we instead chose to snag a more attractively-priced microATX option. This quarter, however, we found the spacious R218-P-BK, which is capable of housing 12” expansion cards, in stock for $30.

The location of front-mounted USB 2.0 ports and audio jacks leaves the full-height drive cage with one external 3.5”, four internal 3.5”, and four 5.25” bays available. Rosewill populates the 120 mm rear exhaust fan spot with a cooler and provides room for an optional 120 mm intake up front.

Read Customer Reviews of Rosewill's R218-P-BK Case (opens in new tab)

Power Supply: Antec VP-450 450 W

Since MSI's GeForce GTX 560 includes a 12 V power adapter, we knew we could again count on Antec’s affordable VP-450 to power our system. The combined +12 V rating of 30 A is plenty for our needs, while a quiet 120 mm fan, protection circuitry, and Antec’s two-year warranty add peace of mind.

Read Customer Reviews of Antec's VP-450 Power Supply (opens in new tab)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE 22x DVD Burner

Given our budget, we're always looking to spend as little as possible on a reliable SATA-equipped DVD burner. Grabbing the Samsung SH-222BB for just $14 was a quick and easy purchasing decision.

Read Customer Reviews of Samsung's SH-222BB/BEBE DVD Burner (opens in new tab)

Paul Henningsen
160 Comments Comment from the forums
  • crisan_tiberiu
    so, looks like 500$ (Euro in europe :P) its enaugh to play any modern game that is trown on the market... ty consoles :P
    Reply
  • itzsnypah
    I think it would be interesting if next quarter for your Budget PC you try to bring the performance per watt as high as you can while still maintaining an enjoyable gaming experience. Something like a G620+HD7750/70 with a high efficiency PSU such as Rosewill CAPSTONE 450.

    Ever since I read the 7950B/7970GE review on here/anand performance per watt for me has been a priority when selecting components.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    I think it would be interesting if next quarter for your Budget PC you try to bring the performance per watt as high as you can while still maintaining an enjoyable gaming experience. Something like a G620+HD7750/70 with a high efficiency PSU such as Rosewill CAPSTONE 450.

    On the contrary, for a 500$ build, energy consumption and heat should be least concerns. Tweaking, overclocking and extracting the last possible performance from your hardware are the primary concerns of a 500$ gaming build. Even after HEAVY overclocking, you wont get 50W over the stock settings.
    Reply
  • sam_fisher
    mayankleoboy1On the contrary, for a 500$ build, energy consumption and heat should be least concerns. Tweaking, overclocking and extracting the last possible performance from your hardware are the primary concerns of a 500$ gaming build. Even after HEAVY overclocking, you wont get 50W over the stock settings.
    One may presume that someone after a $500 build is on a budget and hence doesn't want higher power consumption from overclocking.
    Reply
  • yyk71200
    Well, considering that I already have 3570K with GTX570, I'll be interested only in either $2000 PC or a graphic card from a $1000 PC.
    Reply
  • loops
    At least I can take less heat for recommending b75 mobo...
    Reply
  • itzsnypah
    mayankleoboy1On the contrary, for a 500$ build, energy consumption and heat should be least concerns. Tweaking, overclocking and extracting the last possible performance from your hardware are the primary concerns of a 500$ gaming build. Even after HEAVY overclocking, you wont get 50W over the stock settings.According to the performance summary and efficiency page of this article Overclocking the GPU had a 13%(average according to this article) increase in power consumption for an extra 2% (average) performance. That seems like the opposite thing I'm talking about.

    Overclocking is good for performance per dollar, not performance per watt.
    Reply
  • abegnale
    @Paul Henningsen,
    Why not substitute some existing parts for either an I3-2100 and/or an eVGA 560 Superclocked?
    Reply
  • giovanni86
    Nice, looking forward to the next builds. Some times OC does yield its advantages, those few frames can help and have helped me in games running smoothly or just over 30FPS. I honestly don't see why people are concerned with power, PC's don't cost much to run even overclocked. Unless your poor or working at McDonald's, then i see no reason why power is an issue unless otherwise stated. This whole green thing is a pain in the ass. I'm power hungry sorry.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    ^ there are no existing parts. This is a new build :)
    Reply