SBM 1: Low Cost System

Test System & Benchmarks

We're going to compare our new low-cost system with the budget overclocker's system we created for our overclocking marathon. Our budget overclocking system is similarly priced to our new low-cost system: it cost $1,174, compared to the new low-cost system's $990 price tag.

The single item that raised the budget overclocker's system price above $1000 was the inclusion of a Geforce 8800 GTX. Had the old budget overclocker's build sported an 8800 GTS 320mb instead of the GTX, its price would have been almost identical to the new low-cost system: about $950. It's going to be interesting to see how the old e4300 CPU/8800 GTX combo will fare against the new e6750/8800 GTS 320 MB combo in the gaming arena.

We won't be comparing the new system to the original budget system in the first system builder marathon. The original budget system was put together for $500 and is completely outclassed by our new $1000 budget champion.