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System Builder Marathon, June 2012: $500 Gaming PC

System Builder Marathon, June 2012: $500 Gaming PC
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System Builder Marathon, June 2012: The Articles

Here are links to each of the four articles in this quarter’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon.

To enter the giveaway, please fill out this SurveyGizmo form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!

Day 1: The $2000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $500 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected

Introduction

For most of us, PC building, like life itself, is full of compromises. We need to balance limited resources, whether it's time, money, or energy. When we fail, we suffer the consequences of poor management. Our goals and desires often cause us to push up to and beyond our limits. As it turns out, this life lesson directly relates to the planning, design, and outcome of today’s gaming system.

The plan of attack for last quarter's $650 Gaming PC ignored the CPU-heavy leaning of our overall performance score to focus on one specific purpose: a better native resolution gaming experience. While the machine’s Core i3 processor fell flat in our productivity and content creation apps, its higher-end graphics card delivered better gaming performance at 1920x1080 in five of our six games. More importantly, a couple of specific quality settings became playable for the first time.

Here's our warning upfront: this quarter's system makes no attempt to earn favor as the most balanced platform, nor does it represent a gaming configuration Tom’s Hardware recommends. This time, we went far more extreme. Despite the 30% budget reduction, we made an experimental, all-out effort to maintain playable performance using the native 1920x1080 screens that many value-oriented enthusiasts still want to use.

$500 Gaming PC System Components
CPUIntel Celeron G530 (Sandy Bridge): 2.4 GHz, 2 MB Shared L3 Cache
$50
CPU CoolerIntel boxed heat sink/fan0
MotherboardGigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V: LGA 1155, Intel H61 Express
$60
RAMPareema 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 MD313C80809L2$20
GraphicsECS NGT560TI-1GPI-F1 GeForce GTX 560 Ti$210
Hard DriveWestern Digital WD3200AAKX: 320 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
$75
CaseRosewill R101-P-BK MicroATX Mid Tower$30
PowerAntec VP-450 450 W$38
OpticalLG 22x DVD Burner SATA Model GH22NS90B-OEM$17

Total Cost
$500


Shaving $150 off an already-modest budget is bound to hurt performance, particularly since we're spending half of our funds just to cover necessary supporting components (before we're even able to consider the processor and graphics card we want). A slight reduction in storage capacity left us with $260 to split between these two important components.

We had a number of attractive options on the table, some of them more tempting than the one we eventually chose. For starters, we could have paired a capable Core i3-2100 with modest Radeon HD 6850 or GeForce GTX 460 graphics. Either one of those cards could have driven an overclockable AMD FX-4100 platform, leaving us an extra $10 to throw at a beefier motherboard, memory kit, or cooler. Or, we could have mated the well-priced Radeon HD 6870 to the proven Pentium G850. That last option struck me, personally, as the one with the most potential for smooth gaming performance.

But I already knew that, from last December’s system, even a potent Sandy Bridge-based Core i5 isn't enough for the Radeon HD 6870 to shine in all of our tests at 1920x1080. So, I threw caution to the wind and sought maximum 3D might, ending up with a GeForce GTX 560 Ti in what could otherwise be considered a $290 general-purpose machine.

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  • 1 Hide
    Steveymoo , 7 June 2012 18:06
    There is a slight floibal in BF3, on Ultra settings. Whenever there is a particularly thick patch of smoke/fire on the map that you're playing, and you're using a card with 1gb memory or less, your performance will be completely crippled. Using high settings instead works just fine! Having said that, if you only own a 60hz monitor, you really can build an excellent value PC for a small amount of money these days... Nice build.
  • 1 Hide
    Lfluxx , 7 June 2012 18:31
    This is more like it! A $500 build that is actually $500! Very interesting article though, good job!
  • 1 Hide
    simon12 , 7 June 2012 18:47
    It would be interesting to find the cheapest build to play these games on medium at 1680x1050 for a real bargain gaming PC and then compare it to how much you need to spend on a laptop to get the same performance. This article suggests that the Celeron is fine for gaming with around a 6770, 550Ti, 7770 or lower GPU.
  • 1 Hide
    infernox_01 , 7 June 2012 21:09
    How come games perform better at 1280x1024 than at 1280x720?
  • 2 Hide
    dazz83 , 7 June 2012 22:15
    Hmm just checked prices in UK and if you got a Raedon 6850 instead of the 560TI you could afford to put in a Core i5-2310. Better option?
  • 1 Hide
    bemused_fred , 8 June 2012 05:00
    infernox_01How come games perform better at 1280x1024 than at 1280x720?


    CPU bottlenecks.

    CPU bottlenecks everywhere.
  • 3 Hide
    adi4ro , 10 June 2012 03:01
    hmmm it's not really such a good build in the $500 range... take this for example

    CPU : AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition - $129.99
    Motherboard : GIGABYTE GA-M68MT-S2 $49.99
    GPU : EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 560 - $169.99
    RAM : Patriot Gamer 2 Series 4GB - $24.99
    PC Case : HEC 6C28BBX585 Black Steel ATX - $50
    Hard Drive : Western Digital AV-GP WD3200AUDX 320GB - $69.99

    With a total of $495 which would be a killer for the above build plus if you would go with about 10-15$ more you could get a nice set of G-Skill 8 gb ripjaws at 1600Mhz