BestConfigs Is Back, And Powered By You!

BestConfigs is back, and we're ready to update our pre-defined configurations using the top hardware suggestions presented and voted-on by our community. Use our Tom's Hardware System Builder Facebook app or your BBCode-formatted submission!

Our BestConfigs section is atrociously outdated. We know this, are we’re going to rectify the situation as quickly as possible.

As a quick refresher, BestConfigs is a section of the site with recommended configurations that fit within a specific theme, and duck under a set budget. The last time we updated our nine builds, we used audience-suggested configurations that were presented by our readers and then voted on by the community. A software bug stopped us before we could get each winning configuration posted to the site. But that has since been fixed, and we’re ready to roll again (this time with one addition: a do-it-yourself NAS).

The idea, of course, is to offer a handful of different setups that Tom’s Hardware’s readership would recommend to friends and family looking for an easy-to-find parts list, and then a way to get the best prices on those components.

This time around, we’re going to streamline the process even more. Have you seen the new System Builder app on Facebook? Put your machine of choice together using that, do a BBCode export, and paste into any of the categories defined below. Yes, we’re sensitive to the fact that some of you absolutely despise Facebook, and that’s fine too. Just follow the same BBCode-friendly formatting demonstrated by Joe Pishgar, our community manager, at the start of each thread and submit your favorite combination of hardware.

Don’t factor in shipping and don’t add in the cost of an operating system—not everyone cares to spend big bucks on their software. The prices here are for hardware-only. Do feel free to let your choices be swayed by rebates and combo pricing. Though they’re not always long-lasting, we’re in favor of whatever gets our readers the best deal.

We’re going to leave these forum threads unlocked for two weeks before opening the field up to votes.

Budget Intel-Based Gaming PC
Budget AMD-Based Gaming PC
High-End Intel Gaming PC
Intel-Based Office PC
High-end AMD Gaming PC
AMD-Based Office PC
MicroATX Gaming Build
Home Theater PC
High-End Workstation
Do-It-Yourself NAS

Best regards,

Chris Angelini
Worldwide Editor-in-Chief, Tom’s Hardware