System Buyer’s Guide: $1700 Performance Midrange
by Mike Jones and Jarred Walton on May 12, 2010 4:52 AM ESTBase System Components
Here's a recap of the common system components.
| Common System Components | ||||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
Estimated Shipping |
Rebate |
| Cooling | COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus | $27 | $3 | |
| Video | Gigabyte HD 5850 1GB (OC) | $310 | $8 | |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3-1600 F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL | $110 | ||
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB WD1001FALS | $100 | ||
| Optical Drive | LG BD/HD DVD 10X BD read/16x DVD read/write UH10LS20 - OEM | $105 | ||
| Case | Cooler Master Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Mid-Tower | $80 | $10 | |
| Power Supply | Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750w 80 PLUS Certified SLI/CrossFire Ready | $110 | ($20) | |
If you’re interested in overclocking—or if you’re a builder simply looking for a quieter cooling solution than the retail fan—the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus is tough to beat in the performance midrange segment. With its single 120mm PWM fan operating between 600-2000 RPM, the Hyper 212 offers nearly silent operation at light loads (down to 13dBA), and manages to move an impressive 76.8 CFM at a fairly quiet 32 dBA maximum. Its four heatpipes make direct contact with the processor, facilitating rapid transfer of thermal energy, and it includes clips for mounting a second fan should you desire even more airflow. At $30 including a fan, it’s a great buy, and it works with both 1156 and AM3.
Continuing the theme of high performance/high value, the G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB DDR3-1600 CAS 9 kit—featured February’s PCs for Under $1000 guide—remains a compelling a choice, with a high bang for the buck ratio. Running at a low 1.5v, and reportedly solid overclockers, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better DDR3 solution in this price range. They also come with a lifetime warranty. Dropping down to DDR3-1333 (not that it won't likely overclock to DDR3-1600 speeds anyway) will only save about $7, so it's really not worth your time in our opinion.
The video card of choice for this system is the aforementioned factory overclocked Gigabyte Radeon HD 5850 1GB. As noted in last fall’s 5850 article, this part is the value alternative to the potent 5870, delivering between 85% and 90% of the performance of the larger card (depending on resolution) for roughly 80% of the money. Moreover, as prices on the GTX285 have remained significantly higher—despite the superior performance of the DirectX 11 5850—and a $30 or more premium seems too much to ask for the 2%-8% performance gains offered by the GTX 470, NVIDIA does not at present threaten the 5850’s value position. In short, the 5850 occupies a sweet spot in the desktop graphics card market, and doesn’t appear to have a direct competitor. It offers a ton of performance and, though not cheap, it appears to be the card to beat in the performance value segment. This particular card—with its GPU overclocked a mild 40MHz from the factory—delivers slightly upgraded performance for the same price as a stock card, or less. If you don't care about gaming, obviously you can downgrade to a number of less expensive GPUs.
The Corsair 750TX—another carryover from last year’s performance midrange system—is still a strong bargain, with a final cost of $90 after rebate. It has an impressive feature set—including a single 60A 12V rail—is 80 PLUS Certified, and SLI and CrossFire ready. It continues to enjoy a sterling reputation as a stable, quiet power supply, and offers some headroom for future system upgrades down the line. While you could certainly build this system with a smaller power supply—many manufacturers recommend a 500W minimum for the 5850—the 750TX is such a strong value, and a solid power supply is such an essential component to system stability, that it remains an easy choice here.
Those looking to run a lower spec PSU with a single GPU will be fine with the little brother of our recommended PSU, the CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W. Priced at $50 (with a $10 MIR), it should be more efficient when your system is idle while still providing enough juice for the 5850. If you are thinking about going the Clarkdale route and/or a less powerful GPU, then we'd definitely recommend the 400W PSU as a more sensible choice. Just don't try running SLI/CrossFire setups.
Though the time for suggesting the purchase of an SSD boot/OS disk in this segment appears to be drawing closer, prices just aren’t there yet for most of us. In the meantime, builders will certainly be satisfied with the tried-and-true Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s. It has earned a reputation as a reliable drive, and consistently outperforms other 1TB 7200RPM drives in benchmarking. There are less expensive alternatives, however, and, if you don’t mind a slight drop-off in drive performance—unnoticeable for most users—this is a good part to look for on the cheap. 1TB 7200RPM drives are available from all of the major manufacturers for $80 or less.
For those of you that prefer faster random access times (useful for loading multiple apps at once), SSDs start at around $100 for a 32GB model. It won't offer the raw performance of the top SSDs, but for random access it will still be an order of magnitude faster than a conventional HDD. Really it's a question of balancing priorities, and you can go many different routes with a budget of $1000+.
Though Blu-Ray burners continue to be too expensive to recommend for this segment, the capability to read them is a must have in the performance segment. The good news is that the prices of Blu-Ray/DVD combo drives have fallen to the point that $105 buys you an LG UH10LS20 with 10X BD read speeds and 16X DVD burns. If you require Blu-Ray burning capability, an LG WH1LS30 can be had for around $160. Naturally, if you have no interest in Blu-ray you can swap this drive out for pretty much any DVDRW and save $80...which as many have pointed out in the comments is enough to get you very close to adding a small OS+Apps SSD like the OCZ Onyx.
Rounding out the base system is the case. There was a lot to like about the Cooler Master Storm Scout when we recommended it for last year’s performance midrange system, as it brought a lot to the table for $100. Today? Checking in at $80, that same case is a serious bargain and, because it offers a lot without breaking the bank, it seems like a proper home for the performance midrange system. It offers quiet, effective cooling courtesy of 1 x 120mm and 2 x 140mm fans, screw-less design, a control panel for adjusting LEDs and fan speed, eSATA, USB and audio connectivity via a top-mounted I/O panel, and even a carrying handle should you require some mobility out of your desktop. It also offers plenty of room for your peripherals, offering five 5.25” and six 3.5” drive bays. The style might be a bit flashy for some—the handle, red LEDs and overall military-tech feel skew a bit toward the LAN party crowd—and more conservative builders might prefer a more buttoned-up option. For those users, we suggest looking at the Lancool PC-K56, a quiet and well-designed steel case by the highly regarded Lian Li, available for the same price.
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Benoit_P - Friday, May 14, 2010 - link
To the Anandtech team:I wish you would update the "Sub-1000$ System Guide" given the latest AMD cpu and chipset release.
BP
Belard - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Maybe back 10~12 years ago, $1700 could be considered a mid-range computer... but not today.What I consider:
$400~500 = Office / basic computers (does Word, internet just fine) - AMD typical X2 CPU.
$600~700 = Basic Gaming system with a 5600 or 5700 series video card and a sub $100 AMD CPU.
$700~999 = Mid-Range gaming PC... this CAN be a system with a 5850 card, easily.
$1000~$1800 = top end, dual video card systems for uber gamers.
Also $700~1200 for higher end desktop systems with hybrid drive arrangements (SSD boot & application drive + HDD for games & data).
In the real world, as shown on this site and others. The difference in gaming performance between a $65 AMD X2 CPU and a $950 i7-Quad is about 25% when both are using a top end video card. Go with a $150~180 AMD X4 CPU - and that difference in performance is closer to 5~10% slower.
Rather pocket the money, put it towards an SSD or bigger monitor, go out on a date, etc.
justaviking - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
This was a PERFORMANCE Midrange buyer's guide, not a midrange "value" or "budget" system. As such, there is still lots of opportunity to spend more money, even without it turning into a "dream" system.Notice it has an i5, not an i7 Intel CPU.
Notice it has a $310 graphics card, not a $500 graphics card.
Notice it has 4GB of memory, not 8.
Notice it has a Bluray player, not a burner.
There has been some good debate, especially about Bluray and SSD trade offs. But take a chill pill. There's no need to be hostile. No need to be defensive. I'll bet no two people at AnandTech even agree on one of these articles.
racerx_is_alive - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
This falls pretty squarely in the Midrange Gaming PC category. Probably not a midrange PC in general, but it matches up pretty well pricewise with other guides across the internet. For example at Tom's Hardware, they have 3 Gaming builds: Budget at $750, Midrange at $1500, and Extreme at $3000. So $1700 isn't out of line for a midrange build. I don't think this system gives you the best bang for your buck necessarily, but that's another topic completely.That being said, I agree with the blu-ray/SSD comments above. At this time, I don't see how a blu-ray drive is necessary in anything other than HTPC builds.
Krofojed - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Blu-ray makes it possible for your computer to do something that it otherwise couldn't - namely watch blu-ray movies. SSD does no such thing, although I have no doubt that it's a nice thing to have. I'm not saying the suggested configuration is optimal (and I'm not saying it isn't), but choosing blu-ray over SSD is hardly a reason for apoplexy.GullLars - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Considering it's a "Performance midrange" and not a "high-end HTPC", an SSD for os + (core) apps makes a lot more sense. The system will always feel snappy, and all programs will load nearly instantly even if you multitask like crazy and copy files while doing a virus scan. Even during light disk impacting multitasking (virus scan, updates, or file copy in the background while attempting to interact with the system), a WD black will slow to a crawl.I would, whitout any doubt, list BD as an optional upgrade if you intent to watch BD movies on the PC. If not, it's a notable waste of money, and is a piece of hardware that will serve no purpose most of the time.
32GB is enough for Windows 7 (64bit, any edition), office suite, other "office" type apps, antivirus, HTPC type apps, and small usefull programs (i have done this on 3 computers, so i'd know). For a couple of larger apps (like CS4 suite), 40GB should be enough. For a higher number of larger apps and app suites, an 80GB SSD could be considered if placing the least used large apps on a short-stroke partition on a "green" HDD doesn't yield acceptable performance for those apps.
I use 64GB for OS + apps + games myself, and my best friend also does so. A third friend uses 80GB, and i helped a girl i know set up a 40GB for W7 + apps. None of them have complained about space, but loved the speed and said "It was totally worth it" and "i'm never going back to HDD for OS".
wicko - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
I could never, with a straight face, recommend getting a bluray reader. Just for the sole reason that pretty much all bluray playback software is garbage, and you'd be better off getting a bluray burner (perhaps when they are more affordable) or a dedicated bluray player. Unless you absolutely need a bluray reader, I think we could all do without it. Bluray burner makes more sense, 25GB+ data discs can be incredibly useful. Same with bluray authoring. But playback, until we see open source playback software I can't recommend paying for bluray playback software.Jediron - Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - link
I don't need a blueray player to watch blueray, what a silly idea...loldarckhart - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
1700 is NOT midrange. "performance" moniker or not.GeorgeH - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Firstly, the article format and layout are excellent and vast improvements over past articles. You've done a lot of work there and it shows.Secondly, the build in the article isn't bad at all, but here's how I'd do it:
1) Drop the BluRay. Unless you're watching BluRay's on your PC (why?) or ripping them to a media server, it's a pointless expense and people who know they need one can figure it out on their own. Savings: ~$90.
2) Stick with the OEM CPU cooler. From the other components this isn't going to be a silent build, and the people who are going to overclock should know enough to figure out what they want. Savings: ~$30.
3) Go with higher quality 2.1 speakers. 5.1 is great for headphones, but setting up 5 speakers around the typical PC station is a PITA that typically yields substandard results when compared to a quality 2.1 setup unless you're an audio geek. Savings: ~$0.
4) Get a cheaper ~400-500W PSU. 750W is incredible overkill for this build. Savings: ~$40.
5) $310 is too much for a video card for all but an incredibly small subset of the population. With 95% of AAA titles being console ports that can easily be played maxed out on a <$200 video card, the days of beastly PC cards like the 5850 being all that relevant are over for the time being. Savings: ~$110.
I just saved you $300 without even trying hard. Buy some games, upgrade your monitor and case so they'll last for your next build, or just pocket the difference.