Budget System Builder’s Guide February 2011
by Zach Throckmorton on February 14, 2011 12:00 AM ESTGPU Upgrades
Our basic builds use integrated graphics, but if you actually want to play games you'll want something more. In the budget range, there are four excellent offerings, three from AMD (formerly ATI) and one from NVIDIA. For performance data, we'll once more refer to Bench, this time using our GPU 2010 and GPU 2011 suites. The CPUs in GPU Bench are much faster than what we're recommending, but once you start increasing detail levels and resolution you'll usually become GPU limited.
The XFX HD-567X-ZNF3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB is an excellent video card that does not require an additional 6-pin PCIe power connector. It’ll set you back $95, but currently has a $30 mail in rebate. This card is capable of playing all available titles, though newer games will have to be set to lower resolutions and settings. The reigning budget gamers' choice is the Radeon HD 5770, which can play just about every title at high resolution with at least some settings set to high. The HIS H577FK1GD is $130 (plus a $30 rebate), which is an exceptional value. It also runs very cool, especially at idle.
The NVIDIA GTX 460 outperforms the Radeon HD 5770 by a bit, but unfortunately pulls substantially more juice. MSI’s N460GTX Cyclone 768D5/OC is available for $150 (minus a $20 rebate) and is a compelling product at this price point. Finally, the Radeon HD 5850 represents the top of the budget-conscious builder’s choices. The Diamond 5850PE51G will set you back $185, plus there's a $20 rebate. It's generally faster than the GTX 460, with similar power requirements.
PSU Upgrades
It should be noted that all of the above video cards are compatible with the AMD and Intel platforms, though pairing the 5770, 460GTX, or 5850 with a quad- or hex-core CPU will likely require a beefier power supply than the Earthwatts 380W. The Antec Earthwatts 500W is $50 after rebate (and sometimes less) and is our recommended step up from the Earthwatts 380W. Note that we're linking the old Earthwatts and not the newer EA-500D; you drop from 80 Plus Bronze to just plain 80 Plus, but you also save $25 and it's still a good PSU.
SSD Upgrades
SSDs offer multiple advantages over mechanical hard drives. First and most noticeably, they’re much faster. Everything from load times of both operating systems and applications, to application installations/patches, to level load times in games, to system power consumption is better with an SSD. Unfortunately, they remain expensive and have relatively small capacities. Generally, pairing an SSD with a high capacity storage mechanical disk provides the best of both worlds, though this is not always necessary.
Multiple manufacturers offer appealing SSDs; the two top controllers of late are from SandForce and Intel, though the Crucial C300, Indilinx, and even Toshiba controllers also have merit. The next year will bring us Intel’s third generation SSDs, and second generation parts from SandForce, Crucial, and Indilinx. For now, the Intel G2 drives are widely considered more reliable than non-Intel offerings—though this might simply be due to the tendency of tinkerers and tweakers to go with non-Intel SSDs!
For the budget conscious, the 40GB Intel SSD is a bit less than $100, while the Intel 80GB SSD checks in around $170. Note the 80GB version has substantially higher write speeds, but writes are not nearly as important as reads for an OS/app drive. OCZ’s Vertex 2 line includes SSDs of numerous capacities, with the 60GB model going for $105 after $15 rebate, and the 120GB drive coming in at just $177 (after $30 rebate). Corsair’s Force line also earns praise from users, and like OCZ, their SSDs are available at many capacities under $200, but are typically slightly more expensive than the OCZ drives. The good news is that even the "slow" SSDs are still substantially faster than even the fastest desktop HDDs (outside of the sequential write metric).
Other Storage Upgrades
While 500GB mechanical drives are cheap at $40 (or less), higher capacity drives are available for not much more. Samsung’s Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200RPM can sometimes be found for $60 or less, and is a forum favorite at AnandTech because of its performance. Another option is Hitachi’s 1TB 7200RPM, currently available for a mere $55. The advent of very high density platters for mechanical hard drives has allowed manufacturers to start marketing "green drives", mechanical hard drives that spin at less than the established mainstream 7200RPM but don’t suffer a crippling performance loss. These green drives run cooler and use less electricity than 7200RPM drives and make for great, cheap mass storage solutions. 1TB green drives usually hover around $60 (and can be found on sale for less), with 2TB green drives often available at $80. Whether you go with Seagate, Samsung, or Western Digital is really a matter of personal preference and price. Finally, if you're looking for Blu-ray support, you can swap out the DVDRW and get a BRD combo drive starting at $60—only $40 more than our stock DVDRW.
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DLimmer - Wednesday, February 16, 2011 - link
Very good guide. I feel that my thoughts aligned closely with Zach's.I agree, Core unlocking isn't a sure thing, but the opportunity to unlock to 3 or 4 cores is very attractive and probably should be mentioned.
Recently created my own system for storage and video transcoding using the following:
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (unlocked to 4 cores) = 955
ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Motherboard
Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W 80+ Bronze
Antec Two Hundred(v2) Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
I spent a little extra on Memory and Hard drives:
Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Memory
WD Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
4x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 2TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
I considered the ASUS 380 Earthwatts and the 500 Earthwatts, but chose the TruePower due to its modular design. The 500W would be a little low if I upgraded to a more powerful video card than an old one I had from a retired system.
trogthefirst - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
As a long time Intel user (E2140) and after the whole SB mess i decided to go with my wallet and hit this awesome $190 965BE + MSI 870A-G54http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMD...
paired with my just arrived HD 6950 i cannot believe how a nicely priced machine from 'the other' chip maker makes way much sense! Good article but i have to go with the other dude about Toms SBM - particularly their Dec 2010 $500 SBM : now thats a killer price/performance little monster if i ever saw one!
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-ove...
HangFire - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Good article. Like the Delta-built P/S recommendation. I made something very similar a few months ago, but I went for a Seasonic-built Corsair 400CX (no longer available) and a closeout 550BE, that both unlocks and overclocks like a dream. I got all components on sale or at MicroCenter. This month I just added a TD/EVGA/Smith 9800GT for $49.99 delivered, a little dated for gaming but overkill for my Linux needs. The final result makes the Intel tax, well, very taxing indeed.However you forgot the cost of the power supply cable. It's not included with the EarthWatts. Since this is a new build, it might be too much to assume that one is lying around- just like other sites forget in their builder's guides that Windows 7 actually costs money.
OK, that's a small niggle. Welcome aboard, Zach.
HangFire - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
Web update issues?shamans33 - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - link
You can save $15 by going with a 760G chipset motherboard. The integrated graphics won't be as powerful but maybe it's just for everyday task use.Also, the PSU can even be more budget as well...I doubt that most people would break the 200W barrier.
Additionally, a budget build often benefits from going with a SFF case/mobo/psu. Less demanding users tend to place a larger premium on the footprint occupied by the system (and/or noise from it).
I think there needs to be recommendations for a budget build aimed at the Mini-ITX size. A bonus is that many Mini-itx motherboards come with wifi features.
JarredWalton - Friday, February 18, 2011 - link
We're hoping to have a guide for the mATX and mini ITX crowd in the near future. We'll look at other options for cutting down costs and power, but you'll probably lose performance on some of the builds (i.e. Brazos E-350).infoilrator - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - link
The problem with smaller form factors is you lose performance per dollar and easy upgrades. Quality parts made smaller often cost more. And more to replace.The Sandy Bridge I3 may change that but it seems unlikely. If you know of an $500 build as good as those listed please list it here. Including wifi is an easy option.
SOmetimes small is better and all you need is all you need. For me I like the advantages of a mid tower build. Including wifi makes sense since mostly there are only two expansion slots. Put a video card in one, and you have ONE choice.
L. - Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - link
Just sayin', but if you're going for a cheap system and you're ready to shell out 100 bucks for an SSD, you need to forget the SSD and get a real Graphics board instead, which in turn will make you buy a Corsair PSU, then to justify it all you trash the CPU, get a real phenom II, some decent RAM and hey .. you're still below 800 and you've got 50% more 3dmarks.Also, geez cut the crap with this ugly screen, there are 22" full Hd pannels for around 200, get a real screen, watch x264 1080p and be happy (yes this is a much more important upgrade than SSD or even the better Graphics board).
Really, considering the usual value of information on Anandtech this builder's guide is surprisingly bad.
Also, you may contact me if you want me to write the next one, I'm kind of interested in that stuff anyway.
So, without optimizing and not including a windows license (we all have one already anyways, don't we ?), here's a little joke to show how much more you can get for 800 bucks.
All on the egg:
Antec 300 (i hate it but hey .. I don't have time to find a better alternative - and there are many) (55)
WD Caviar Green 1 TB (yes that's much better than a samsung hdd and you don't get an ssd if you go cheap computer) (59.99)
AOC E2243FW (they make monitors really ? anyway that's a led backlit full had 21.5" monitor) (154.99)
Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H (yay USB3, SATA6 and some decent pcie action) (89.99)
Gigabyte GV-R6870OC (yes, I like Gigabyte and there's a reason for that, it works) (229.99)
Corsair Builder (cheap) series CX430 (more than enough for this build although It's really cheap) (44.99)
G.Skill 4GB ddr3-1600 (cheap choice but hey.) (47.99) - i'd definitely look further to choose a nice overclockable model rather than the first cheapest on newegg .. but hey this is just to demonstrate
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE (3.2ghz, 125W I don't like it that much but it's cheap and OC-able) (139.99)
Total : 822.88
After Mail-in rebates (as counted in your example cuz Antec300 comes @ 45) : 782.88
And I'd bet my shirt this setup fares so much better in every situation, including movie viewing and gaming.
Of course if you're going to overclock (which is the main interest in a cheap system) I would suggest getting a decent Corsair PSU like mine (something along the lines of HX750 - can't remember precisely).