Holiday 2011 Midrange System Buyer's Guide
by Zach Throckmorton on December 6, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
- AMD
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- Llano
- Holiday 2011
- midrange
- NVIDIA
Final thoughts
As I discussed in the introduction, I think now is a particularly good time to spend $1000 or so on a PC that's suited for the long haul. That is, the systems outlined in this guide are likely to be more capable in 2016 than 2006's PCs are today, for a number of reasons. I also want to stress how much of an improvement to your overall computing experience an SSD yields, and unless you absolutely must spend more money on lots of storage space or a GPU, a $1000 PC without an SSD is a shame in my opinion.
The three PCs outlined in this guide represent a wide range of cost (the Intel Core i7-2600K system is fully 50% more expensive than the AMD A8-3850 rig) and capability (the Intel Core i5-2500K box is a much more capable gamer than the AMD A8-3850 setup). The fun of a midrange build is also the biggest challenge—you have to think about and identify what the PC will be used for, and then buy parts accordingly. During the holidays, it is especially useful to identify many potential purchases and then watch for ephemeral sales. Just remember to send in your rebates on time!
You might also have noticed that we skipped out on keyboards, mice, displays, and speakers for these builds. Those areas tend to move quite a bit slower than the rest of the PC market, and you can find our opinions on displays and keyboards in our Back to School Guide--not much has changed as far as recommendations. For keyboards and mice, grab what you're comfortable using; Microsoft and Logitech offerings are always a safe bet, though some users prefer fancier hardware.
You can always visit AnandTech's Hot Deals forum for tips and information on especially low component prices. And our General Hardware forum is a great resource where you can ask fellow enthusiasts for advice about which specific components are best suited for your specific needs.
Happy Holidays!
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cjs150 - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
Got admit I like the 2500K system.Anyhow I like Micro-atx boards, I just cannot think what to include in a normal build which needs all the slots of a full ATX board.
If you want the dubious pleasures of SLI/Crossfire fine (but why not use a single card with dual GPUs).
Would be more happy when the old PCI slots are fazed out and only PCIe slots are in.
As a water cooling fanboy I am intending to use the Fractal cases for next build so I definitely approve
TerdFerguson - Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - link
Great comment. You're the guy I"d want building my machine. For that matter, you're the guy I'd want writing the articles. THanksslippyrocks - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
llano cpu is equal to an ancient athlon ii x4llano cpu is smoked by the $70 sandy bridge pentium would that not make more sense on the low end
gfx w/ hdmi are included on-chip sandy bridge
or HD 6450 cost $40 right now for more fps
$20 ar corsair CX400v2 will power most any setup
go with the cheapest ssd c400 or vertex 3 they are both good and proven
cheaper mechanical drives can still be found on sale <$80 1TB
llano never made sense to me outside of laptops your are paying more for less
shivoa - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
On the 2500K system you specified a 60GB SSD and back-up spinning drive (as games hit 20GB installs the advice to only put OS and apps on the SSD makes sense). Obviously these aren't being budgeted as totally gaming focussed boxes (maybe there is a case for waiting for a die shrink on buying a gaming box right now, unless the mainstream well priced cards take a while to release or hit these value prices for great performance) but I think no mention of SRT is amiss here.Unless there are details I haven't read about, then SRT seems like an ideal option for a light gaming rig with a 60GB SSD to provide those 50%+ faster load times in games that the Anand benchmarks indicated when looking at what a basic 40GB SSD could do with SRT. The OS and common apps should be picked up by the caching and so be close to SSD speeds for any large reads and as the i7 rig is the one designed for processing intensive tasks the low write speeds probably wouldn't be a major issue. My experience with SRT is rather positive for a gaming focussed machine.
Calin - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
"You might also have noticed that we skipped out on keyboards,"I'm still using at home a AT keyboard (with adapter), so decent keyboards do indeed last a long time (and in many cases, old keyboards feel better than many new ones)
WiZARD7 - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
There is no VGA in the 1200$ system?WiZARD7 - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
I can't read, it writes:"You lose the ability to game as this PC has no discrete video card (and the integrated Intel graphics are not gaming-level). "
sorry.
Bty - Tuesday, December 6, 2011 - link
AMD's HD 7000 series should come out in the not-too-distant future, but we can't share any details on where those will rank right now.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
antef - Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - link
Yeah, does this mean they do know where they will rank but just can't share it yet?Mathieu Bourgie - Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - link
Well, AMD did announce that they would launch the 7xxx this year and with less than 3 weeks before Christmas, the launch could any day now.Usually, reviewers get several days, if not 1-2 weeks+ to test products, so Ryan could very well be testing some Radeon HD 7xxx cards as I write this ;)
Thing is, all reviewers who get products before launch have to sign a NDA (Non disclosure agreement), which prohibits them from talking about any specifics/performance regarding the product.
Assuming that he is, the question here is: Which 7xxx cards is it? The higher-end ones (a la 6950/6970), mainstreams ones (a la 6850/6870) or lower-end ones?
Only time will tell. Hopefully sooner than later :D