Gaming for Less

[piasabird]

I was reading this article at Tom's Hardware on a $500 Gaming Rig. What they did is go with a G850 processor to save money, and then spend everything leftover on the video card. What do you think about their approach? Is an Intel G850 considered a good CPU alternative for say a low-end computer? They did not include the cost of an Operating System.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...uter,3364.html

$500 Gaming PC System Components

CPU: Intel Pentium G850 (Sandy Bridge): 2.9 GHz Base Clock Rate, No Turbo Boost, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache $70

Heat Sink: Intel Boxed Heat Sink and Fan 0

Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP: LGA 1155, Intel H77 Express $70

RAM : G.Skill Value Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT $34

Graphics: PowerColor AX7850 1GBD5-DH: Radeon HD 7850 1 GB $170

Hard Drive: Western Digital WD3200AAKX: 320 GB, 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
$65

Case: Rosewill Blackbone ATX Mid-Tower $40

Power Supply: Antec VP-450 450 W $36

Optical Drive: LG 24x DVD Burner SATA Model GH24NS90-OEM $16

Total Price $501

[Ken g6]

It's decent. I would make different choices to try to get an i3 CPU. But I wouldn't skimp on the video card.

Motherboard: ASRock B75: $55 - saves $15
RAM: I might drop one DIMM: $17, saves $17
Just drop the optical drive: Saves $16
Then with a good sale on either a case or a PSU I could probably sneak an i3-3220 in there.
Currently: Corsair CX430, $20 AR AP - saves $16

[dpodblood]

It's certainly possible to build a gaming PC for $500. Maybe you wont be able to max everything, but you will still get a better experience than if you were playing on a console. The guys helped spec out a $500 build for me recently. See here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthre...996&highlight=

[Termie]

Originally Posted by Ken g6

It's decent. I would make different choices to try to get an i3 CPU. But I wouldn't skimp on the video card.

Motherboard: ASRock B75: $55 - saves $15
RAM: I might drop one DIMM: $17, saves $17
Just drop the optical drive: Saves $16
Then with a good sale on either a case or a PSU I could probably sneak an i3-3220 in there.
Currently: Corsair CX430, $20 AR AP - saves $16

This.

The Tom's build was OK, but they are hitting price points, and if you're truly limited to $500, that's what you have to do, but the extra $50 spent on an i3 is priceless in terms of gaming performance. The build above drops a few components - that's ok, but I'd just say spend $550 if you can.

The G850 is not a good gaming processor, regardless of what Tom's says.

[frozentundra123456]

Originally Posted by Termie

This.

The Tom's build was OK, but they are hitting price points, and if you're truly limited to $500, that's what you have to do, but the extra $50 spent on an i3 is priceless in terms of gaming performance. The build above drops a few components - that's ok, but I'd just say spend $550 if you can.

The G850 is not a good gaming processor, regardless of what Tom's says.

I agree. I would try to get an i3 at least. Personally, I would even try to come up with the extra 100.00 or so over the pentium to get a low end i5. Then you will know you are set on the CPU side for a while. You can adjust settings for the graphics card or easily upgrade the card down the line, but upgrading the CPU is more of a hassle, plus if your cpu is not up to snuff, there are not many settings to adjust to compensate.

[VirtualLarry]

I might also look into a video card with 2GB of RAM rather than 1GB, depending on the resolution that you want to play at, and the levels of AA that you want to use.

[mfenn]

Yes, an i3 would be better, but I would not sacrifice the 7850 to do it. When given the choice of spending money on the CPU or GPU in a budget gaming rig, you always go for the GPU.

[Charlie98]

This may sound a little nutty, but what about going all out with a 3570K and just using the HD4000 graphics? Would their choice of a 7850 be that much of an improvement?

When I first got my 2500K, I used it to play MW1/2 until I got my GPU... it wasn't anything super-duper but it was playable, I'm assuming the HD4000 graphics are even better?

[lehtv]

HD4000 is terrible for gaming. The 7850 is at least 4 times faster

[Charlie98]

Originally Posted by lehtv

HD4000 is terrible for gaming. The 7850 is at least 4 times faster

...that answers my question!

Which explains...

When given the choice of spending money on the CPU or GPU in a budget gaming rig, you always go for the GPU.

[Insert_Nickname]

Originally Posted by mfenn

Yes, an i3 would be better, but I would not sacrifice the 7850 to do it. When given the choice of spending money on the CPU or GPU in a budget gaming rig, you always go for the GPU.

Exactly. You'd be better of getting a Celeron G530/540/550/555 (sometimes the lower-end models are more expensive then the higher end ones. Counter-intuitive, eh... ) or Pentium G645. Depending on cost, obviously.

[MrK6]

The best "cheap" gaming builds right now are to get an outlet/clearance/special Dell or HP box with an AMD A8 Llano or A10 Trinity for <$300. They're incredibly capable machines and for many folks who I've hooked up with such a deal (generally families with kids) they've been very happy. Tom's $500 is a rough spot because it's room to improve but not enough to hit a homerun which is in the ~$700-800 range. Currently, the way hardware stacks the difference between a $500 and $700 system is staggering as you shed the entry tax (which all DIY have since we can't get OEM discounts) and start putting each new dollar towards better components. For example, $65 gets you a mediocre 320GB HDD, $90 gets you a 3TB storage drive or a 128GB SSD, both are an order of magnitude better for storage or speed, respectively, for $25 more. That's the entry tax.

My advice has always been, if you don't want a $300 entry system like I suggested, save some extra cash and get a $700 monster. The other option is mixing and matching some used and new parts, but obviously a buying guide like Tom's can only include new parts.

[mfenn]

Originally Posted by Charlie98

This may sound a little nutty, but what about going all out with a 3570K and just using the HD4000 graphics? Would their choice of a 7850 be that much of an improvement?

Yes. It's hard to find benchmarks that directly compare the two because they are in such a different league, but we can make some inferences.

The HD4000 is roughly 75% as fast as the GT 440, and that's being charitable. The GT 440 is roughly 20% as fast as the 7850. Doing the math, that means that the HD4000 is roughly 15% as fast as the 7850. Put another way, the 7850 is nearly 7 times faster.

And that's at low resolutions where the HD4000 has a hope to compete given its severe lack of memory bandwidth. The difference will only increase as you increase the resolution.

[Charlie98]

Originally Posted by mfenn

Yes. It's hard to find benchmarks that directly compare the two because they are in such a different league, but we can make some inferences.

The HD4000 is roughly 75% as fast as the GT 440, and that's being charitable. The GT 440 is roughly 20% as fast as the 7850. Doing the math, that means that the HD4000 is roughly 15% as fast as the 7850. Put another way, the 7850 is nearly 7 times faster.

And that's at low resolutions where the HD4000 has a hope to compete given its severe lack of memory bandwidth. The difference will only increase as you increase the resolution.

Very interesting! I never ran (am still not running) at 1920 so that may have helped me. I'm not ready to junk the 560ti and go back to the HD3000, that's for sure.