$500

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1. 

   Red M@ | April 11, 2009 8:51 am

   CPU – I’ve heard good things about the Phenom II X3 720. From what I’ve read, the per-core performance is almost identical, but you essentially get an extra core at $5 less. Apparently they both overclock similarily as well.

   http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-phenom-ii-x3-720_11.html

   The problem with the Phenom II in this build, is that it may increase the mobo price considerably; I’m not sure what’s available, but the Phenom II is a much newer chip than the Core 2.

   Mobo – I’m a little leery of cheep motherboards, but I think Foxconn is a pretty good brand.

   Case – Great choice, I have used CoolerMaster Centurion cases on several builds; they get great airflow through the metal mesh used for the front panels.

   Power Supply – Also great choice. Agreed on the importance of a quality power supply. Seen my dad’s and brother’s home-built pcs go through several PSUs (even brands like Thermaltake).

   RAM – Prices on DDR2 are rediculous these days! I’m surprised anyone with a $1000 budget wouldn’t max out four slots.

   Video Card – I’m a nVidia guy myself, but the latest batch of ATI cards must be pretty popular in this price range – I’ve seen alot of builds with them.

   All in all, a really nice build, and especially impressive at the price.

   [Reply]

2. 

   Mathieu | April 11, 2009 9:13 am

   @Red M@

   Indeed, the Phenom II X3 720 is a terrific chip, available at a great price. I saw the benchmarks about two weeks ago, I was thinking to make a system around it, but then I saw the platform cost, which is quite high, due to the motherboard as you guessed.

   Basically, with platforms costs, it’s not the E7500 which faces the Phenom II X3 720, but an higher model, which is then faster than the AMD chip. When it comes to designing systems, I need to factor in the cost of everything.

   I also understand your position regarding the motherboard; a lot of people are used to full size, fully fledged ATX motherboard with a mainstream/high-end chipset, with a higher price tag. “You get what you pay for.”

   Well let’s get facts straight, while this motherboard won’t beat speed records, nor overclock insanely, it’s based on a G31 chipset, from Intel still and allows for a very nice system, while being inexpensive, which allowed me to put more money toward other parts, to increase the overall performance.

   As for the RAM, yeah the prices of RAM are very low, which is great for us customers. However, for gaming, there’s no need for over 4GB of RAM yet, unless you go in the very high-end, with the X58/Core i7 platform, where 6GB (3×2GB triple-channel) is a great solution.

   You simply won’t see any difference in FPS, as no games that I know of uses close to/over 4GB of RAM. Google 4GB vs 8GB gaming benchmarks and you’ll see what I mean.

   I guess you could say, get 8GB to be future proof, but quite frankly, why should I sacrifice present performance for future theoretical performance? Keep in mind that I only have a limited budget of $500 here. I’d rather use the money on something else to increase performance now.

   Personally, neither an AMD/Nvidia/Intel/etc. guy. I just like bang for the buck. ATI happens to be competitive right now and I believe they offer the best card to fit within this budget. As simple as that.

   Thanks for your feedback =)

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3. 

   Matthew | April 11, 2009 10:48 am

   Honestly would not recommend a Foxconn board, they are cheap for a reason.. you can get an ECS or Gigabyte board for about $10-15 more that won’t let you down. Worth the investment in my opinion, everything else looks great though! I haven’t gone to the intel core 2 duo’s yet simply because they are super expensive and most of the dual and quad cores have ridiculously low clock speeds for the type of processing power I need.

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4. 

   charlie | April 11, 2009 2:12 pm

   I really enjoyed reading this as I’m planning on building a new computer on a similar budget soon. Great post!

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5. 

   Marlin | April 11, 2009 11:45 pm

   @ Matthew
   Dell uses Foxconn to manufacture MB’s in some of their systems
   I’ve built quite a few systems using Foxconn boards and haven’t had any issues. The reviews in Newegg for this board are actually pretty good for a budget board.

   I usually agree with the adage that you get what you pay for and will spend a bit more by going with name brand RAM and a quality power supply, but I also read reviews and partially base my buying decisions on those as well.

   It never ceases to amaze me how much prices have come down in recent years, my first PC in 1988 cost over $1500 and only had 512K of RAM, a 5.25 Floppy Drive and no Hard Drive, if I remember correctly a 150 MB HDD cost around $5000. Hell, it was only about 10 yrs ago when RAM cost around $1/MB and I thought that was a steal! now one can purchase 4 GB for under $20!, truly amazing times we’re living in.

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6. 

   Robert | April 12, 2009 1:16 am

   I’m a tech at a local shop in Tacoma (and I know that means next to nothing, buuut) – all our systems are AMD and our budget systems use Gigabyte M61PME (the newer revision with solid state caps). The Phenom II 720 is our “mid range” system with 4 gigs of super talent DDR2 800, and it’s quite amazing. We use sparkle 400s, but these don’t have video cards going into them usually.

   To my point – the Phenom II 720 is a 95w chip, which means it’ll work on *any* AM2 board, +, AM3 or vanilla AM2. It’ll work well too, since the change to the newer chipset is negligible if price is a problem – it’s just not worth more cash for performance unless it’s the last upgrade path for an $8-900 build.

   I think any $500 system should consider the tri core and a good AM2 board over Intel, since we’ve (the shop) decided every few months to not switch if not only for consistency (everytime we try a new motherboard for our systems it includes some kind of drama – like the ATI version of Gigabytes board… ugh), then for price. AMD beats Intel in the price competition we’ve found time and time again.

   I also hate seeing an ATI card in there, but that’s from personal experience being burned on every ATI product I’ve bought thanks to their lovely drivers (like the gigabyte ATI equivalent to the M61 will *NOT* work on XP, which is the primary OS we use). From my old 9700 Pro not working with Doom 3 to my laptops 2600XT playing pretty much any new game. To each his own, but I wouldn’t touch ATI with a 20 foot pole. Still, price is valid and if you don’t mind putting up with crappy drivers then they’re awesome $/performance.

   This ended up going far too long, oh well, my main point was you should look over the tri cores again, they’re amazing and work in like I said any AM2 board.

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7. 

   Jason | April 12, 2009 10:25 am

   Fantastic post, thank you for taking the time. I feel the same about prevent people buying off the shelf numbers that have rubbish inside them. I hate to see them ripped off.

   How about posting some benchmarks. You could also explain any bottlenecks on the Benchmark and recommend suitable hardware to aliviate the bottleneck. ;o)

   For the benchmarking you could look out for a bootable Linux Distro that will let you benchmark. This way you would not have to spend a few hours installing the OS of your choise just to get a Benchmark tool to run.

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8. 

   RatFink | April 12, 2009 11:24 am

   While I think having these price guides are great. Please stop including rebates into the price of these parts. Having to outlay $600 for this $500 computer with the chance of being re-reimbursed 2 months later for the difference is just silly. You may as well make a $1 computer and instruct the reader to put it in a slot machine to win $1000 to buy the parts.

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9. 

   Sean | April 12, 2009 10:50 pm

   I think the choices are good but one thing you overlooked is the Operating system.
   Your going to have to shell out at least $89 for vista x64
   Unless you want to use a linux distro but who games with linux?

   [Reply]

10. 

    Mathieu | April 12, 2009 11:43 pm

    @Matthew: Why would you not recommend Foxconn? Give us a valid reason please.

    Core 2 Duo cpus are expensive??? They start under $100. Ridiculously low clock speeds? Right… For your requirements? May I ask what are your requirements?

    @Charlie: Glad to hear you liked the post!

    @Marlin: I couldn’t agree more with reading reviews. They say a lot about the quality of a product and I would recommend to anyone to read them before buying a product! Then again, I take them with a grain of salt, as some complaints/”products problems” are due to the customer’s lack of knowledge sometimes.

    @Robert: You just helped me remember that AM3 chips are indeed backward compatible with AM2 motherboards! I remember reading about this(On Anandtech I believe) and I totally forgot about this.

    Makes me wonder why AMD/partners don’t do more to let us know?! Oh wait, they are pushing out new boards. Ah, so much for caring for their customers sometimes…

    I’ll update this system soon then.

    @Jason: I’d love to post benchmarks, but that would require me to buy and assemble said PC. Two problems:
    1- I don’t have the resources (Money & Time)
    2- Computer parts prices being what they are, I would have to update the benchmarks every week, as I update the system. No way I could manage to do that alone.

    If I were to run benchmarks though, I’d simply use a drive image on a benchmark hard drive and put back a fresh copy of the image every time. Way less time-expensive!

    @RatFink: Good point, up for a debate with the newest poll on the blog 3 for, 3 against as I’m writing this.

    @Sean: The designs I post are for the PC itself, whatever is hardware (read: physical). When it comes to the OS, some people already have their copies and some uses pirated copies. My point is:
    A- It’s not hardware.
    B- Not everyone will need it.

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11. 

    Jeremy | April 13, 2009 12:11 am

    I have to say…this is a pretty lousy “gaming pc” post. No offense, but I can build double the specs for the same price. Matter of fact…I am doing it right now. Quad Core CPU, GeForce VC, 10x the mobo, and better 4gb of ram. Although Newegg IS a great company to shop from, I have found Tigerdirect is the better choice for the best prices for quality. I have been a gamer for a long time and I have built many gaming rigs. Radeon is a bad choice for gaming. I don’t mean to start a fuss but you should rethink this post and use actual “gaming” specs. You have built a decent media machine but that’s about it.
    Well, except for the power supply, that’s a good choice. Although brand names are over-priced in this category. Sorry for the negative feedback, I couldn’t resist.

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12. 

    Mathieu | April 13, 2009 12:48 am

    @Jeremy: I welcome any kind of feedback, positive or negative.

    However, don’t go claiming something without any form of proof. Build double the specs for the same price? Care to share your secrets with us?

    TigerDirect have the best choice/prices? I highly doubt it. When I started this blog, I was recommending TigerDirect and I ended up switching to NewEgg after various feedbacks and from seeing better prices/choice over at NewEgg. I even considered Amazon recently, only to stick to NewEgg again. 9 times out of 10, their prices are better and I keep hearing good things about their shipping and customer service.

    I did a quick comparison:
    Intel E7500:
    NewEgg: $139.99
    TigerDirect:: $149.99

    Radeon 4870:
    NewEgg:$134.99
    TigerDirect:$159.99

    I also notice that NewEgg have a larger variety in brands.

    Radeon is bad for gaming? And why is that?

    You do mean to start a fuzz, but have no concrete(read: Facts/Proofs) to back it up…Sorry for the reply, I couldn’t resist your case

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13. 

    RatFink | April 13, 2009 2:16 am

    “Radeon is a bad choice for gaming. I don’t mean to start a fuss but you should rethink this post and use actual “gaming” specs. You have built a decent media machine but that’s about it.”

    You know what they say opinions are like…. The facts are that the HD4870 outclasses about anything NVidia has out lower then the GTX-260 and even that is a dead heat. Some put it slightly above, others put it slightly below, but even with that it costs $20-30 more. For a solid performance jump you are left with the GTX 280 which is half the budget of the computer alone. Anything less and you are just lying to yourself.

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14. 

    Marlin | April 13, 2009 6:35 pm

    @Jeremy
    Double the specs for the same price, really?
    so you’re saying that for $510.92 you can buld a Intel Core 2 Quad, Dual GPU GeForce GTX-260,8 GB of RAM, two 640 GB HDDs in RAID 0,a 1KW Power Supply, and I’m sure this includes a Blu-Ray Burner as well, right?

    We are all eagerly waiting for your reply with the links to these parts, as I’ve been to Tigerdirect and haven’t been able to locate these low prices you mention.

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15. 

    kungfaux | April 14, 2009 1:16 am

    Jeremy=EPIC FAILURE

    Nice post…and nice machine…except the mobo, I think I’d spend just a few more buckaroos for an extra pci slot or two…gonna bookmark this page for future reference

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16. 

    Robert | April 14, 2009 4:31 am

    Mathieu – there’s actually a LOT of myth and misunderstanding surrounding the boards.

    We were using the Gigabytes with 9950s for a long time until one came back for locking up and a solid 4 days of 3 technicians scratching their head trying to figure it out, before it dawned on us the voltage was off.

    I personally think it should be shout from the mountain tops the voltage and socket support, since it woiuld have saved well over 40 total man hours spent banging our head against a wall – not to mention all the 9950s we took back or better (ASUS) motherboards that had 140w support went out with them. It sucked.

    Price for price, though, the new phenoms are crazy. I have a 940 at 4.25ghz going through a custom loop made out of a bonneville heatercore and it’s just nuts, I hear the II 720’s are great OCers too.

    I sort of agree with the anti ATI stuff, simply because of the bad, bad things I’ve experienced with them, but again if you can deal with tweaking your drivers or getting new ones every other day, and downgrading when a new game won’t play with the latest drivers… etc., etc. it’s genrally a lot cheaper to go ATI.

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17. 

    Robert | April 14, 2009 4:40 am

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Jeremy – thermaltake are overpriced?

    The only power supply I’ve seen that didn’t suck and are cheap:

    Thermaltake
    Sparkle
    Rosewill

    You don’t pay for the name with a toughpower PSU, you pay $40-50 and get a rock solid 5-600w psu. What more do you want?

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18. 

    ramiam | April 15, 2009 4:37 pm

    Check out this build too, which is similarly priced, but based on the AMD Phenom X4 processor. http://game-central.org/2009/editorials/how-to-build-a-sub-500-gaming-pc/

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19. 

    jwpowers5 | April 16, 2009 10:36 pm

    While this is a decent deal, there is always the option of using a few older parts, and even used parts.
    I used ebay with a few other sources to build a great pc for cheap! These prices include shipping…
    AMD athlon x2 4850 (2.62ghz barely overclocked) $49 ebay
    ECS elite group motherboard with geforce 7150 $45 ebay
    4gb corsair (think same as here)GREAT DEAL $20 amazon
    nVidia Geforce 9800GX2 trade w/games for my 360 $150-200
    OCZ 600W psu with 4 rails, sli, 3 sata… $40 ebay
    old compaq micro tower (works) Free craigslist
    30 gb hdd maxtor? + 20gb maxtor hdd Free craigslist
    About $355 added up, this is pretty dam cheap… I could have easily gone bigger with the cpu for a tad more, but it runs everything I can find other than crysis on full. Upgrading the hdd to SATA 640gb in a month…
    My point is that you don’t have to spend everything on the newest parts… good brands last a lifetime, so nothing wrong with used… BTW thoughts on hdd companies?

    [Reply]

20. 

    Jeremy | April 17, 2009 5:01 pm

    Haha, I love the hostility. You may disagree with me but it’s true. As Ramian posted, there ARE better specs for the same price. I bought an AMD Quadcore for under $100. I bought the exact same RAM that is on that post as well. After the instant rebate I got a GOOD 4gb for under $50. There are about 5 videocard deals right now that are $40 cheaper than this posts. And, NO, you don’t have to buy an expensive power supply, there are lots of good brands in this category and you also don’t need as much wattage as you think…especially if you’re buying energy saving products. Lastly, the mobo, despite some ppls opinions, is the most important piece investment wise. I made the mistake of listening to a friend on a “good deal” mobo 2 yrs ago and now I am upgrading mobo’s when I SHOULDN’T have to. You have to look at mobo’s for longevity, ease of upgrading. Don’t get upset because your post needs tweaking and a few ppl point that out. That’s what having a comment section to a post is all about. Just because someone gets on the internet and claims to know something and tells ppl it’s true doesn’t mean it is. I never said that you made a bad pc, I just stated that I see deals everyday from newegg and tiger through my emails that are better and have more value. Thanks to Ramian I MAY purchase that ATI card which is something I haven’t done in YEARS. Anyways, I’m sure glad I posted a comment here because I love the interaction. Let’s hear the hate comments….

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21. 

    Jeremy | April 17, 2009 5:05 pm

    P.S. Let’s not forget, you can’t game with Ubuntu so add at least another $150 for an OS.

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22. 

    Robert | April 17, 2009 5:58 pm

    Wah wah wah?

    You got called on being wrong and played it into LOL I TROLE U

    grats

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23. 

    Chris | April 18, 2009 1:01 am

    So I’ve been wanting to build my own computer for sometime and finally decided to just do it and went with this build, only thing I changed was upgraded the DVD burner to include lightscribe. Just finished gettin it all together and set up an hour ago and so far so good. Don’t have any of my games installed yet so I don’t have an exact feeling on how it will operate but I did a geekbench run and figured id share those results …

    Overall 3320
    Integer Processor integer performance 4128
    Floating Point Processor floating point performance 3471
    Memory Memory performance 2188
    Stream Memory bandwidth performance 2230

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24. 

    SID | April 18, 2009 10:21 am

    What the hell?? in my country RD 4870 only sold on 300$ price tag… what is this with global market competition…
    can u send me that card and ill pay u with extra for transport…just kidding. but i’m not joking around about that 300$!!!

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25. 

    Computer Ed | April 18, 2009 8:31 pm

    Interesting site and some interesting choices. First I trhink you should make people aware that the prices you listed are mostly based on rebates and NOT the actual out of pocket cost.

    While rebates can make something look attractive there is the issue of having to wait for your money to come back. This means if you go to buy this system the price you listed is a lot lower than the price to be actually paid.

    As for the video card choice I feel this should always be decided AFTER you know what the size of the monitor is. On a 19″ monitor the difference between a 4870 and a 4850 is fairly minor and the savings could be used in other places.

    Finally I canot berate you enough for your CRAPPY case selction, yes I said crappy. The CM Centurion RC-534 is a average case at best. For the PITTANCE of $10 more you can get the Antec Three Hundred. It has a ton more room, better cable management and ton better cooling potential.

    Finally the HD you suggest is no longer available and for the same money you can get a WD Black 500 Gig. Not true you lose some storage space but you gain a 5 year warrenty and one of the fastest HD you can buy right now.

    Overall I think your site concept is great but your advice uses cut rate parts to keep price low and is exagerate by using rebates as real price.

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26. 

    Mathieu | April 19, 2009 1:43 pm

    @jwpowers5: That’s very true, you will find great deals on Ebay, for used parts. I’ve used it many times in the past and I’ve bought my laptop (HP tx1000) there just a few weeks ago.

    If you’re ready to deal with the risk of having no warranty and trust that you will have no problem with the seller, go for it. It rarely happen, but it is a risk, just saying.

    @Jeremy: I love the interaction too, thus why comments are open on about every page on the blog =)

    Now, as far as saying that an AMD quad-core under $100 is better, it really depends on your usage. For this system, a gaming PC, it will bottleneck it due to the low frequency. Nothing against the part, it’s just not appropriate for a gaming system.

    5 video card deals that are $40 cheaper than what I recommend(Radeon 4870)? I assume that the cards in question are slower as well no?

    I agree that the motherboard is a very important piece investment wise, considering you can upgrade other parts while you keep the same motherboard for years.

    Personally, I think that you make the mistake of listening to only your friend. Doesn’t matter how much of an expert someone is, it’s always better to get a 2nd opinion, read forums and ask around before buying any part, so you can make the best choice possible.

    “Don’t get upset because your post needs tweaking and a few ppl point that out.” Of course not, I love getting feedback from readers and will definitely change my recommendations if proven wrong.

    “I just stated that I see deals everyday from newegg and tiger through my emails that are better and have more value.” That’s your opinion

    Thanks for the feedback.

    @Robert Hahaha. Oh my

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27. 

    Mathieu | April 19, 2009 1:57 pm

    @Chris That’s great! Congrats to you and thank you for the benchmark results. Just out of curiosity, what are the parts that you used? Asking because I upgrade the systems on a regular basis.

    Do you have any recommendations for updates? Anything you’d like to tell anyone who is thinking of building this system?

    @SID: Prices varies a lot depending on local taxes, competition(or lack of) and other factors. Also keep in mind that your local currency may have a bad exchange rate compared to the USD. You may want to try shopping on Ebay, you can usually find sellers that are willing to shop internationally. Depends on where you live obviously.

    @Computer Ed Indeed, prices posted were based on prices after mail-in rebates. After asking my readers with a poll, I am updating all systems to remove said rebates.

    For the video card, true, the difference now may be minor, as both will offer playable fps. However, keep in mind that as your system age and newer games come out, having a faster video card will allow you to keep playing for longer before having to upgrade.

    Also, I can’t assume that someone plays on a 19″ when monitors prices keep dropping. Many people are buying 22″ and 24″ these days.

    I try to build a system so it offers great specs now and remains usable for as long as possible, by finding a balance in power in all parts. Yes, what I post is what I think are the best set of parts for a given budget. Yes, that is an opinion and I’m always open to listen for suggestions on how to improve my suggestions.

    True, I agree that the Antec 300 is a far better case. I’ll try to suggest it in the lower priced systems.

    Thanks for pointing out that the hard drive is now longer available. I’ll make sure to update that.

    Thanks for your feedback everyone =)

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28. 

    RatFink | April 19, 2009 5:01 pm

    @Jeremy
    “I bought an AMD Quadcore for under $100.”
    By that I assume you are talking about the original Phenoms. While a decent CPU it’s cache starved and has a bug in Cool and Quiet that can kill performance a lot in windows. It’s a far better value to go with the Phenom IIs which are absolutely killer.

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29. 

    Chris | April 19, 2009 5:08 pm

    The parts I used are exactly the ones that you had suggested, i only replaced the Lite-on DVD drive with a drive by samsung … http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173 … I’m still very new to the whole idea of custom hardware, up until just now I’ve always bought a pre-built system with no idea what they used, so I don’t really have any ideas for upgrades yet. But for people building this system, pick up an extra SATA cable, I needed one for both the DVD drive and HDD, neither of which came with one, but there was on that had some with the motherboard. I ended up having to go out to Best Byu to pick up another SATA cable for $20 when I could have ordered one with the rest of my hardware from newegg for $4.

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30. 

    Mathieu | April 19, 2009 8:40 pm

    @Chris: Yeah, that’s why I suggest an IDE DVD Burner, so you don’t need the extra cable usually. If you buy a SATA DVD Burner, as Chris said, get another SATA cable.

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31. 

    Mathieu | April 20, 2009 1:32 am

    Major update for the $500 Gaming PC. First of all, please note that Mail-in Rebates are no longer included in prices and some changes reflects the newer, tighter budget.

    Overall, I think that you will get even more value out of this build with this update!

    Cpu: From Intel E7500 to AMD Phenom II X3 710. Similar performance, but the 710 is $20 cheaper. -$20

    Video card: Downgrade from 4870 to 4850. Without the Mail-in rebate, the 4870 is too expensive to be included in the allowed $500 budget. -$35

    Ram: Changed from OCZ to A-DATA, for better reliability. Same price.

    Motherboard: From a Foxconn G31MV-K to a ASRock N68PV-GS, in order to support the AMD deneb cpu. +$10

    Hard drive: NewEgg no longer sells the Seagate 640GB SATA hard drive, so it was replaced by a Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB. -$10

    Case: From Cooler Master Centurion 534 RS to Antec Three Hundred. Figured that I should suggest a much better case for only $10 more. Not to mention that it has free shipping, which on an item as heavy as a case, is always a good thing! +$10

    Power Supply: 500W is overkill for this system, thus the CM RS-460-PMSR-A3 460W. -$10

    Let me know what you think of this update!
    Enjoy

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32. 

    Jeremy | April 20, 2009 10:14 am

    i have to say i like this compromise better than the last. i like that you went with the phenom. good savings on the power supply, realistic. i still prefer geforce but this is good for the money. i even like this mobo changeout! kudos no argument from me this time…except the case, i like cheapies lol

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33. 

    Jeremy | April 20, 2009 10:20 am

    one thing i wanted to add/suggest. i see you have gaming pcs for 400 and 500 but did you ever think to try a net pc build? for those non gamers who just wanna surf and check email. building a pc is so easy these days, might make some people think hard about buying crap name brand’s and build their own. you could go really small form factor too. i know it’s simple but ya might help somebody.

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34. 

    Mathieu | April 20, 2009 2:21 pm

    @Jeremy: Glad to hear that you like the update. As for the case, well yeah, that’s a bit of a personal preference, isn’t it?

    Yes, definitely, I’ve plans for other type of PCs, that are coming up. It takes me much more time to add a computer system design than to update it, so just give me some time and you will see a large variety of PCs, for everyone’s needs, getting updated on a regular basis

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35. 

    Mathieu | April 20, 2009 2:23 pm

    @everyone: If you haven’t yet, check out the post on
    “How to have a profile picture in the comments section” http://www.hardware-revolution.com/how-to-have-a-profile-picture-in-the-comments-section/
    So you can have your own profile picture just like me, instead of the ugly gravatar icon.

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36. 

    Jason | April 20, 2009 5:54 pm

    How about one of these for your next project.

    http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/9606798/Acer-Aspire-Revo-Intel-Atom-N230-1-6GHz-1GB-8GB-SSD-Linux-Desktop-PC/Product.html

    Now this marked once cracked should be huge!

    I suppose you could go down the Mini-itx route, but would like to see you build on this machine.

    Kind regards

    Jason

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37. 

    Jason | April 20, 2009 5:58 pm

    Hmm, must read back posting before submitting. Sorry.

    I ment to say

    “Now this market (Small-unobtrusive objects that let you play various media with relative ease), once cracked, should be huge!”

    Kind regards

    Jason

    [Reply]

38. 

    Marlin | April 20, 2009 6:54 pm

    Amazon carries a 1GB model of the Radeon HD4850 for only $15 more than the 512MB version listed here…seems like a pretty good deal to me.

    Here’s the link>
    http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-HD4850-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B001J6LQGG%3FSubscriptionId%3D16330PR1NAHTNCZP5602%26tag%3Dpriwat-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB001J6LQGG

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39. 

    Mathieu | April 20, 2009 10:40 pm

    @Jason: What a great idea! I found this barebone MSI Wind case, slightly bigger, but has space for an optical drive. Come back tomorrow (Tuesday) for an article on this

    [Reply]

40. 

    terry r | April 23, 2009 10:53 am

    Can’t game on linux?Have you had your head buried in the sand for the past year or two?You can play practically ANY game on linux now.Some you will have to play using WINE but many can be played directly in linux with no virtualization.
    The one thing I couldn’t do under Linux (play Netflix “watch now” streams)is now doable as well with the use of the playon media server software.
    Granted, I’m not much of a gamer but I have a wife who loves gaming and the 4 Linux Live Gamer dvd’s I downloaded and burned from distro watch keep her happy as a clam when she feels like playing games.Great thing about the live gamer dvd’s is you need not install a thing on your pc, no changes are made and when you reboot and remove the disc, you have your old system just like it was before you gamed.
    Personally I like having a system that gets FASTER and MORE STABLE every time I update it (unlike winblows,which only gets slower and slower with each new “update” or “security” fix.)

    [Reply]

41. 

    Jeremy | April 23, 2009 11:01 pm

    @terry r
    I hear you, I have used Linux, I USE linux, and I have used WINE. You ARE correct, it will run a lot of programs including SOME pc games. However, the games I have tried will not play to my satisfaction with any type of tweaking. I am not arguing with you on the fact that WINE is used for running PC programs on Linux, but it does not always work the way you want it to and that is well known about WINE. If they have worked for her particular games that’s awesome and I’m sorry for any discouraging words about it but my experience has not been so good. Hopefully future patches will fix any of these issues and I can completely let go of Windows, cross my fingers.

    [Reply]

42. 

    Mathieu | April 27, 2009 11:39 am

    April 27th: Small update today, simply updating prices and replacing the DVD Burner.

    RAM: +$3, no longer free shipping.
    DVD Burner: No longer available on NewEgg. Replaced by a Samsung SH-S222L +$3

    Enjoy!

    [Reply]

43. 

    Junaid | May 4, 2009 10:31 am

    please sir give a quotation of High Gaming Pcs
    so please urgently Quotation
    i m waiting for your reply…. mail..

    [Reply]

44. 

    Mathieu | May 6, 2009 7:04 pm

    Major update today:

    First of all, I updated the page design to reflect the new design that I’ve started to use for Computer Systems. Changes include:

    -”Is this the right type of PC for me?” section, explaining what is this type of PC for.
    -”Gaming PC” section, explaining the differences between each system and helping you choose the best for you depending on your requirements.
    -”How does this work” section, explaining how I make my recommendations.
    -”What’s better compared to $— Gaming PC?” Here I explain the difference compared to the Gaming PC that is a step down from this post. In this case, the $400 gaming PC vs the $500 gaming PC in this post.

    You’ll also notice that I now suggest some alternatives to the recommended parts, to answer some of your particular needs. Whether you want more cpu power, more gpu power, more overclocking headroom, etc, these alternatives will greatly help.

    I also now suggest some operating systems, although they are still now included in the price, simply because the price is only for hardware and you might already have a previous license, decide to go with Linux or use torrents for some of you

    Finally, I’ve changed the summary of parts, to make it easier to read and added a part for Mail-in rebates, so you can see the price with or without the rebate, as you wish.

    Also, prices are all rounded up to the dollar now, for easier reading.

    I’m really happy with this new design, which is wayyyy easier to update for me, easier on the server:
    Load times are getting better and better, averaging at 1.02 seconds now, down from the 1.15 seconds last week and down from the sluggish 2.1 seconds average from a month ago.

    and I hope, easier for you to navigate through and better overall.

    I hope that you like the changes as much as I do! Make sure to let me know what you think of it!

    Now, for the hardware update:
    -Cpu: Downgraded from the Phenom II X3 710 to a AMD X2 7750 Kuma BE. -$60 Yes, a slower cpu.

    Hear me here: While the cpu is slower, the money saved allowed for a much faster video, a Geforce GTX 260 Core 216.

    The overall performance of a X2 7750 + Geforce GTX 260 will be higher than a Phenom II X3 710 + Radeon 4850.
    Video card: Upgrade from a Radeon 4850 512MB to a Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB. +$50
    - Changed the RAM to Super Talent to maintain RAM price.

    Total price is now $501 without rebates, $491 with rebates, down $10 from previous build and performance definitely up!

    Enjoy!

    [Reply]

45. 

    Cameron | May 9, 2009 11:08 am

    Hi I’m looking between this build and the $400 build. I currently have a xbox 360 and i want graphics as good as it or close to. I’m probably only going to play on a max screen size of 19″ so i was wondering should i get the $500 one or can i get by with the $400. This is my first gaming pc, and i want to play newer games like RPG’s and FPS’s like Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty’s and Fallout and the like. Thanks for the help!

    [Reply]

46. 

    Mathieu | May 9, 2009 11:44 am

    Hey Cameron,

    The $400 build is powerful enough to play newer games on a 19″ with high/max settings.

    If you can afford it though, I recommend going with the $500 build, which will be able to handle new games as they come out for longer than the $400 build.

    [Reply]

47. 

    Cameron | May 9, 2009 12:21 pm

    I was actually thinking of going with the $400 and getting the GeForce 9800 GTX+ card instead to get a balance between the 400 and $500 builds. How does that sound??

    Thanks for the quick response and awesome site!

    [Reply]

48. 

    Mathieu | May 9, 2009 1:35 pm

    Yeah, anyway the only difference between the $400 and the $500 is the video card.

    The 9800 GTX+ is a good card, but you can find better deals, as it starts at $125.

    At $110, you have the Radeon 4850 ( http://bit.ly/13899W ), which is slightly faster than the 9800GTX+, while being $15 cheaper.

    [Reply]

49. 

    Cameron | May 9, 2009 2:34 pm

    Yeah the 4850 and 9800 GTX+ seem to be very closely matched, some bench’s says ones better others say the other is better..

    http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_radeon_hd_4850_geforce_9800_gtx+/page6.asp

    http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/16820/5

    So i’m not sure what to chose, i would prefer CoD WaW over Rainbow 6, but whichever has better performance with this build and will probably last longer is what im in for..

    [Reply]

50. 

    Mathieu | May 9, 2009 4:10 pm

    Nvidia always had the edge when it comes to Crysis, which is the game benchmarked in your first link.

    Otherwise, as you pointed out, they are very closely matched. Any of the two will meet your needs and please you.

    Personally, I’d go with the ATI, seeing how it’s cheaper and draws about 10W less.

    Also, found this deal on NewEgg: ( http://bit.ly/CpHU3 ) This Sapphire 4850 normally sells for $124.99, but Newegg shaves $10 off the price and offers shipping for free right now. Add the promo code “VGA48522″ (without the quotes), and you can get the price down another $14.40. Total: $100.59 shipped.

    25 dollars difference with that rebate. Plenty enough to make me pick the 4850 over the 9800GTX+. In the end though, it’s your choice.

    [Reply]

51. 

    Robert | May 9, 2009 8:11 pm

    Mate — I have a suggestion for your aftermarket heatsink that’ll do huge for cooling. I used to have a Freezer 64 and it’s really not amazing anymore.

    The Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer is considered *THE* value as it performs directly all the big dogs, losing by a degree or two. Unless you spend $80, you can’t beat it. For $30, it’s the same price and amazing.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207006

    [Reply]

52. 

    Mathieu | May 9, 2009 11:46 pm

    Hey Robert, thanks for the suggestion.

    I looked up some benchmarks online and indeed, the Core Contact Freezer is probably the best value on the market, the 120mm model at $40 that is. http://bit.ly/P57aU

    The link that you’ve given me if for the 92mm model, which is okay, but far from the best.

    Nonetheless, at $40 for the heatsink, fan, good thermal grease and a fan controller, it’s exceptional value. I’ll make sure to recommend it.

    Thanks for the tip =)

    [Reply]

53. 

    Robert | May 10, 2009 5:22 am

    Haha, my bad. Yeah the 120 definately. I was heading out to Seattle for the night out and just snagged a newegg link. Happy hunting.

    [Reply]

54. 

    JoeShmoe | May 11, 2009 11:11 pm

    Great list. Its incredible the price you can get a ballsy gaming system for nowadays. Why anyone would get a console over a PC is beyond my comprehension.

    ATI has still left a rancid taste in my mouth and piles of buggy or dead cards, so I avoid them like the plague. I’ve only had one nvidia card die on me years ago and it was a BFG with a lifetime warranty so for evermore they will be the only card I buy.

    [Reply]

55. 

    Mathieu | May 26, 2009 10:57 am

    Small update on May 26th 2009:
    - Changed the RAM brand to A-DATA, due to better prices and better feedback. +$2
    - Case price went down by -$1
    - Video card price went down by -$2

    Total price is now $500, right on the spot!

    [Reply]

56. 

    Mathieu | May 28, 2009 3:39 pm

    May 28th 2009: Every previously published gaming PC model, including this one, had a major update, from an article point of view along with some price updates.

    The $1000 gaming PC is now online, the Gaming PC page was updated, so was the Computer Systems page. Enjoy!

    For more details, see: $1000 Gaming PC and a major update for every Gaming PC

    [Reply]

57. 

    marina | June 2, 2009 11:20 pm

    What if I want a gaming laptop? Then which one should I get?

    [Reply]

58. 

    Mathieu | June 4, 2009 2:27 pm

    I’ll be recommending laptop systems in the close future, it’s on my ‘to do’ list

    [Reply]

59. 

    Joe | June 19, 2009 10:59 am

    Why no Intel CPUs? Every build you listed has a comparable Intel based build that will out perform the AMD counterpart. That seems a little biased sure, but it’s true.

    So one could say if you want to run inferior systems choose an AMD based rig.

    It’s fact and if you think otherwise you’ve got much to learn.

    [Reply]

60. 

    Mathieu | June 19, 2009 2:41 pm

    Joe,

    I would love to see some proof to what you say. You say that it’s true that a comparable Intel based build will outperform the AMD counterpart? According to what benchmarks?

    ‘So one could say if you want to run inferior systems choose an AMD based rig.

    It’s fact and if you think otherwise you’ve got much to learn.’

    That is your opinion, not fact. Fact is backed up by proof.

    AMD offers better performance at several price points and let me prove that with benchmarks from reputable sources:

    At $70: Intel E5200 vs AMD X2 7850: 3 Wins for AMD, 1 Tie.
    http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3554&p=9

    At $100: Intel E5400 vs AMD X2 550: 3-0 for AMD
    http://www.techspot.com/review/171-amd-phenomx2-athlonx2/page10.html

    At $140: Intel E7500 vs AMD X3 720: 4-0 for AMD
    http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3512&p=8
    and
    http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3512&p=9

    At $190: Intel E8500 vs AMD X4 940: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/01/08/amd-phenom-ii-x4-940-and-920-review/8

    Higher end: Phenom II X4 955($255) vs Intel Core i7 920($290: 3 wins for AMD, 2 for Intel, 3 ties. You could argue all day, but my point here is the AMD platform is much cheaper than the Intel here and that you can use the cash saved to buy a better video card, which matters much more for gaming PCs

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-x4-955,2278-9.html
    and
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-x4-955,2278-10.html

    Now, my reply was made of facts, not opinions

    [Reply]

61. 

    Tim P | June 22, 2009 1:45 am

    Hi, just putting my 2 cents in. First, I just want to reaffirm how amazing Newegg really is. When I was looking for hardware for my first rig, I searched with Google Shopping, TigerDirect, and lastly Newegg. The deals I found on Newegg for EVERY PART were the best deal, hands down. I worship Newegg. Second, I built a $478 system sans case and PSU (I had them already) and with a $100 19″ LCD monitor. Here’s what I got, things to check out.

    WD Caviar Black–$70–32 MB cache, 7200 RPM, 500GB
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320

    Motherboard + CPU–$163, -$10 rebate
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.200020
    ***THIS COMBO DEAL IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, and you recommend it in some of your computer builds, so make sure to update that. It’s the ASUS M4A78 Plus MoBo, and Phenom II 3.1GHz CPU Dual-core.

    G.Skill 4GB DDR2 1066MHz Memory–$55
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

    (I also bought a new keyboard, microphone, total $40)

    19″ Widescreen LCD Monitor–$100
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005

    And my video card wasn’t an online purchase, $60. It’s a GeForce 9500GT, 1GB DDR2 with a 550MHz core clock.

    I was pretty satisfied with myself ^_^ I’m running Ubuntu on this, so the OS was also free. I get by :\

    [Reply]

62. 

    Tim P | June 22, 2009 1:58 am

    I should also mention I have my own DVD/CD/Floppy drives, so they didn’t go into my price figuring, which I believe you did include on your recommendations. And I plan to upgrade my memory to add another pair of 2GB sticks, to bring my memory total to 8GB. My next upgrade after that will probably be the video card… since I can have 2 video cards with CrossFire.

    [Reply]

63. 

    Mathieu | July 1, 2009 10:08 am

    July 1st 2009 update:

    Motherboard: From an ASUS M4A78 Plus to a GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3
    Power Supply: From a Cooler Master 460W to an Antec 430W

    Price is now $513.

    [Reply]

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