Updated: The best budget gaming PC you can build today

Adrian Rundle
04 June 2012, 9:00 AM


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Want to play games on your PC but limited by your budget? No problem. Check out our best budget gaming PC rig and see how you can game on the cheap.


Yes, this build is a touch more expensive than our previous build, but there are some substantial upgrades that warrant this price increase. Remember, street pricing is lower, and you should be able to pick this up closer to $1,200.

Core System: $1,284


NEW -- CPU : Ivy Bridge i5 3450 - $229

Latest chipset from Intel. I wouldn’t replace your 2500K with one (they don’t overclock as well), but stock out of the box, they are quicker than the i3 listed previously and should be quicker than any AMD CPU in and around the same value. Remember to get good OC out of an AMD, you usually have to spend big on a motherboard to get the features. This CPU and board combo should be good for a stable 4GHz OC with decent cooling.

CPU cooler: Stock - $0

Blah blah blah, you shouldn’t be overclocking your CPU in the first place, stock cooler is all you need, you know the drill. If you DO wanna push this little monster, check out the HSF that’s listed on our all-rounder system, or check out something like the CM TX3/TX3 EVO, or the Artic Cooling i30.


NEW -- Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Pro4-M mATX - $129



This board’s cheap. Real cheap. Not as feature-rich as some, but pretty close, and with a street price closer to $100 than it should be, this is perfect for a budget setup. Asrock’s come a long way since they first hit the market and are worth another look. If you need SLi, then look at the Extreme4-M, which is about $20 more.

Memory: Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 - $69



Even though it’s NOT a K Chip, you can still overclock it. Just not to the same extent as the K chips. This RAM is still great value, and not worth changing from our previous build. You can still gain a little if you drop the MHz from 1,600 to 1,333 and drop the latency of the RAM.

PRICE DROP -- Video card: HIS Radeon HD7950 3GB - $459



That’s right, the HD7950. Now it should all make sense. Video cards affect frame rate more than CPUs or motherboards, and this is pretty much the fastest card I can throw at this machine and stay in budget. I know you’re all thinking this needs an i5, or that we should have chosen a PCI-E3 board, but these options all cost money for minimal gains, and if you can’t increase the budget to accommodate, then you’ll end up getting a lesser video card. Motherboard and CPU changes will increase FPS by 2 or 3 frames, while dropping back a video card level you will easily lose 10-20 frames.

NEW -- Hard drive: Sandisk Extreme SSD 120GB - $149



This looks like the drive to buy. It’s running the new 24nm “Toggle Mode” NAND chips that were built for the slower Marvel controller and the production process makes them cheaper. SanDisk has decided to mate these up to the current SandForce controller.

NEW -- Case: Silverstone TJ08-E Black M-ATX - $109



Chances are you’re going to want to take this to LAN parties, and Silverstone has always made the best small form factor (SFF) cases. Again, remember, there’s so much to choose from, and everyone has their own tastes and requirements, but this case is hard to pass up. It's more expensive, and REALLY just a black alloy box, but the best thing about this case is, for its small size, it will accommodate a 13.8-inch video card. Being a mATX case (I know this board is mATX too, but you can hang the video card over the end of the board if you have a big enough case), you will not be able to run SLI or CrossFire with this board. If this is an issue, then you will need to find a full-size ATX case.

PSU: Cooler Master GX 750w - $115



This is a great budget PSU that will supply enough juice to run that HD7950 without any problems. Also, keeping the PSU high enough spec so the system’s not running close to its peak power draw will keep the PSU running cool, so not to add any unwanted heat to the system.

Optical drive: DVD burner - $25



Anything will do really, and chances are once you’ve installed Windows, you’ll never use it again. Optical drives are cheap, and I’ve never had any real issues with any brand on the market. Whatever your personal preference is will do.

Core System Cost - $1,284




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John in Brisbane (User):

Interesting build concept! Seriously though, I'd only go i3 on a lower budget - if you only had $900 or $1000 maybe. For $1250, I'd go for the 2500k simply for the OC potential to extend the life of the build later on. You've given it the longer life potential via the GPU and I accept that to be totally valid. My strategy would be to spend more on the CPU, a little more on a dual gpu-capable MOBO and less on the GPU.

As an exercise is maximising FPS, I like this build though.

06 March 2012, 10:24 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

WEELLL, that board does support dual Video cards. I have run a gigabyte with an identical layout and a pair of GTX 465's and it worked a treat.

Obviously, you need full size case, and decent length in the IO cables @ the bottom, but it's doable.

and yeah, i see your point, and i have touched on it. This is system IS gaming specific, as in, this is a xmas pressy for the 16yr old that wants a machine to specifically to play games.

IF you changed the CPU And the motherboard you are sujesting, you'd spend extra, what, $200 factoring in the cost of the HSF you'll need for the OC? keeping it in the $1200 budget, you'd spend $200 less on the Video card, effectively 1/2ing your frame rate.

Besides, it's a $100 chip. upgrade path would be the CPU, then save for a better motherboard, and you have the guts of a HTPC left over.

06 March 2012, 12:46 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

John in Brisbane (User):

Ha ha on my little screen I didn't notice the second video slot in that pic of the mobo. I'm not suggesting overclocking it now, jut having that potential down the track, along with a 2nd GPU. On second thoughts, the PSU would then come into it so it starts getting more complicated...

An i3 would have good grunt as a HTPC.

06 March 2012, 4:09 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

John in Brisbane (User):

PS I like the PSU choice - I'm running two GTX260s with one and the system is quiet and stable.

06 March 2012, 4:25 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JGrant (New user):

I'm not sure that $1250 counts as budget without a screen. The videocard is a little too high end I think. Other than that, seems good :)

19 March 2012, 10:02 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

Honestly, if you look, the street price on this system would be alot closer to the 1K mark

27 March 2012, 8:54 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

thechamp (New user):

this rig could definitely get better bang for the buck on the gpu. the nvidia gtx 680 is outperforming the 7950 handily in pretty much all benchmarks at the same price point. also probably could go with 1333mhz ram as the 1600 won't make much of a difference in this setup. for hdd, i would go with 128gb crucial m4, which nowadays is on sale around $120. you can see my budget gaming rig builds at: www.rightrig.tumblr.com

i just built one myself with a 7950 OC, just sold the 7950 to get a GTX 680 and its a DREAM

12 April 2012, 7:41 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

just had a quick look, and the street price for a 680 is $670-$695 if you want one thats in stock. that's not the same price point, (now the 7950 has dropped in price)

it's a good tip thou, as they are more energy effcient, run cooler(?), and i'm sure there's heaps more stuff the 680 will do better then a 79xx card.

The downside with these card, (well, at the time of writing), is short supply. they can be a little hard to get.

Quoting thechamp:
also probably could go with 1333mhz ram as the 1600 won't make much of a difference in this setup


but it will, if you run the 1600mhz @ 1333, and run tighter timings, say c7 or c9, which SHOULD be posible, you'll get more bandwidth

13 April 2012, 12:38 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Midgetboxing (New user):

Hmm i was contemplating this build but wont the fairly gutless i3 bottleneck that ridiculous card?

18 April 2012, 10:40 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Midgetboxing (New user):

I was thinking about this being my first personal made custom build (my current was built mainly by my friend) and I was thinking wont the fairly gutless i3 bottleneck that powerful high-end graphics card? I mean it has blistering speeds, about $350 more expensive than the cpu and has 3gb of V-RAM

18 April 2012, 10:43 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

Quoting Midgetboxing:
) and I was thinking wont the fairly gutless i3 bottleneck that powerful high-end graphics card


no, I thought i explained that in the built :)

MOST games only use 1 maybe 2 cores, and the more sheer speed, (mhz), per core the faster they will run.

an i5 quad core, when running in turbo boost mode turn off cores so they can over clock the CPU to run a single process, (like a game), faster.

and i5 in Tubro boost mode basically turns itself into an i3, clock for clock.

and the i3 is far from gutless, unless you're trying to run multiple things at once, or if the software you're running is coded to take advantage of multiple cores over hypertheading, (i3's still HT, so windows will see it as 4 cores)

The only thing that i5's do have to offer is the ability to overclock. Even the non-K versions will overclock to some extent. BUT they you run the risk of damaging the chip, voiding your warrenty. (though admitedly, in this day and age, that IS very hard to do)

And i know this from experience. i ran an entry level i3, (the 2100), in my system while i was leak testing my watercooling setup. when i swaped my 2500K in, in games, there was NO FRAME RATE DIFFERENCE, until i overclocked it, (4.3ghz up from 3.3)

Remember, this build is JUST for gaming, or a second machine to let your son play games with, or to take to a lan party when, like me, your machine's far from portable.

again i have to stick to a set budget, and this build is around a group of constraints.

If you CAN slap a 2700k into your build cos you have the $$$, and over clock it, it'll be a faster machine for sure! But that's only if you can afford to add it to the system, and not have to pull money out of the video card budget, buying a slower card.

the difference between the i3 listed, and an i7 2700K say, IN GAME is about 10%, so maybe 5-10fps.

you run a 2700K and buy a gtx560, (would be about the budget difference), and you're talking something like a 30-50fps performance DROP, depending on the game. And that's not taking into account the detail loss you might suffer to get the game playable.

that said, the other side of this story, i tried to build this to keep a high level of upgradeability.

The CPU would have to be the easiest part to upgrade, as long as you can get a chip that works in the board you have out of the box, (usually not that big a deal... usually), were getting a bigger video card might mean a new PSU and case dependant on what it is upgrading.

then you have to install drivers... and yeah.

CPU is pull of HSF, pull out old CPU, drop in new one, re-seat HSF, turn on computer :)



19 April 2012, 11:47 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

... will it run BF3, skype and fraps? i don't know, why would you run Skype on a computer? but it will run BF3, Vent/teamspeak and fraps no problems.

and full 3 screen surround/eyfinity? yeah, should do. That's pretty much all the video card's job.

You know, running a cheaper video card and faster CPU will mean it's less likely to run 3 screens in surround... my 2500K and pair of GTX465's struggle, infact BF3, is pretty much unplayable. to get a decent frame rate, detail is set to low, and it's very difficult to hit ppl ... :)

haven't tried SWTOR yet.

One thing i HAVE come across recently, overclocking utils for AMD cards will crash out some games, when running either the newer s/2011 or the HD79xx cards. mate's systems been really unstable, but we're not sure if it was chipset of video card specific.

anyway...

20 April 2012, 6:26 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Midgetboxing (New user):

Hey another question, will this proccesor be able to run, lets take bf3 for example, with skype and fraps open? Also can it support eyefinity as in 3x20-22 inch monitors running wow or bf3 at those crazy resolutions?
Thanks in advance

19 April 2012, 5:03 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

THAT's pretty much Video card specific, thou i would recommend an 2500K if want to run this @ 1080P and @ ultra settings.

Mate's machine's running a s/2011 i7, 2x 7970's and it struggles to do that over 3 screens. THAT siad, he's a nub, and it's probably setup wrong :)

There are alot of issues with display port adaptors are these these new cards, from experience, and from the net.

I would re/hash this build to run an actual SLI board and a pair of 570's personally. they are still available and cheaper then a few months ago, just maybe a little hard to get

03 May 2012, 3:59 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

lob

28 April 2012, 7:25 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

fx 4100 + 2x 6870 = 3dmark11 score of 7070 P - my score http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3285341

'showroom' benchmarks are not reliable

If I can get this result, so can any body
460 bucks for the CPU AND 2 6870.. nothing betters it for fps.. nothing.


28 April 2012, 7:25 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

fx 4100 o/c - that's what they were made to do - be overclocked
paired with two 6870 and it comes to a total of 460 bucks -TOTAL

3dmark11 score of 7070 P

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3285341

no i3 on the planet can better that score.. with a 7950 or even with two 6870
Do not under estimate overclocking

proof is the link



28 April 2012, 7:33 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

ALSO: CPUs are further along the advancement road than GPUs, so buy AMD CPUs and GPUs , Intel doesn't make GPUs so they aren't helping our GPU needs.
The fx 4100 ($100.00) can handle two 6870s and even a gtx 680 or 7970, a hundred dollar item works well with enthusiast graphic cards - we need our cash injected into GPUs for a few years so they improve in all areas , AMD is the perfect choice in my opinion.


01 May 2012, 11:01 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

ok, check this link out
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-4100-core-i3-2100-gaming-benchmark,3136.html

BASICALLY, they show that the fx4100 is about the same performance as the 2100, in fact, in most of the tests, it's ~10% slower.

so you OC it, and gain say 30% performance, (NOT clock speed, real world gaming performance). The chip about is about 15-20% faster then the 2100 in that review... SO all things considered, we're talking, our setup's side-by-side, maybe 5FPS on average IN GAME between each other, RUNNING THE SAME VIDEO CARDS

i'm not knocking your system, for the money it's awesome, but in all things considered, your above logic is flawed.

ALL reviews i've read, and benchmarks i have personally performed, AMD can't keep up with intel on the CPU market.

And haven't for some time, really. even in the budget market, like in this build, for the money, they are on par with each other.

and i disagree with your view that CPU development over GPU's. in all honesty, your first statement makes no sense to me @ all.

AMD's R+D has spreed itself thin over all it's projects, were intel focus directly on it's CPU development.

AMD it's only just bringing in a multi-thread architecture, and all things considered, it doesn't seem as good as intel's, even thou on paper, it should be.

You know, i'm not pro Intel, or pro AMD. i'm just, Pro, whatever is the best on the day. Currently's that AMD.

My best OC machine, until recently, have always been AMD's, my s/754 3200+ engineer's sample was my best setup even, until my current 2500K system.

it's not as fast as i would like it to be, but it is the most elegant :)

Anyway, i'm glad your setup works as well as it does, but i would recommed you do a little bit more research. Tomshardware, and google ;)

Go forth and become a master builder :)

01 May 2012, 10:25 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

edit - (chip about, should read chip above), i was refering to the 2130 :)

If i edit my post's it breaks my view of the site... sooo :)

01 May 2012, 10:29 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

My logoc is flawed ?
My logic is my fx 4100 beats an i3 in any test known to man and I am willing to prove it
I gave a link of what my fx 4100 can do, how about you match it for starters ?


02 May 2012, 9:14 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

anyways..
How can you claim your system to be the best budget gaming pc today when the fx 4100 with crossfire 6870 betters it in benchmarks and games and also the cpu/gpu prices of amd are $200.00 cheaper compaired to the i3/7950, look around for good prices and you can build the best budget gaming pc today for less than a grand- the AMD way



03 May 2012, 9:44 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

John in Brisbane (User):

Ah, nerds fighting over the best value. When I was a pizza boy, we all used to argue about the quickest way to get places - must be some gland in the brain I reckon :-)

... on the other hand, I am biased towards AMD lol. Many happy memories of laying s@#t on intel owners. They're sadly behind the game now for the mid- to upper-end stuff but your rig is definitely interesting. I've thought before that if AMD can't win on horsepower then they should be aggressively targeting value - particularly for gaming where the CPU generally needs to be adequate rather than crazy. Maybe you've found a price point at which that is the case? It's just stupid squared of AMD that they're only better HP/$ when overclocked ... when nerds like us buy or recommend their gear that filters through the whole consumer market. With my system builds I switched the basic ones across to the Celerons during the e- and q- series days. Then I was in that habit so when the e-5400s etc were getting run-out dirt cheap, I stayed with intel and built some with them. I've still got an e5400 of my own clocked at 3.33 as a lounge box! It plays Crysis (1) just fine :-) Sounds like it's about it take off though lol - when I pluck up courage to take rotel's H2O advice, I reckon I'll prototype it on that rig.

I think rotel is saying that intel is the safer bet across the board and sadly, that's true. You might have found a value sweet spot though.


re - the two GPUs - yep, two older cards often seem to beat one newer one for less money - although the (maybe) cost of extra PSU grunt needs to be considered.


03 May 2012, 2:33 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

eh... i can't see replys to jimmy here... but anyway... stupid website *grin*

anyway - The price. I have to take an average pricing, not the street price, so if you look hard enuf the above will cost about $200 less

AND i have looked, (not hard mind you but i have looked), and you can't get thous 6870's NEW anymore, so i can't quote them.

I keep saying, you're systems awesome, but i HAVE to take into consideration that you have overclocked this system, and i can't recommend that here.

And not overclocked, the i3 is faster, sorry.

like i said, (in a post that isn't shown here i dont think), some of my best/favourite systems have been AMD, and my comment about logic was aimed @ your comment that AMD are better cos they make Video cards.

ATI made video cards, which AMD bought, and rebadged. ATI were always the underdog, (and i make that statement, cos if they were, they'd still be around), hence the flawed logic statement.

meh, i stand by my build. I took more flack for the other AMD system i built, and i justified that build the same way you did with yours.

I dont have any of these systems, they are theroicaly builds from research and my being in the industry, (Selling computer parts), for pushing 10 years now. I would love to have them all to benchmark, and that may happen one day, but currently they are on paper.

I do take all comments into consideration, but can't keep everyone happy.

i said this before i'm not a fan boy, i just back the winner, and from ALL reports, currently Intel have the edge over all.

And yes, AMD's entry level/budget chips are the goods, but all in all, Intel's the current king.


looking @ the big picture, if you were to add an 8 core AMD CPU to your system, and over clock it, and i added a i7 to this above, and do the same, the i7 will be faster, right?

03 May 2012, 3:27 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

John - i wouldn't bother water cooling that chip, it'll OC just fine with a good air cooler.

it'll just be a little noisy

THOUGH it would be a good test bed if you wanted to build one like i have for your next system. if it leaks, you have a very good excuse to upgrade :)

should tee up a meet or something to have to look @ my machine :) you're relatively local to me.

i said this before, i had alot of time to spec and build this system, and it's personaly my more "elegant" build

03 May 2012, 3:33 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

John in Brisbane (User):

Hey it already is! Loud, that is, not leaking. An old Zalman 9700 I think - gunks up every few months lol. The cheap h70 I bought last year for an i5 2500k runs 10 - 15 degrees cooler and almost silently - guess water cooling is where it's at.

Re - test rig - yep, esp given that it owes me nothing. Might start with an old hdd and gpu ...

Love to see ur rig - although I'm housesitting out of town at the moment.

cheers

03 May 2012, 4:03 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

I agree.. the fx do need an overclock , and thats when they shine.. other than that they can get the job done if your a normal regular user and not notice any differance between the fx and the i3
I was just saying.. for the best budget system , fx 4100 with 2 6870s - for the price- it can not be beaten

6870 can be bought new and with full warrenty at many places still
and yeah , if someone wants to overclock - which is as easy as setting an alarm on their mobile phone, then they get much better fps for less money

if people want more fps then follow my example, if someone wants something where they do not have to change a few settings then i suppose your best budget could suit them fine

03 May 2012, 4:03 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

Since you can’t overclock the CPU, the only real way to increase the performance will be to overclock the video card and increase the system’s memory bandwidth. And considering it’s only a few dollars more than the cheaper 1333MHz ram, you’d be nuts, right? Drop the MHz from 1,600 to 1,333 and drop the latency of the RAM, and it should be good for a few extra frames.


you said that under the picture of the ram

hahaha

you have no leg to stand on now my friend

buy the fx 4100 and two 6870 , otherwise your a tool

03 May 2012, 8:02 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

OK, fine, your machine is the best computer in the world!

happy?

Overclocking is a good way to get free horse power, but it's not the best way, and in my many many years of experience, IN GAME it usually means nothing. USUALLY

3d mark benchmarks are a good indicator of your system been fast, but usually, IN GAME, they mean nothing

your system is overclocked really really well. Well done. BUT if you have it RIGHT on the limited, you will start to get processing errors.

ALL CPU's have the ability to, if the data isn't proccessed correctly, recover and re-process, but it usually mean clearing the CPU's processing pipes, and starting the process again

This happens in an fraction of a second, so it's never noticed, and usually not enough to crash windows, but you will induce latentcy in the system

These errors are usually from what's called electron drift. were soo much information is getting pushed around the silicon that an electron will jump across to another transistor, turning a 0 into a 1 say, creating the error.

Then there's heat concerns. excess heat is generated when you over clock, due to the extra electrons flowing around, extra voltages you need to keep it stable... This heat degrades the silicon.

AND i know you're going to say, well get a better cooling system, but all that does is increases the system ability to stop heatsoak on the die. it's still hotter then it should be unless you are using state change/promethia/LN2 cooling.

This means that O/C CPU's wear out faster.

That's never usually an issue, as the typical Overclocker it usually looking for the best chip, and i know i do, sell's his O/C setup to a mate to fund the next rig. Meaning it's never online long enough to become an issue. But it is a true statement.

dont get me wrong, i'm all for overclocking. BUT @ this level, i would not recomend overclocking @ all to someone that will build a system @ this budget, not without them knowing full well, that there is more then just a few risk's involved.

you keep telling us that we should buy an FX4100 and 2x6870's. The video cards are obsolete, and if you brought you machine in to me if it died inside warranty, it'd tell you you killed it from the overclock and you dont get a warranty.


and i still dont get how my ram comment gives me no leg to stand on... you'll need to explain that one to me.

03 May 2012, 9:59 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

been thinking about this... a pair of GTX560ti's in SLI would be better value for money then the 6870's in CF. Faster, more stable, better @ 3 screen surround...

Proably cooler too.

easier to get hold of :)

03 May 2012, 10:19 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

.

04 May 2012, 9:56 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

If I have a problem with my cpu I will let you know :)
Also you say the 6870 are hard to find and then you say the 560ti in sli will be better lol.. for starters the 6870 are as easy or easier to buy than the 560 and c/f 6870 are better than 560 sli.. again, go to 3dmark11 P results and look at the fps results.. I am sure by now that you may have guessed I am a tad enthusiastic about benchmarks, so I have been comparing every result that is direct competition to the 6870 c/f and the 560 sli cant match the 6870 cf
The only single card on the planet that can better 6870 cf results is the gtx 680 and even then , it is overclocked massively and gains no more than 6 fps in one or two tests and it cost twice the price. I could add another 6870 for tri fire for a total cost of 510.00 for 3 6870s - which is still about 100.00 less than a gtx680 and then benchmark again and then the 680 would be left behind.
I have seen a water cooled 7970 result and it was 3 fps better in two test as well, but the price of the wc block on top of the card price on top of a wc system and extra power .. it would cost about 3000.00 to better my 1200.00 fx 4100/6870 cf system - and thats by a couple of frames in two of the half dozen tests.
You could change cases, psu and mobo and save over 200.00 to bring the total cost in under a grand , who wouldnt want to save 2000.00 dollars and get the same results - allowing for margin of error for the 2 fps



04 May 2012, 9:56 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

So yeah, swap your choice cpu to an fx 4100 and swap your choice of gpu to 6870 cf and you have yourself a great budget gaming system

04 May 2012, 10:06 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

This score is my highest
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3307213

FX-4100 6870 crossfire P7165

The i3/7950 set up would get you a score in the 5,000s , the fps would be dreary for the $ spent


04 May 2012, 10:40 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

you know, the only reason you get that score is cos you are getting a more CPU score cos it's a quad core. games only use 1 maybe 2 threads/cores.

hence i keep pushing, IN GAME performance is not always related to 3dmark scores

04 May 2012, 10:49 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

Were man, i found a listing for a 6870 @ umart, and one @ Computer Alliance, and i can't say if umart has stock, and the only one that CA had was a $299 Palit card that i wouldn't by

there's a big BIG difference over a 560 and a 560ti, and everything i've been reading they are about the same speed, within a frame or to in say BF:BC2

You can get 560ti's everywere. Sites i look up =
PCCG
Gamedude
Umart
CA

brissy based, soooo... these cards are obsolete... so i can't really post them here.

04 May 2012, 10:41 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

John in Brisbane (User):

Yeah I kept speccing boxes with 5770s for ages after they went out of production lol. They got down to about $110 - which was awesome for a mid range card that could play anything. But I was just one guy snapping up run out deals - they weren't something you could put in 1000 boxes.

04 May 2012, 1:07 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

for nsw shoppers.. arc has 6870 instock for $158.62 each.
Thats 317.24 for two and the fx 4100 for 114.89 so thats $432.13 total

3dmark11 is a FPS benchmark.. if games werent measured in FPS, what do you suggest we use as the rule of thumb for testing ?

clapping ? hotdog throwing ? scissors paper rock ? lol

3dmark11 is a universal way of testing where everyone is on the same page.. it tests our machines and pumps out FPS results

04 May 2012, 10:51 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

everywhere you read about them ?

I gave a review right here and showed you pricing and results, if I can get these results so can anybody

I show some proof on pricing and results and you still dont want to see and believe how great the fx 4100/6870 cf combo is ?

The only thing holding you back from believing how great the fx 4100/ 6870 cf set up is yourself


Also If you go to the link I provided it shows you each test result in FPS for each test,that has been the main point :) it does also show over all result of course.



04 May 2012, 11:04 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

So going on your prices, the cheapest I have seen for the i3 2130 and two gtx560ti comes to 600.00.. thats an extra 170.00 MORE than the fx 4100 / 6870 crossfire set up and the fx 4100/6870 cf gets better results

if I were to add the 170.00 to my gpu budget, I can trade in the 6870s for two 6950 and gain better results again :)

BUT

you published your best budget gaming pc as it is with the i3 2130 and the 7950 and I showed you my fx4100 and 6870 cf results

As it stands right now, you dont have the best budget gaming pc , I do



04 May 2012, 11:46 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

Anyways.. I just set the WORLD RECORD for 3dmark11 for an FX 4100 and 6870 crossfire set up with a score of P7211

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3337562

If you wont listen to number 1 in the world saying how good his combo is, im guessing you wont listen to anyone

04 May 2012, 5:19 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

John in Brisbane (User):

OK, first, calling ppl a "tool"? Hooray for social skills!

Second, I think the same way you do and that's fine for our own boxes and our friends but these guys are recommending stuff Australia wide for potentially thousands of ppl ... I've heard them suggest snapping up run-out models before but they can not promote gear that most ppl will not be able to find.

Finally, nice work on the record! I'm going to download 3dmark11 tonight but I'd also be interested to see what your 3dmark06 score is with that rig - I'm getting 28800 with an OC i5 and two old gtx 260s, which beats friends with un-clocked i5s and OCed 6950s ...

06 May 2012, 9:31 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

John.. 1 what person/people did I call a tool ?
and 2 If the said 'person/people' finds it offensive can they please step forward for clarity


06 May 2012, 11:32 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

Also noticed I'm 2nd for pcmark07 in my catagory as well.. I will take 1st place with an oc to 4.6/8 and 960/1130 gpu

I will do the 06 (dx9) bench later tonight maybe. If your result are the 28809.. well done , nice job


06 May 2012, 2:23 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

19073 first run 06

yeah the physx of the nvidia helps in the physx benchmark :)

6870 c/f can run dx9 games quite well even without physx

07 May 2012, 10:54 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JimmyB (User):

3dmark06 also favours intel cpu.. thousands agree .google.

if 3dmark06 didnt favour intel/nvidia you would have to ask yourself how can the differences be so massive compared to 3dmark11 - the fps results of your gtx260s arent being comparitively replicated to 3dmark11.. you have higher fps than me in 3dm06 but not in 3dm11.. the inconsistancy and google tells me im right


07 May 2012, 6:10 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ss-rotel (User):

Pretty sure the tool refernce was to me, but i dont care, or take offence. Hell, if we all thought/did the same thing life would be pretty boring

I've been trying to find time, (read, be bothered), downloading 3dmark, and running tests on my system, though they are pretty much the same as john's, thou i'm running 2xGTX465's.

i'll even turn off 2x cores, and run the clock @ the same as the i3 above as a comparison, (seeing as you keep not reading that i dont have the gear)

just out of curiosity, what games do you play, and what frame rates do you get a what settings/res?

BF3 using the inbuilt frame counter, everything turned on, 1920x1200 or 1080p, that sort of thing. i'll run all these benchmarks when i have the chance, and post on a new forum post, that i will start tonite.

Jimmy - please post there, stop clutering up this? the site tends not like too many comment posts, were the forum modual is a bit more robust.

08 May 2012, 4:24 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

jordan26 (New user):

does this have wifi??

05 August 2012, 2:10 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

jordan26 (New user):

does this have wifi

05 August 2012, 2:13 AM (9 months ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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