How Gordon built his box of modest means, with enough cash left over for candy.
My original strategy going into the challenge was to forgo graphics performance for greater CPU power. But when I dug up an ad from a competing store that had a GeForce 8600 GT for $130 ($70 less than Fry’s), I started to seriously consider the possibility of a more balanced box. My strategy was contingent on the store price-matching, but it still wasn’t a lead-pipe cinch. I’d have to cut corners elsewhere.
I briefly considered cutting the RAM from 1GB to 512MB but feared the hit I’d take in our Photoshop CS2 test. And since I was already opting for single-channel RAM over dual channel to save $10 and using DDR2/667, I realized I couldn’t risk it.
As the clock ticked on, I found myself repeatedly rethinking and recomputing my configuration. Then another wrinkle arose: If I went with the 8600 GT, I’d need a PSU with a six-pin PCI-E power plug, something my $40 case/PSU combo certainly didn’t offer. Thus, I’d need an additional $3.99 converter. Plus, I wondered, would the PSU have the chops to run the 8600 GT?
All such questions became moot. With a mere 10 minutes left on the clock, I realized there wasn’t enough time to price match (which could easily take 20 minutes of haggling), so I ditched plan A and went with an all-around moderate system using a GeForce 8500 GT. Good for applications, good for gaming—at least if you’re playing two-year-old games at low resolutions.
Building the system was a snap; it posted on the first boot and I had the OS installed inside of 20 minutes. The ECS P965T-A motherboard, however, lived up to its poor reputation. The NIC was flaky, and worst of all, I couldn’t reliably overclock. I was confident the E4300 could run at 2.4GHz or 3GHz, but the mobo wouldn’t cooperate. Since the NIC was defective, our rules allowed me to exchange the board for another one that would potentially overclock, but another $60 mobo wouldn’t salve my overclocking woes; I remembered why I love premium $250 motherboards so much: They just work. To be fair to ECS, the board I bought was a return (which saved me $10). On the other hand, half the boards on the shelf were returned.
Despite the problems, this is a decent system for a newb. It has a dual-layer 16x DVD burner, supports quad-core processors, and is DirectX 10 ready. Not bad for $500. And since it’s in a case, it won’t get accidentally recycled by your mom.
First, I would have shaved more money from my graphics card purchase to buy a better mobo. That would have let me overclock the E4300 to 3GHz and would have given me the edge in our CPU-intensive applications tests. This would be a calculated risk, since I’d certainly lose the gaming benchmarks, but they wouldn’t be spectacular in a $500 box anyway. The ultimate solution, but one that’s difficult to come by, would have been to locate Intel’s new Pentium Dual Core procs. Basically, declawed Core 2 chips, those puppies should overclock as well as an E4300 for the price of a Celeron D.
Comments are closed on this article
skyspydude1
May 03, 2009 at 10:14pm
My first comp build costed me about $300 or so and could run most games fairly repectively, now my $800 machine can run Crysis on Med-High at 26 fps, with liquid cooling ad sli graphix
HeartBurnKid
October 30, 2007 at 10:53am
I think the mistake both editors made here was going with Intel silicon. Athlon 64 X2s would probably be more cost-effective at this price point. A quick glance at Pricewatch shows the C2D E4300 going at $138.49, which is more than an Athlon 64 X2 5200 (going at $128.97), and motherboard prices are comparable. Sure, the C2D is a better chip family, but I think that, considering both sides were forced to go with the slowest C2D, the Athlon chip would probably outdo it nicely.
Oh, and I do agree with EBM as far as this serving a portion of your audience that normally goes unserved. I wouldn't mind seeing a few articles like this in the future -- I don't want to see MaxPC lose its gonzo, balls-to-the-wall attitude, but how about an occasional article putting, say, graphics card under $150 head to head? Call it the "Best of the Rest" or something.
EarthBoundMisfit
October 29, 2007 at 3:51pm
Registered Linux User #404122
Microsoft has encountered a critical system error and must now shut down. Better get Bill Gate$ on the phone for this one.......
[img]http//i35.photobucket.com/albums/d183/NunofyaBidness/404122.png[/img]A few months ago...I voiced my displeasure that MaximumPC wasn't doing enough for some of its readers, in that not everyone could afford to drop the kind of money to build a DECENT gaming computer.
You folks have taken that to heart...and given people options as far as attempting to build cheaper rigs...and in that I give you many kudos.
Tell me gentlemen...how about ordering some parts from eBay next time??Glenn Condrey
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