Holiday Budget System Buyers' Guide
by Zach Throckmorton on November 8, 2011 12:00 AM ESTRAM
DDR3 prices seem to have bottomed out and are holding steady at around $25 for 2 x 2GB kits and $35 for 2 x 4GB kits. While it might be tempting to spend $10 more on an 8GB kit of DDR3, 4GB is more than ample for basic to moderate multitasking. If the system will be used for extensive multitasking or for applications that benefit from lots of RAM like Photoshop, you might as well spring for an 8GB kit. Both Mushkin and GSkill offer 4GB kits that are usually less than $30 shipped. While these appear to be unremarkable budget memory sticks, my testing indicates both are capable of undervolting to 1.4V (from the default 1.5V) while running at stock speeds, and both kits can be modestly overclocked at the stock 1.5V setting. Additionally, GSkill's budget 8GB kit was capable of modest overclocking (though not undervolting).
Hard drives
As alluded to earlier, prices on hard drives have risen lately in response to flooding in Thailand and other areas of southeast Asia. In my previous buyers' guides, I've recommended 500GB drives that were available at every day prices of $40 shipped. Unfortunately, $40 500GB drives are not currently available from any of the major US internet retailers. How long these elevated prices will persist is anyone's guess, but from what I can gather, the supply disruption will last at least a few more months. It's possible prices will continue to rise, but for now, it's difficult to find 500GB drives for less than $50 shipped (day to day pricing). As much as it pains me to say it, you can save a few dollars by going for smaller capacity drives. For many basic users, 160GB might be enough storage space.
SSDs
SSD prices continue to fall, and upgrading to an SSD can provide a substantial boost to overall system performance. This is especially true for boot times, application load times, and general snappiness. Crucial's newest M4 line, including the least expensive 64GB version, offers excellent performance and solid reliability at a low price. I've seen this drive for as little as $85 recently and expect it to revisit that price during upcoming holiday sales. If you don't need a lot of storage, and considering the elevated pricing on HDDs, opting for a 64GB SSD could be a great alternative.
Video cards
The AMD Radeon HD 5670 continues to dominate the low-budget GPU space. This card is capable of playing every game that's currently available, though certainly you'll need to lower the resolution and details on anything demanding. Unfortunately its cost remains similar to when I recommended it earlier this year in the previous budget buyers' guide, at about $70 for the GDDR5 model. Though the Radeon HD 5670 hasn't changed much in price, the Radeon HD 6770 has creeped downward and can now be found regularly for less than $100 (after rebate, and often with a free game). The Radeon HD 6770 is essentially a rebadged 5770, and it is capable of playing nearly every game at 1080p resolution at minimum 30fps, though more demanding titles will necessitate lowering details. Keep in mind that for light gaming at lower resolutions, AMD's Llano APUs are likely a better option than a budget CPU paired with a budget GPU, and we'll be exploring Llano more in a future buyers' guide.
Power supplies
Antec's Earthwatts 380W and Corsair's CX 430W V2 remain stalwart budget power supplies. That said, I've seen the Antec Neo Eco 400W on sale for less than $30 shipped (without rebate) a few times in the last few weeks. Compared to the Earthwatts 380W, the Neo Eco has a larger, subjectively quieter fan as well as sleeved cables. The CX 430W also features a larger fan and sleeved cables. One thing to note is that neither Antec PSU comes with a power cord—if you have dozens sitting around like many enthusiasts, this isn't a concern, but if you don't have a power cord, expect to spend at least another $5 buying one. All of these PSUs are capable of quietly and efficiently powering any mainstream single GPU computer.
Cases
One product sector that has seen a few intriguing newcomers since the previous budget buyers' guide is computer cases. Specifically, the BitFenix Merc Alpha and Fractal Design Core 1000 offer tremendous value for budget builders. Dustin recently reviewed the Merc Alpha and after getting my own hands on one, I echo his sentiments: for a $40 case, it's well built, offers excellent thermals and acoustics, and is easy to work with, aside from the expansion slot area which was frustrating to me as well. The Fractal Design Core 1000 offers, in my opinion, better build quality, though if you'll be packing a lot of higher-performance (and therefore more power hungry) components into it, you'll want to add a rear 92mm exhaust fan. However, its thermals stay well within comfortable operational ranges without an additional fan for budget to mid-range rigs, so that's not necessarily a relevant concern for this guide. One aspect of the Core 1000 that I particularly appreciate is that at nine pounds, it's much lighter than the previous budget buyers' guide's 16 pound Antec Three Hundred—it's easier to carry up a few flights of stairs and cheaper to ship.
With all of the components covered, we outline specific builds on the next page.
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antef - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
I'm not worried about getting an SSD. I think reliability and such has really improved if you stick with the right brand. Even so, if I have a problem, I won't be keeping any personal data on it, just my OS and apps. If it has a decent warranty I think it's absolutely worth the increased performance and responsiveness that everyone raves about.Everyone else agree on 8 GB memory? I have kept my last build for over 3 1/2 years so I could potentially keep this one for a similar amount of time.
Paul Tarnowski - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Right now 8 GB is right around $50-$60, and less if you look for deals (like $35 for 1333 on Newegg's shellshocker today). 16GB 1600 can be gotten for as little as $70 on special. So if you find a deal, and it's in your budget, I'd say go with 16GB. It's probably more than you need, but it'll mean you can get rid of your pagefile. If you have an SSD, that's always a plus.Either way, just stick with 4GB sticks as the 8GB sticks are overpriced.
Lunyone - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
I generally think that Llano is really good for laptops and not as good for desktop area. This is just my opinion. Llano isn't that more expensive than the 2 other budget builds above, but does better in games (at stock configuration) than either of the budget builds. Another note is the Llano chipset doesn't have much upgrade path, IMHO. The AM3+/1155 chipset mobo's I think are better options for upgrades than the FM1 socket/chipset, IMHO. Isn't Piledriver a different socket/chipset?Now don't get me wrong, Llano chips aren't all that bad, but I just don't see them being a good/better long term buy in the desktop arena. If' I'm just building a regular "Desktop" they are fine as well as the other 2 budget builds listed above. But since I usually build more than just a regular Desktop, I usually opt for a system that works better with a dedicated GPU (mainly for better gaming capabilities). Of coarse this is just my preference and is a bit different than what the article was looking at. These builds look pretty good for what the design/budget is looking for.
StevoLincolnite - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Rumors are that AMD may end up making Socket FM2 backwards compatible with socket FM1, just like they did with Socket AM2+ and AM3.Nothing Solid yet of course.
Lunyone - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Well if that is the case, than the Llano build might not be too bad. I just see Llano as a good laptop chip and an okay desktop chip. For probably 90% of people, Llano will do just fine, because they probably wouldn't notice too much difference than what they currently own. Most people will notice if you have an SSD as your main boot drive than if you have an i7 quad core instead of a Llano chip. Now if your doing encoding or some heavier CPU related tasks, than the i7 quad core will definitely notice the CPU difference (of coarse you'll be paying for that option too).Taft12 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
I seem to be in the minority, but I think desktop Llano is a great product that is the best choice for 80% or more of desktop systems. You sacrifice CPU capability (which has been "good enough" for just about everything ever since the Core 2 Duo and Athlon 64 X2 days) and in its place you get much (MUCH!) improved IGP performance which will have no problem whatsoever for Flash games or 1080p Youtube.Hardly any of my family or coworkers play 3D games or use Photoshop, video transcoding, etc -- I would think this is a pretty accurate sample of the majority of PC users.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Have you tried Flash games and 1080p YouTube on Sandy Bridge? I haven't had any issues with either one, but I'd love to know what specific games/videos you've tried that didn't work properly. AFAIK, even desktop Core 2 Duo systems handle YouTube 1080p pretty well, doing all the decoding on the CPU.The other issue I have is that you imply all Llano are roughly equal, and obviously they are not. A quad-core Llano with the full on-die GPU is a far more interesting chip, but then it costs twice as much as the A4-3300. 160 shader cores is barely enough for most games at minimum detail and a reasonable resolution (hint: 1024x768 isn't "reasonable" in my book; 1366x768 for laptops and 1600x900 minimum for desktops is what most users are running).
Saying Llano is the best choice for 80% of users is like saying 80% of users shouldn't have ever upgraded from a Core 2 Duo E6600. Hey, wait... I'm running one of those in my HTPC!
QChronoD - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
Would you guys consider this level of hardware adequate for HTPC duty? I'm guessing that it might need a discreet video card since most of the boards don't have HDMI. What would you recommend as the minimum video card for good quality playback & passing the audio to a real AV receiver?duploxxx - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
any liano build will satisfy that needgeniekid - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
I'm using an A3500 in my HTPC connected to my receiver via HDMI.In my honest opinion, you don't need a graphics card. 34 of the 42 FM2 motherboards on Newegg as of this moment have built-in HDMI.