The Best Gaming PC Money Can Buy

SlappingOysters writes "Gameplayer has gone live with their best PC hardware configurations for Q3 2008. They've broken it into three tiers depending on the investor's budget. And while the prices are regional, it is comparative across the globe. 'In order to play these slices of gaming goodness, you're going to need a decent rig, and we sent our PC hardware guru in search of maximum frames in maximum detail, but at a minimum cost. We have three tiers for the three levels of PC gamers out there and all the detail you could possibly want on where, why and what to buy. So choose your poison and get amongst it.'"

Comments

Sharky's buyers' guides

[gregbaker]

I'm reminded of Sharky Extreme's Value and High-end Gaming Buyers' Guides. If you're buying, it would probably be interesting to compare them.

I'm sure I have seen other similar guides, but can't find them now.

Lame

[steeleye_brad]

That site is a slow as shit...here's a summary:
Under $1000AU
CPU: Intel E8500 - $200
RAM: DDR2 4GB 800MHz RAM - $100v
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 - $130
GPU: ATI 4870 - $300
PSU: Silverstone Strider ST50F 500W - $80
Case: Antec NSK4000 - $65
Optical: Pioneer 215BK SATA - $30
HDD: Western Digital 640GB - $93
Total Price: $998

Midrange
CPU: Intel E8600 - $300
RAM: DDR2 4GB 1066MHz - $150
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 - $240
GPU: ATI 4870x2 - $655
PSU: Corsair HX620 - $160
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S RC-1100 - $285
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-215D SATA 20x - $30
Storage: Western Digital 640GB - $93
Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme & Scythe Slipstream - $85
Total: $1,998

High end (aka completely retarded)
CPU: Intel QX9770 - $1,600 (eXXXXXXtreeeeeeeeme!!!!)
RAM: 2 x 2GB Mushkin DDR3 XP3-14400 - $550 (A +$10,000 system with only 4GB of RAM, hah)
Motherboard: Foxconn Blackops X48 - $450 (what)
GPU: 2 x 4870x2 - $1320
PSU: Corsair HX1000 - $320
Case: Lian-Li PC-X2000 - $580
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-202BK - $390
Storage: 2 x 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor - $700 (no, just no)
Cooling: Frozen SS Vapour Phase Change - $1,100 (hahahaha)
OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM - $130
Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP 30" - $2,000
Mouse: Razer Lachesis - $63
Keyboard: Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard or Optimus Maximus - $95 or $1,900 (also hahahahaha)
Sound Card : Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - $230
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 - $320
Total: $9,848 or $11,653 (with Optimus Maximus)

Only the high-end configuration includes the operating system! Kind of a stupid article, their budget system should be capable of just about any game you throw at it, unless you want to play shit at native resolution on a 30" LCD. When it comes to picking out hardware for a custom build, I've always preferred The Tech Report's system guide. Very detailed, and they have alternate setups for various budgets. http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/15009

furthering the myth of expensive PCs...

[Grokmoo]

I hate these articles. They merely further the myth that you have to spend thousands on a PC to get decent gaming performance.

In reality, you could spend $500 on a PC (not including monitor) and get something that will play Crysis on high or very high depending on what resolution you are running.

You can put together what would in reasonable circles be considered high end for under $1000, yet that price is basically relegated to be "bargain basement" in this article.

Website is terrible, relevant info here

[ProlificLurker]

Um. Ok. Raiding some kids Newegg 3 tiered I-wonder-how-much-I'll-get-for-my-bar-mitzpah wishlist doesn't belong here. I highly doubt anybody here needs any advice on what gaming rig to buy. But in case you do, hear is the info in USD.

861.430 USD

        * CPU: Intel E8500 - $200
        * RAM: DDR2 4GB 800MHz RAM - $100v
        * Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 - $130
        * GPU: ATI 4870 - $300
        * PSU: Silverstone Strider ST50F 500W - $80
        * Case: Antec NSK4000 - $65
        * Optical: Pioneer 215BK SATA - $30
        * HDD: Western Digital 640GB - $93

1,724.59 USD

        * CPU: Intel E8600 - $300
        * RAM: DDR2 4GB 1066MHz - $150
        * Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 - $240
        * GPU: ATI 4870x2 - $655
        * PSU: Corsair HX620 - $160
        * Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S RC-1100 - $285
        * Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-215D SATA 20x - $30
        * Storage: Western Digital 640GB - $93
        * Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme & Scythe Slipstream - $85

8,499.13 USD
        * CPU: Intel QX9770 - $1,600
        * RAM: 2 x 2GB Mushkin DDR3 XP3-14400 - $550
        * Motherboard: Foxconn Blackops X48 - $450
        * GPU: 2 x 4870x2 - $1320
        * PSU: Corsair HX1000 - $320
        * Case: Lian-Li PC-X2000 - $580
        * Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-202BK - $390
        * Storage: 2 x 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor - $700
        * Cooling: Frozen SS Vapour Phase Change - $1,100
        * OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM - $130
        * Monitor: Dell UltraSharpâ 3008WFP 30" - $2,000
        * Mouse: Razer Lachesis - $63
        * Keyboard: Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard-$95
        * Sound Card : Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - $230
        * Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 - $320

Re:The investor's budget?

[Anarke_Incarnate]

Somebody should then explain to you how "Write offs" work. You can only deduct the money spent from taxable income. You save ~30% of the cost or you can amortize it over a multi year cycle depending on certain criteria. Doing so does not save you more money than the new computer costs.

The issues with a new computer cost more than the outlay cost as the migration of data, new software (as needed) as well as configuration cost time and money. However, over the course of a computer's life cycle, older systems often become more problematic and cause unplanned work interruptions, which can especially, over the course of time, cost more than the outlay for new equipment as well as the configuration, if planned appropriately.

Re:He writes lyrics too

[turgid]

The guitar and bass guitar are tuned in 4ths. The exception is the B string on the guitar which is a major 3rd above the G string below it.

The violin, viola and cello are tuned in 5ths. The odd one out is the double bass which is a member of the viol family (a relic from 300 years ago) and is tuned the same as the bass guitar.

Re:oh christ

[morgan_greywolf]

IIRC, I think Opportunist here is a musician of sorts. I'm guessing a 'monitor system' may consist audio monitors, not video monitors.

Re:The investor's budget?

[The Iso]

It doesn't need to be "screaming fast," but scrap that Pentium and get a modern CPU.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000867.html

Re:Very useful guides

[AuMatar]

No, these are horrible horrible guides. Even arstechnica has better ones. I mean really- A $9000 computer? How about a high priced one people would actually buy- something in the mid to upper 2000 range.

And their budget gaming box? $1000 with no monitor? That's one hell of an overpriced rig. The idea of budget is maximum bang for buck, not lets get as close to a certain dollar figure as possible. I just put together a true budget gaming rig for about 60% of that. Here, I'll share the details:

CPU: E7200- $125. Intel introduced this model to compete with the AMD triple core offerings. Its a dual core, but with single core performance greater than AMDs triple core offering. Stock at 2.5 GHz, easily overclockable to 3.0 with reports of 3.5. I can confirm no problems at 3.0 with stock cooling and some room to grow.

Mobo: Quite frankly anything in the $100 range is good enough. I went with a gigabyte EP43 for $90

Ram: 3 GB if you want to go with a 32 bit OS. 4 GB otherwise. About $100

GPU: BFG Nvidia 9600GT. SLI is not worth it, its broken on many games and it makes a minor performance increase when it does. Going for a 9800 isn't worth it, the extra price is far more than the extra performance. $130

PSU: Any 450W ps will work. I went slightly upscale to 600W expecting it to last me 2-3 computers, but 450 is good enough. About $50. Their $60 suggestion is fine, if you like the brand the trust is worth $10

Case: 25 bucks will get you a decent case. They overpaid.

Hard drive: Unless you need the space, a 250GB drive goes for 60. Save yourself 30 bucks on space you're unlikely to use. And truthfully if you do need it in a year or two, buy it then when it's cheaper.

optical drive: $30 is about right.

total: $615, almost 40% less than their budget box

This computer, despite being 40% less, will get within 10% of their performance. The real sad thing is the people who buy the $2K box. In 2 years, you'll be feeling slow. So buy this now for $600, and replace with a new $600 (or less, save the case, optical drive, hard drive and PSU if you can) computer every 2 years. He'll be replacing his in 4 years tops (probably 3, lets face it his type want to stay at the top of the spec list). You'll have a slightly less powerful computer than him for a while (probably a more powerful one for the last 2 years of his box) and save an assload of cash to boot.

Its just not worth buying top level power that will be half price in 6 months. Go for best bang/buck, and replace every 2-3 years.

optical: their choice is fine, $30