This post will discuss about building a better pc. We split them into three categories, including Budget, Ingredients, and Performace. Price based on newegg.com website. Here's the list...
#1 BUDGET
Case/PSU: Rosewill R519-8K w/500W PSU $70
Mobo: Gigabyte GA470A-UD3 ATX $100
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE $95
Cooler: Stock AMD cooler $0
GPU: Asus Reclean HD 7770 1GB $123
RAM: 4GB (1x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1333 $24
SSD: Samsung 840 120GB $100
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS124-04 DVD/CD writer $17
Hard Drive: WD Caviar Blue 1TB $75
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $91
Approximate Price: $695
THE BUDGET Box returns this month with a minor face-lift. We are sticking with AMD as a base platform instead of going Core i3 because an unlocked quad-core is still better than a Hyper-Threaded dual-core for multithreaded tasks, and you can over-clock this CPU, whereas the Core 13 is locked down tighter than the Lambda Research Facility after the resonance cascade. We did switch the optical drive from an HAS to an iHOS model, which sounds even sillier but is slightly cheaper. We also swapped the OCZ Vertex 3 SSD to a Samsung 840 model; we had a Vertex 3 fail in the Lab this month, making us a bit skittish about that model. Finally, we made a semi-lateral move on the hard-drive front, and replaced the perennial. favorite Seagate Barracuda 1113 with the WD Caviar Blue 1T B model since they have similar specs but the Blue is $5 less expensive.
#2 INGREDIENTS
Case: Corsair Carbide 200R $35
PSU: Corsair HX650 $100
Mobo: Asus P8277-V $183
CPU: Intel Core 15-3570K $224
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo $33
GPU: EVGA GTX 660 $200
RA: 8GB Patriot Gamer DOR3/1600 $39
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS 104-06 $24
SSD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 $122
Hard Drive: 1TB Seagate Barracuda $74
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $91
Approximate Price: $1.125
WE'LL BE THE first to admit there's not a lot of movement in the midrange-CPU and -motherboard games these days. The Intel Core i5-3570K's price-to-performance chops are simply un-matched by anything coming out of AMD's labs, and it will likely remain that way for some time to come. The same goes for the Asus P8Z77-V. which is such a well-rounded board that it's almost a sphere. We did swap the GPU this month, though, downgrad-ing slightly from an Asus DirectCU II GTX 660 to an [VGA model. just because the EVGA is $35 less expensive, and we are confident that it's almost as quiet as the Asus model. On the 550 front, we took a long, hard look at our Samsung 840 model and decided to toss it in the bin in favor of the faster OCZ Vertex 4. We feel the vanilla 840 model is more suited to budget builds than it is to more performance-oriented machines, such as the Baseline.
#3 PERFORMANCE
Case: NZXT Phantom 630 $180
PSU: Corsair HX750 $120
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth X79 $322
CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 $290
Cooler: NZXT Kraken X40 $85
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7970 GHz $400
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3/1600 $91
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST $60
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB $226
Hard Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda $138
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit $135
Approximate Price: $2,047
BAD NEWS, TWEEPS: The Performance rig's price tag was inflated this month by $72, but such is the price of progress. Were stilt rocking the sharp-fanged Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard and the Core 17-3820 CPU, but we dropped them both into the luscious NZXT Phantom 630 chassis simply because it offers a lot more square footage than the previous abode—the Thermattake New Soprano—and it uses a 14cm rear exhaust fan. The second point is crucial, since it also let us upgrade our CPU cooler from the still-excellent Corsair H80i water cooler to the slightly quieter and ass-kickier NZXT Kraken X40. The Phantom 630 also gives us the option of installing a double radiator at some point in the near future, and we like having room for expansion.
Another key upgrade made this month was in the GPU de-partment, where we finally have team AMD holding it down with the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition from XFX. We chose this card because it was less expensive than the GTX 670 while perform-ing slightly better, and as of press time it came with two free games—Crysis 3 and BioShock Infinite, so the deal was too good to pass up. Lastly, we swapped the OCZ Vector 256GB SSD for the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB because they are very close in perfor-mance and the Sammy is $25 less expensive.
