I’ll assemble two new gaming systems each season in order to help you pick the best hardware for a new gaming PC on a budget. The Genuine Budget System is ideal for those who can afford to spend no more than 600 euro on a new system that can play recent games. The Quality Budget System is intended for those looking for a high quality gaming system at low cost.
The components mentioned will generally be carried in stores worldwide, so you should be able to find them in local hardware stores and webshops. It’s advisable to use these pre-made systems as mere templates for your own new gaming system or hardware upgrade. Your local retailers might have great deals on superior hardware, or may carry heftier pricetags on certain pieces of hardware.
We haven’t had a whole lot of hardware-pushing releases in the past couple of months. But with hardware prices at an all-time low and few hardware hogs in development, this is still an ideal time for a PC upgrade. Add in some new hardware or assemble an entire new system – and you’ll finally be able to try those blockbusters of the past couple of years: Crysis, Empire: Total War, Dawn of War 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Supreme Commander, etc.
There are several things you may wish to take into account when reading about this season’s two gaming systems.
- The Genuine Budget System is not intended to be a top-notch gaming system. It will play any recent game, often in high-resolution with high detail, but don’t expect to go maxing out everything in sight.
- The Quality Budget System will play any recent game in high detail, but may not be enough to play them in 1920×1080 (full-HD) detail. Do not compare this to your console: your console renders at most 1280×720 pixels even if it stretches to full-HD resolutions.
- These are good price/performance gaming rigs, not the be-all end-all systems for everyone.
- Take a look at your current system for components you may be able to scrounge for a new gaming system. The Hard disk drive and DVD-writer can generally be transferred without any problems. Your case may be too small for your new Graphics Card / Power Supply. Your Power Supply may be insufficient for your new Graphics Card.
- Accessories are not included. You’d need to purchase a monitor, keyboard, mouse & headset separately.
- You do not have to do home assembly. Most computer shops will do this for you for a minor fee. (40-70 euro generally)
- Ordering at a single PC shop will save you money: less shipping costs.
- See this article for an assortment of tips on hardware selection and home assembly.
Below follow the component overviews for the Genuine Budget System and Quality Budget System and the individual component explanations.
Genuine Budget System
Motherboard ASUS P5Q SE 78,- EUR Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 110,- EUR Graphics Card Club3D HD4850 512 MB OC Edition 93,- EUR Memory (RAM) 1 + 2 GB Kingston PC2-6400 31,- EUR Hard disk drive Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 640 GB 57,- EUR DVD-Writer ASUS DRW 20B1LT 25,- EUR Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 500Watt 60,- EUR Computer Case Coolermaster Elite 335 30,- EUR Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 102,- EUR Total: 586,- euro
Quality Budget System
Motherboard ASUS P5Q SE 78,- EUR Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 134,- EUR Graphics Card XFX HD4870 1GB 140,- EUR Memory (RAM) 4 GB Kingston PC2-6400 41,- EUR Hard disk drive Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 640 GB 57,- EUR DVD-Writer ASUS DRW 20B1LT 25,- EUR Power Supply OCZ ModXStream Pro 500Watt 60,- EUR Computer Case Chieftec Bravo BG-01 52,- EUR Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 102,- EUR Total: 689,- euro
Motherboard
ASUS P5Q SE
It’s not expensive and comes packed with plenty of SATA connectors for extra hard disks and DVD drives. It’s also more environmentally (and energy bill) friendly thanks to ASUS’s EPU energy saving mechanism. This ensures the CPU only gets as much power as it needs to perform the tasks you ask of it.
This is the same motherboard as in the spring budget system and for the same price. The reason for this is simple: we haven’t seen any great advances in processors or graphics cards that genuinely warrants an upgrade.
Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 – Genuine Budget System
A decent dual core processor with 3 MB cache. It is certainly no match for the E8400, but it will be sufficient for any recent game. Most of them rely more on your graphics card then your processor anyway.
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 – Quality Budget System
A powerful dual core processor with 6 MB cache. A particularly good choice, because quad-cores have yet to become useful for gaming and it’s clocked in at a whopping 3 GHz, while the pricetag is relatively mild. This processor was also featured in the spring budget system, but has since dropped in price.
Quad cores are only worth it for video-editors, picture-editors and web designers. As of yet they are still not worth the extra cost for gamers.
Graphics card
Club3D HD4850 512MB OverClock Edition – Genuine Budget System
No longer the best price/performance video card now that the HD4870 can be had for 30 euro extra (512MB edition). But it’s still a very inexpensive graphics card that will run any recent game in high detail, albeit not maxed out entirely. It has dropped in price significantly since it was featured in the spring budget system.
Do not bother with the 1GB version. Get the HD4870 instead if you have the cash the spend.
XFX HD4870 1GB – Quality Budget System
One of the best graphics cards out there today and marketed at a ridiculously low price point. You want value for your money? This is it.
Memory
1 + 2 GB (2×512 and 2×1) PC2-6400 Kingston – Genuine Budget System
Memory prices have risen over the past few months, although they’re still low enough to be negligible. With 3GB RAM you’re effectively at the limit of a 32-bit operating system. You’re 250MB short of what someone with a 4GB system would be able to use, which translates to effectively no performance loss whatsoever in games.
4 GB (2×2) PC2-6400 Kingston – Quality Budget System
It’s not actually necessary to go up to 4GB of RAM, but it’ll put you in the appropriate position to make use of 64-bit operating systems when they finally become popular. But whether that will happen during the lifetime of this new PC, or the one after that, is anyone’s guess.
Hard disk drive
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 640GB
The Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 series is known for it’s good performance and low noise output. You can also go with another hard disk drive, but this is generally a good performer for gamers who also like some measure of storage. It’s still the best value for money deal, just like it was in the spring budget system.
If you want genuine top-speed hard disks then you’ll want to go with Western Digital Raptor drives, but these are significantly more expensive. They’re also tiny at 300 GB or less.
DVD Drive
ASUS DRW 20B1LT
Inexpensive and solid DVD burner.
Power Supply
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500Watt
A high quality power supply unit, which is also marked on SLI Zone as a SLI-certified product. This means it’s a high grade PSU featuring optimal (more than 80%) efficiency.
A solid choice for either system, but more demanding systems – particularly SLI / Crossfire ones or those with excessive amounts of hard disk drives – will require more than 500W.
Computer case
Coolermaster Elite 335 – Genuine Budget System
A decent case with enough slots for 4 hard disk drives and some DVD drives. Does not have ideal airflow or build quality, but it’s good considering the low price tag.
Chieftec Bravo BG-01 – Quality Budget System
A fairly inexpensive mid-tower with lots of space for any hardware you may wish to install. A bit on the heavy side, so it’s less than ideal for LAN Parties. Better airflow than the Coolermaster case, but not as good as the 100 euro cases. (Antec ones are generally awesome)
Operating System
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista has become standard in most stores and it can be hard to get your hands on XP. Vista Home Premium will generally cover all your needs, without limiting you too much.
You can also opt for Windows XP Professional at 30 euro extra. Windows Vista Ultimate costs over 70 euro more than Home Premium. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you think it’s worth it.
Windows 7 is coming soon (October) and would likely be a superior option, but it’ll have to wait until the Fall edition’s Budget PCs.
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