System Buyers' Guide: PCs for Under $1000
by Sean Hollister on February 12, 2010 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Final Words
Many people have preferences as to who makes a better product: AMD or Intel. There's a good amount of competition between the two, and while it's pretty easy to say that Intel has the fastest current CPUs, such processors cost too much for entry-level and mainstream system. There are pros and cons to any PC build, but realistically we have to give the win for the best overall entry-level builds to AMD right now. There's simply no beating the bang for the buck offered by the tri-core processors, at least not with an equivalently priced Intel CPU. Once we move into the mainstream category, the tables turn and we give the overall advantage to Intel, although the AMD setup remains viable. Of course, we've only touched lightly on some other aspects such as overclocking, so your interest in such endeavors may sway your vote one way or the other.
Astute readers of websites like AnandTech have long known that by building your own PC, you'll wind up with a system that's more powerful—and cost-effective—than any pre-built box a retailer could offer. The question has never been "if," but "when." When is the right time to invest in today's components, when tomorrow's will undoubtedly be better?
To be quite honest, when we began this guide we were inclined to think that our readers would indeed be better off waiting for tomorrow. In the months ahead, AMD will launch a brand-new series of CPUs, Intel will undoubtedly introduce new LGA-1156 processors, and NVIDIA will finally unveil their Fermi desktop graphics solutions, each of which might reduce the price on existing components. As the DDR3 memory supply increases to meet demand and memory manufacturers successfully make the transition to the cheaper 30nm process, memory prices will fall once more. But then, we realized, these are not the thoughts of a true PC buyer with a tight budget.
For the true budget buyer, the right time to buy a new PC is when their old machine no longer performs tasks to their satisfaction. These days, more often than not that happens when your old system goes to the great junk heap in the sky. Whatever the cause, for the true budget buyer, the right time to buy is always right now. We hope to provide the best information we can in regards to purchasing parts that will maintain their utility and provide fantastic value for money even as the tides of time bring "newer" and ostensibly "better" with each passing day. We've started with the budget sector once again, with upgraded options pushing into the mainstream price range. We'll be posting updated recommendations for more expensive builds as well in the coming weeks and months, and we'll do our best to update these guides regularly.
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PrinceGaz - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
Unless you are building a HTPC or something else where form-factor is important, wouldn't a standard ATX mobo be a better option. Quite apart from the very useful additional PCI and PCIe sockets the ATX board will have which will allow the PC to be used for practically anything, there is generally room for more of other assorted headers like SATA and USB for adding further drivers and whatnot internally as well (and any decent ATX mid-tower will have plenty of 3.5" and 5.25" bays for them all).Admittedly I haven't checked prices for several years (mid 2005 when I built my current box, actually), ATX mobos were only a bit more expensive than uATX back then and I assume the same is true today. Even if you don't use most of the extra features, those you end up using at some point easily (for me) justify the small additional cost.
MatrixVPR - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
It was recently brought to my attention that there is a really good Samsung HD that is the same size, same price and double the performance! In many cases it actually out performs the Raptors (which i have...)Samsung HD502HJ
I would post a link to the benchmarks but I'm not really sure if that's Kosher or not!?
SeanHollister - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
As I mention to another commenter above, we were actually originally going to go for the Samsung HD502HJ, but not for the reason you suggest. Though benchmarks do show the Samsung having higher sequential read and write speeds than some contemporaries, it seems to suffer somewhat in access times and IOPS such that it's not much better (though certainly not worse) in real-world applications than the WD we chose.That doesn't keep me from wanting to test one for myself, though :-)
jdparker520 - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
It's good to see some mention of a budget SSD (Intel X25-V), though it could really use the coverage and analysis of a full article. It's frustrating that this site only seems to cover the fastest and biggest SSDs that would almost double the cost of a reasonably configured system. What I'd like to see is a full comparison of the lower capacity drives in the 30-40GB range from the persepective of using it as a boot / application drive while storing user data on a traditional disk. This is what I'll be looking for in the next few months, but so far I haven't seen much information that would help guide my purchase.rivethead - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
I too, was also glad to see a mention of an SSD in the upgrades section. The time has arrived.Anand did cover the Kingston 40GB SSD in a recent SSD article (which is the same thing as the Intel 40GB....same hardware, same controller, and now that you can flash the Intel firmware onto the Kingston....same firmware WITH TRIM). It compares very favorably to the bigger SSDs on random reads.
MadMan007 - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
On pg 3 in the last paragraph you refer to the RAM as Corsair but the recommendation is G Skill.Good read, the options are many and while one can always find other viable options it's nice to have things narrowed down sometimes.
SeanHollister - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
Thanks for catching that. We originally chose Corsair RAM, but they bumped the price of their modules $5 at the last minute.qwertymac93 - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
I really wish this site would take a look at samsung hard drives, they are really cheap and the new f3 line is great. the samsung f3 1tb(which i now own :P) is one of, if not THE fastest 1tb hard drive, and is silent. i run my computer with no side panel on my desk, and i cannot hear it apart from initial spin up. It absolutely destroys my 320gb Seagate from a year and a half ago(:duh:). i think 1tb is the absolute lowest any builder should go today, you spend $20-30 more for twice as much size and better performance. I had a 160gb seagate for 5 years, and never thought I'd need more, then i got a 320gb and filled it in less then a year, my new 1tb is now half full(my 320 is pulling backup duty now), YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH!SeanHollister - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
Funny you should mention that: we were originally going to go with a Samsung F3 500GB HD502HJ, but the retailers with the best price ran out of stock the day before the article went live.While it's true that newer hard drives are faster and quieter no matter the manufacturer, when you're comparing ones from the same generation at the same price point, it's hard to see a difference in real-life performance -- at least one big enough to justify spending extra on. :-)
Spivonious - Friday, February 12, 2010 - link
I'm curious why the E5300 was chosen, when the E3200 is just as capable and cheaper. I've been using it in my HTPC for 6 months and have yet to run into any slowness. It makes perfect sense in my mind for an entry-level non-gaming system.