The follwing are 4 systems based on rough price points.

$1000 mark budget PC and a $2000 + more serious systems.

They are set up in such a way, that the psu/mobo combo's will aloow the use of crossfire/sli where applicable making all of these system able to remain untouched and just add a second card etc for more power later down the track.

All prices and the screenies as you can see are from PCCG

Hopefully this helps some of you looking into new systems/upgrades and what to look for in said components.

The first AMD budget system, comes in just under $1000.
It has some good features for a system in that price range. The PSU is capable if running 2x HD6850's, I have tested these. The motherboard allows the use of crossfire also.
The cpu is not the best on offer, but beaing cheap and unlocked means that future Ooverclocking to gain more grunt is easy for the novice. If your budget allows you could throw in a small SSD @ under $100 to run your OS, which also helps the overall speed of the system.
For a budget system, it will not disappoint.




The second system, a cheap i5-760 based system, boasts the following features. First of all a P55 board, not using a cheaper and less powerful H55 chipset board. The same features here follow through from the first AMD system. A motherboard that allows crossfire and a PSU that will support the 2 cards. Again, addition of a small SSD would help.




The AMD Pro gamer system, is now where the cost goes up, but the performance increases. With a top shelf motherboard and unlocked high end cpu, this has the potential to be a game eater. With a big single GPU, and a PSU/motherboard that supports crossfire, the real potential of this system is only the price of a second card away. Already boasting an SSD for the OS, you can add in another one for more speed and space also.




The intel pro gamer, brings it up another level. Some of the best hardware money can buy without breaking the bank. Again, the board and psu will support SLI for future, with the single GTX580 providing ample graphics power in the meantime. Stretch the budget a tad further, and chuck in a good cooler for the cpu etc and you have a high standard gaming PC for around the $2500 mark

good work
will help alot of people.

GTX 580 or 6970?

nice work, but didn't you post this already...

personally i would say gtx580. Just because for a brand new card, the HD6970 under performs in comparison, only just edging out the older GTX480 in some tests


yes but some snooty admin moved it thinking i was doing it to advertise for my business, which im not. My prices are better than PCCG anyway


perhaps, but it takes a lot more time and practice to have it run @ said speed, and for the avg gamer, a good 1600mhz kit is sufficient

Edited twice, last edited 17/12/10 - 1:26pm.

GTX 580

excellent work karma.

probs could opt for the Kingston HyperX 2000MHz, higher clock rate and its a little cheaper, timings a touch more tho.. 9-10-9-27 compared to the corsair's 8-8-8-24 timings.

will help a lot of people. ^_^

I have made the thread a sticky.

Will help anyone who is looking at building a new pc. Suits both flexible and tight budgets.

Obviously some components can be changed to suit personal preference, but this is just a guideline so everyone can see what kind of money is needed to get a decent machine.

The price difference is 1100 dollars.

Suggest a few more options than cheap and very expensive.

I agree. Add a few more categoriees such as $800 category, $1500 category, $1800 category.

Although might as well link it to the whirlpool setups

a $1500 category would be great

a $1500 category, well how bout you take the $1000 one, and then add an ssd and a 2nd gpu, done

lol lataz

LOl i dont need it man

its for da newbiez

"I want your praise but I don't want to contribute."

That's you by the way.

contribute, i wrote the first post you twit get out of the thread now