A companion to our Enthusiast Gaming PC Buyer's Guide, our Entry-Level Gaming PC Guide has a lower $900 budget and aims to show that you can still build a perfectly capable system for less than a thousand dollars. Our first Entry-Level Gaming Guide for 2012 offers processor and motherboard suggestions for both an Intel and AMD system, though the other components will mostly remain the same.
And while even more compromises will need to be made when working with a $900 budget than had to be made with our Enthusiast system, you'll still end up with plenty of power to get some work — and some gaming — done.
System Case: Rosewill Challenger Black Gaming Mid Tower Case
Current Cost: $50
For months, we’ve been recommending the NZXT GAMMA GAMA-001BK, and while
it’s still a great case worth considering, in the interest of keeping things
fresh we've decided to go with the Rosewill Challenger in this latest
issue of the guide.
This case measures 7.48" (W) x 17.08" (H) x 18.5" (D) and
comes with three fans (two 120mm and one 140mm) pre-installed. The blue LED on
the 120mm fan mounted in the front is a nice touch for this gaming system's
case, and the top-mounted USB ports, eSATA port and audio ports offer
convenience to gamers and casual users alike.
Power Supply: Antec Basic BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V
V2.2 80 PLUS Certified
Current Cost: $63
The Antec BP550 Plus is an 80 PLUS Certified 550w power supply that once again remains our power supply of choice for our budget system. With its module cable design and three +12v rails, the Antec BP550 Plus offers plenty of power
and convenience for the price.
AMD CPU and Cooling: Phenom II X6 1055T Black Edition (2.GHz) w/ Bundled
Cooling
Current Cost: $150
Our AMD processor recommendation has once again dropped slightly to the
x6-1055T, this time due to the diminishing availability of our previous
recommendation. This AM3 socket processor still comes with 6MB of L3 cache and 512KB of L2
cache dedicated to each of its six cores, and as with other Black Edition
processors, the 1050T's multiplier is unlocked, allowing for overclocking.
Intel CPU: Core i5-2300 (2.8GHz) w/ Bundled Cooling
Current Cost: $178
Turning to our Intel CPU recommendation, we're sticking with the 2.8GHz i5-2300 Sandy Bridge processor. With 6MB of L3 cache and 256KB on each of its four cores, this quad-core processor offers an ideal balance of power and affordability.
AMD Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ (AMD 990X)
Current Price: $130
While we did not decide to switch over to an AMD FX processor in this guide,
going with an AM3+ motherboard just seems to make sense. The Gigabyte
GA-990XA-UD3, with an AMD990X chipset, offers three PCI-E slots
(one at x16,
one at x8 and one at x4), two PCIe 2.0 slots, two PCI slots, two USB 3.0
rear-panel ports and four rear-panel USB 2.0 ports. Also included are Gigabit LAN,
8-channel audio, and six SATA 6GB/s connections.
Intel Motherboard: MSI P67A-G43 (P67)
Current Price: $115
This MSI P67A-G43, with a P67 chipset, offers two PCI-E slots, two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots, four memory slots (with support for up to 32GB of RAM), two USB 3.0 ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit LAN, integrated 8-channel audio and two SATA 6GB/s connections.
Memory: G.SKILL F3-10600CL9D-4GBPK 2 x 2GB kit
Current Price: $25
The 4GB G.SKILL kit once again remains our choice for both of our builds and
should offer plenty of memory for an entry-level gaming machine. This kit will
leave two memory slots available in each system, providing users who find
themselves needing (or just wanting) more memory with room to grow.
Hard Drive: Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 500GB (Bare Drive)
Current Price: $80
While hard drive prices have been coming back down, they're still not where
they'd been prior to the shortages created by the widespread flooding in
Thailand this past year. As such, the 7200rpm 500GB Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 remains our choice for this build, offering plenty of storage space and
performance for its $80 price.
Optical LG 22X Super-Multi DVD Burner GH22NS90B (OEM)
Current Price: $18
For our optical drive, this time around we decided to go with the LG 22X
Super-Multi DVD Burner (GH22NS90B). It has a 1.5MB buffer and offers read
speeds of 16X on DVD-ROM and 48x on CD-ROM. Its burning speeds go up to 22X on
DVD+r and DVD-R, 48X on CD-R and 32X on CD-RW.
Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 6770 (EAH6770/DI/1GD5)
Current Price: $115
The RADEON HD 6770 continues to offer the best bang for buck at this price
point. With prices on models changing daily, we decided to look at one of the
offerings from ASUS this time around, going with a model that offers one HDMI,
one DVI and one analog port.
LCD: Acer S211HLbd 21.5" 5ms 1920x1080
Current Price: $120
Also changing is our monitor recommendation, with the best model we could
find that would fit into the budget being this 21.5" model from Acer. It offers a 5ms response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio and 1920x1080 resolution.
Connections include an analog connector and a DVI port.
Sound Card: Integrated
Current Price: $0
Logitech LS21 Speaker System
Current Price: $21
As in past editions of this guide, we once again decided to forego a
dedicated sound card and instead chose to make do with the integrated 8-channel
chipset that each of our selected motherboards comes with, pairing that with
the Logitech LS21 speaker system.
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M6800 Gaming Mouse
Current Price: $13
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Keyboard
Current Price: $11
The Gigabyte GM-M6800 Gaming Mouse and the Logitech K120 Keyboard remain our
choices for input devices. At a combined price of $24, it's just a hard
combination to beat.
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-pack for
System Builders
Current price: $100
And as we have for months and will likely continue to until the next Windows
upgrade comes along, we once again chose Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit as our
operating system.
Price Roundup
AMD Phenom II X6 System
Case: Rosewill Challenger Black Gaming Mid Tower - $50
Power Supply: Antec Basic BP550 Plus 550W - $63
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Black Edition 2.8GHz - $150
CPU Cooling: Stock Cooling - $0
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ (AMD 990X) - $130
Memory: G.SKILL F3-10600CL9D-4GBPK (CAS9) 2 x 2GB kit - $25
Hard Drive: Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 500GB - $80
Optical Drive: LG 22X Super-Multi DVD Burner GH22NS90B - $18
Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 6770 EAH6770/DI/1GD5 - $115
Monitor: Acer S211HLbd 21.5" 5ms 1920x1080 - $120
Sound Card: Integrated Sound - $0
Speakers: Logitech LS21 Speaker System - $21
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M6800 Gaming Mouse - $13
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Keyboard - $11
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - $100
Total Price: $901
Intel Core i7 System
Case: Rosewill Challenger Black Gaming Mid Tower - $50
Power Supply: Antec Basic BP550 Plus 550W - $63
Processor: Intel CPU: Core i5-2300 Sandy Bridge 2.8GHz - $178
CPU Cooling: Stock Cooling - $0
Motherboard: MSI P67A-G43 (P67) - $115
Memory: G.SKILL F3-10600CL9D-4GBPK (CAS9) 2 x 2GB kit - $25
Hard Drive: Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 500GB - $80
Optical Drive: LG 22X Super-Multi DVD Burner GH22NS90B - $18
Video Card: ASUS Radeon HD 6770 EAH6770/DI/1GD5 - $115
Monitor: Acer S211HLbd 21.5" 5ms 1920x1080 - $120
Sound Card: Integrated Sound - $0
Speakers: Logitech LS21 Speaker System - $21
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M6800 Gaming Mouse - $13
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Keyboard - $11
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - $100
Total Price: $909
Closing Remarks
We managed to stay extremely close to the $900 budget on the AMD build this time around, though we went slightly over that threshold on the Intel system. But as we have noted
before, we do not factor rebate deals and instant discount/coupon codes into our prices, enough of which are available that you should easily be able to bring both of the above builds well below the $900 mark.
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