Fire Alarms Systems

. Note: This article appeared in the May 2012 Issue of Maximum PC - some price information may have changed

will not blow smoke in your diet: spend more money on a PC in general gives you a better computing experience. But that does not mean that nothing less than a $ 7,000 PC exotic can be fun and rewarding, and it does not mean that people with a very lean budget are condemned to a urine sample of poor computing experience. So for someone who is not flush with money, we presented very well set up three teams, one for every budget.

The first is a platform for under $ 500 that offers performance over a set of GPU line-up game ... from 2007. The second PC for only $ 1300, is an ordinary PC that is sure to make Joe the nerd a happy camper. The third computer is an honest to goodness amateur class PC in the price with his feet in the land of $ 2,100.

If you are wanting to build a platform, the time to do it now!

pick your poison

The beauty of a PC is the scale-both in performance and price

Recovery What? PC

all have friends who stand in line for hours and I slept the best price for the latest gadget in brushed aluminum, but the truth is, many people, recovery n ' is not here, not by a long shot.

Light at the end of the tunnel could be an economic train.

For these people, every dollar is precious, and even a $ 700 PC seems extravagant. But we did not want the hard times to crush the hopes of a PC maker in the making. So we began to see what is possible in the $ 500 mark. Of course, this would be the second machine cheaper than we spec'd out. The cheapest was $ 340 budget PC for September 2011 Ultra version, but it was essentially a calculator on steroids. For this table, we wanted better than the integrated graphics, if possible. We now recognize that our goal was to strike a difficult task given the current prices of hard drives and the cost of the operating system, but we think the effort is worth it. The interesting thing is that once you enter the range of $ 500, each component must be carefully weighed and justified. There were cutting corners and risks? Of course. You can not eat cheese Doritos without dairy in your hands, but the final product is not bad.

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The Sweet Spot PC

you heard that a hacker named Goldilocks? He joined the laboratory of Maximum PC on a day when there was nobody around, began to use the recovery What? box, and immediately proclaimed it was "way too low budget for their needs." Then came the PC tax refund premium and again appeared nose in disapproval. "Why the hell should I pay a premium for LGA2011, when I'm never going to need four memory channels or buy a $ 600 hexa-core? "

As Goldilocks said: "It's just ...."

Well G-Lock, PC Sweet Spot is the right equipment for you, and most fans, for that matter. About $ 1300, is fast, but not excessive, is elegant without being ostentatious. It also affects all modern lovers should not miss: You must have ultra-fast SSD, must be upgraded to the next generation of processors, and must have the support of multi-GPU future update. Hell, even overclocking very well without disturbing the nature of the quiet church mouse in the box. This is a box of candy for the price and the machine may be sufficient for 80 percent of the population. It is very nice, in fact, that most of you probably do not need to seek reimbursement of the tax on all PCs.

The tax refund PC

We knew when we started the technical characteristics of high-end building that the average tax refund in the U.S. is $ 2,100. So when our PC was completed at that time the price, we knew that the configuration is right on target. Of course, those of you whose heads were turned by the promise of our PC soft spot ridiculed the frivolity of elbows dropped further on this box. But really think about the PC not as a tax refund you need the PC but the PC you want.

The PC you want, not the PC that you need.

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First, it is faster. As computing tasks related to gambling, that extra 800 lets you son eight instead of four, the current reigning champion in a single-GPU graphics and the ability to read and record Blu-ray. This is also the only machine here that allow you to run more than four cores. Of course, not everyone needs six hearts, but if you're the kind of person whose livelihood is based on a fast PC, have the ability to upgrade to a six-core Sandy Bridge processor-E today or even a child eight or 10 cores with Ivy Bridge-E tomorrow, makes this box worth its weight in silicon. If this is not enough ... is red

Read on to complete parts lists, our decision making, and benchmarks

Recovery

What? PC

At that price, most people expect sucktastic integrated graphics, but to show he can get his (moderate) game in less than five Benjies.

Food

/ Box

The first commitment we always do with a picture of the budget is food. Here we go with a package of Rosewill 450 watt power supply that is included free with the Rosewill R218 case. Not normally rely on the provision of free energy, but we are comforted by the fact that the unit has a one year warranty and the site is based in the U.S.

CPU

For under $ 500, a budget was the CPU key. To do this, he went to G530 Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz. We know what you think, "Celeron Whaa!" Quiet, it's not a Pentium III core overheated? This is actually a chip Sandy Bridge. Well, Sandy Bridge chip with not much out of the Hyper-Threading, not QuickSync, 2.0 and Turbo Boost. The cache is also a bit smaller in 2 MB 3 MB vs. a standard dual-core part in the negotiation, but not a bad CPU.

GPU

integrated graphics is generally a typical element of the ultra-budget boxes. While Intel and AMD integrated graphics have come a long way, yet, well, stink compared to a discrete map. Gigabyte HD 7750 is easily integrated graphics a monkey today and sips energy, which is crucial given our free PSU.

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Mother

We had to make a commitment to our Gigabyte GA-H61 motherboard, but it's probably fine. The problem is with the Intel H61, which removes support for SATA 6Gb / s speed (thanks Intel!). However, the board put us in LGA1155 for $ 54, and someone with an ultra budget box will actually buy a $ 200 SSD anyway? Probably not.

RAM

A pair of 2GB DIMMs Kingston DDR3/1333 does the job. The Celeron reality DDR3/1066 RAM speeds, but it is difficult to find, even today the RAM clock.

hard drive

For $ 20, could have doubled our capacity WD Caviar Green, but we opted for a 500 GB WD Caviar Blue, because we believe that having a 5,400 rpm disk main boot is too painful . No, not a black unit, but at least it works at 7200 rpm.

Today's youth will

wonder why the world of technology once trembled at the mere mention of Microsoft. Our construction budget is very well presented, however: the epidemic as a percentage, the $ 99 spent on Windows 7 Home Premium is 20 percent of the budget system

Read PC

sweet spot, tax refunds and PC criteria

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The Sweet Spot PC

This platform is good for the budgets of most people, offers the right amount of representation, and just the right sound, also

radiator

Cooler Master Hyper 212

Evo continues to offer the best cooling system at a price that will not break the bank, or ears, and allows us to keep our 4GHz overclock in peace and tranquility .

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CPU

In Valentine's Day, we send flowers and chocolate for the Core 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K. Yes, we like very much for giving us so much joy and happiness for so little money. We take the chip's stock 3.3GHz to 4GHz overclock very soft to stay within our plan for a quick and quiet PC.

Mother

Newsflash: You can get a cheap LGA1155, but you can get a cheap card that supports SLI and CrossFireX. Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 is the lowest cost card around that still gives us the ability to run SLI or CrossFireX, while providing all the goodness-Z68 as caching QuickSync and SSD.

GPU

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448

is perhaps the best bang for the buck right now, without jumping past $ 300 for the GPU. Ours, for example, can be found on sale or discount of $ 269. Do not confuse with the changes FTW or advertising, to reach a little more.

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