Today in The Verge’s How-to: Build a killer gaming PC for under $1,000 they suggest putting together the following components:

Processor	Intel Core i5-2500K	$209.99
Motherboard	Asus P8P67 Pro Rev 3.1	$144.99
Graphics	Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti OC 900MHz 1GB	$214.99
Memory	8GB Corsair Vengeance CL9 DDR3-1600 RAM	$44.99
Boot drive	Samsung 64GB SSD 830	$94.99
Storage drive	WD Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM HDD	$99.99
Power supply	Corsair Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX	$59.99
Case	Fractal Design Core 3000	$64.99
Optical drive	Samsung SH-B123 12x BD-ROM	$59.99
		Total: $994.91

I feel that it does a few things wrong, emphasizing an nVidia graphics card that trails ATI’s mid-range offering, lacks significant RAM, and splurges on unneeded components like a DVD drive and spinning-disk hard drive. If I were to build an off the shelf gaming PC with the ample budget of $1000, using the same tricks (no peripherals, no OS, no LCD/LED monitor) as The Verge, here is what I’d buy:

Processor / Mobo	Intel Core i5-2500K / MSI P67A-C43 combo	$314.98	11% cheaper
Graphics	XFX HD-695X-CNFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB	$229.99	7% more
Memory	CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4×4GB) DDR3 1600	$77.99	73% more
Drive	Samsung 128GB SSD 830	$209.99	8% more
Power Supply	CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W	$39.99	33% cheaper
Case	Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel	$69.99	8% more
		Total: $942.93 (5% cheaper)

The motherboard/CPU are virtually identical here and they are great picks–I also don’t care much about which case to use. However, I think this build is significantly stronger in the graphics/memory/drive arenas, and benefits from a cheaper 500W power supply. When you buy the ATI 6950 over the suggested nVidia 560 Ti, you get:

• Twice as much graphics RAM (2GB vs 1GB)
• 30 – 50W loaded less power consumption
• Similar performance

8 GB of RAM is OK, but when you have a 64 bit OS that can handle it all, why not put 16 GB into the system for $30 more? It’s a cheap easy win. And last, and possibly more controversially, I don’t see the need for an optical drive–everything is downloadable these days. I’d also rather have twice the SSD space than a slow spinning drive to load applications off.

Readers, what do you think? I’m sure my ATI preference will upset you…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 at 8:57 pm and is tagged with nvidia graphics card, cnfc, graphics memory, power consumption, killer gaming, black steel, gaming pc, ssd, dvd drive, mid range, caviar, gtx, verge, vengeance, arenas, hdd, msi, radeon, power supply, illusion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.