After a fairly dull year for new hardware releases, this fall's flood-related hard disk production damage in Thailand made things more "interesting." Toss in AMD's new CPU, Bulldozer, along with cheaper and cheaper SSDs, and your computer build options can be confusing. We're here to sort them out.

The bottom line remains the same as it always does—the System Guide builds get faster and cheaper.

System Guide Basics

The traditional Budget Box ($), Hot Rod ($$), and God Box ($$$$$) builds address three different price points. These are all general-purpose systems with a strong gaming focus, which means you won't find any office boxes or bargain-basement machines here.

The low end of the scale, the Budget Box, is still a capable gaming machine despite its reasonable price tag ($600-$800). The Hot Rod represents what we think is a reasonable higher-end general-purpose computer that packs plenty of gaming performance, although we've adjusted the price tag a few times recently, from $1400-1600 down to $1200-1400... and now, perhaps back up to the old point to reflect new capabilities and jumps in performance. The God Box remains closest to unchanged from previous incarnations, a very capable starting point for a high-end workstation. It should be an excellent starting point for anyone with a good idea of their truly high-end computing needs, be it gaming to excess after winning the lottery, taking advantage of GPU computing, or storing and editing tons of HD video.

(The God Box, excessive as it is, always has a slight dose of moderation, described in previous guides as: "God wouldn't be a glutton.")

Each box comes with a full set of recommendations, down to mouse, keyboard, and speakers. As these are general-purpose boxes, we skip things like game controllers and $100 gaming mice, (although the God Box does get something a little nicer than commodity parts). We also discuss alternative configurations and upgrades; today's guide reflects the appearance of affordable SSDs and the recent spike in hard disk prices, the video card battle between AMD and Nvidia, and the plethora of monitor choices if you have a little more money to spend.

Hard disk prices and the bits

Two major events make their mark on this update. First, AMD's Bulldozer was released this fall to underwhelming reviews at best. Many observers hoped this would shake things up against Intel's dominance the past few years, but we'll have to wait at least for AMD's next refresh, codenamed Piledriver. This is compounded in the System Guide by the fact that AMD's current strength, low-end systems based on the Llano APU, is not a good match for our three main boxes.

Second, there was real damage to the hard disk supply chain this fall, which is expected to last into Q2 of 2012. The Hot Rod and God Box are more insulated from this kind of pricing shock, as storage is a relatively small part of the cost, but the Budget Box build required some interesting discussions.

Finally, it pays to be at least aware of future events expected in Q1 of 2012: new GPU architectures from AMD and Nvidia, plus Intel's Sandy Bridge-EP for Xeons. Q2 2012 is also expected to bring Intel's Ivy Bridge chips. But the future always threatens to make current parts obsolete in the tech world, and you can't always wait for the next big thing. For those who want a solid build now, let's take a look at our entry-level option, the Budget Box.

Budget Box

Intel Core i3-2120 retail = $129.99

MSI H67A-G43 = $87.99

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 1.5v (KVR1333D3S8N9K2/4G) = $19.99

Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 1GB (GV-R685OC-1GD) = $119.99

Sandisk Ultra 120GB SSD (SDSSDH-120G-G25) = $129.95

LG 22x DVD-RW (GH22NS90B) = $16.99

Antec NSK4482 = $80.71

Acer 23" G235HAbd = $139.99

Altec Lansing BXR1221 2.1 = $29.99

Microsoft Wired Desktop 400 = $19.35

Total = $781.38

Intended as a solid foundation for an affordable gaming box that is also suitable for all-around use, the recent hard disk price spikes force some difficult choices in the Budget Box. We opt to avoid maxing out the top of the price range in favor of keeping it more affordable, but still manage to squeeze in quite a bit of CPU power.

CPU, motherboard, and memory

Intel Core i3-2120 retail

MSI H67A-G43 motherboard

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 1.5v (KVR1333D3S8N9K2/4G) memory

AMD and Intel have long battled for position in the Budget Box. For the past few years, AMD has been able to offer more cores and cheaper motherboards, making it the choice for the Budget Box.

Intel finally makes it into the Budget Box in this round, though, thanks to several factors. One factor that actually is not a reason is CPU price: thanks to other components getting cheaper, we can fit a slightly more expensive processor into the Budget Box, as opposed to a cheaper Pentium G850 or similar. Suitable motherboards for Intel processors have come down a little in price, and finally, per the benchmarks, Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture CPUs hold a performance and power consumption lead enough of the time to matter.

Going with the AMD Athlon II X4 645 (3.1ghz, 2MB L2) and its four cores vs. the dual cores of its Intel competitors may make sense for specific uses, but we feel that the Intel chips are competitive enough to make them worth the choice.

Balancing features, performance, and cost is a little more delicate with an Intel board in this price range; the H67 chipset does not permit overclocking, but it does support onboard video (should the Budget Box builders choose to skip a discrete video card), SATA 6Gbps, and most models support USB 3.0, which we consider essential. Switching to a P67 or Z68-based motherboard allows overclocking but costs a few bucks more.

AMD builders will want to look at AMD 870-based boards if no onboard video is needed, or AMD 880G-based boards for onboard video. An alternative option for AMD builders is to switch to AMD's new socket FM1 platform with an AMD Llano-based APU, which gets on-die graphics a few steps up from Intel's HD graphics; we skip this in the Budget Box because the Llano APU is still much too slow for a Budget Box capable of acceptable gaming.

The MSI H67A-G43 motherboard may be fairly simple, but it supports four DDR3 slots, two PCI-e 2.0 x16 slots (x16 and x4 electrical), two PCI-e 2.0 x1 slots, three PCI slots, 2x SATA 6Gbps ports, 4x SATA 3Gbps ports, two USB 3.0 ports, VGA and DVI-D out, Ethernet, and all the basics.

Heatsink: make sure to pick up a retail boxed CPU, as the included heatsink/fan will be more than adequate. Overclockers buying a P67 board can look at ones such as the Coolermaster Hyper 212+ without worrying too much about cost. And memory, right now, is extremely cheap. We stick with major name brand DDR3-1333 at the JEDEC-standard 1.5v for optimal compatibility. 4GB is enough for virtually all uses, although 8GB isn't that much more.

Video

Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 1GB (GV-R685OC-1GD)

We'll be blunt: if the best gaming performance is desired, scraping up a few extra bucks for a Radeon HD 6870 or Geforce GTX 560 is probably money well spent. The Radeon HD 6850 is more than capable (per Xbitlabs), but it is clearly slower than cards such as the Geforce GTX 560 and its bigger brother in reviews.

In fact, the GPU sweet spot is closer to the Hot Rod's price range, so resist the urge to go too crazy in the Budget Box unless you're very specific about goals in your individual Budget Box.

Non-gamers could go with integrated video, assuming they pick the right motherboard, although this has serious gaming implications for even casual gamers and the latest titles.

We could knock the CPU down a notch (or completely max out the budget) and fit a slightly better video card, but given the lower power consumption and better performance with the current choice vs. previous Budget Boxes, we feel this is a viable combination; individual Budget Box builders can make the call on extra GPU performance.

Sound, communications

Network card: none (on-board)

Sound card: none (on-board)

Onboard sound and gigabit Ethernet work well enough for almost all Budget Box users.

Those seeking more can look at the Asus Xonar DG or Xonar DX for audio; the list of alternatives is fairly short at the moment, and a discrete sound card is decidedly not critical to the Budget Box.

Storage

Sandisk Ultra 120GB SSD (SDSSDH-120G-G25)

LG 22x DVD-RW (GH22NS90B)

The flooding in Thailand did considerable damage to the hard disk manufacturing base. Previous updates would have had a 500GB or 1TB drive in the Budget Box with cash to spare, enabling either a lower priced Budget Box or a bump up in video card, CPU, or other areas.

Combining fall 2011's Thailand flooding with the current evolution in SSDs (solid state disks) has lead to an unusual change: we skip the traditional, cheap mechanical drive and go solely with an SSD in the Budget Box. The previous-generation Sandforce SF-1222 controller in the SSD we use still offers an order of magnitude better performance than any mechanical disk, while the cost of flash memory has dropped enough that we can finally get enough space (120GB) into the Budget Box without feeling too cramped. Plus it avoids the BSOD issue that seems to be affecting the newer Sandforce controllers.

Some Budget Box users may need more space and should budget accordingly; even in these times of high hard disk prices, a 500GB or 1TB 7200rpm disk in place of the SSD is doable at the expense of performance. The latest hard disks today use 1TB/platter disks, making for nice bumps in performance vs. older, lower-density disks, although the gap between HDs and SSDs is still enormous.

Optical drives have been a commodity product for the past few years, and the DVD-RW we choose is no exception. The picky may want a Samsung SH-S243N or a Lite-On iHAS524, but the performance differences are small. A BD-ROM is also affordable, should Blu-ray be necessary. Heck, even a nice Blu-ray writer such as the Pioneer BDR-206DBK isn't too bad.

Case and power supply

Antec NSK4482

It is possible to save a few bucks here by buying the case and power supply separately, but finding a quality set separately and still managing to save a few bucks gets tricky. The easy way out is to pick up a quality combo such as the Antec NSK4482, which includes a decent (but not great) Antec 380W PSU and the very decent NSK-series chassis.

Should you prefer to source yourself, the Corsair CX430 V2 or Antec Neo ECO 400W might work as a power supply, along with the NZXT Source 210 or Antec Three Hundred. Shop carefully for deals, though, to make sure it's worth your trouble and that the deal is actually a deal; several "value" cases out there don't add up well, especially when quality and design (or lack thereof) become hinderances. Don't forget the importance of personal preference, either; buy what suits the build.

The Antec NSK4482 includes a decent 380W from Antec's Earthwatts Green line, 3x5.25" external bays, 2x3.5" external bays, and 3x3.5" internal bays, plus one 120mm fan installed in the rear and space for one 80mm fan in the front.

Monitor

Acer G235HAbd 23" LCD

An abundance of low-cost 1920x1080 LCDs makes for a wide variety of choices in the Budget Box. Fortunately, the low-cost panels they all use don't have too much variation; unfortunately, frequent model changes sometimes make things hard to track.

The Acer G235HAbd is one model we're familiar with. As a 23" 1920x1080 panel, it packs an acceptable response time and fairly low input lag, making it suitable for gaming. Asus has a few other acceptable ones—but so do a host of other manufacturers, and tracking one important measurement (input lag) is almost impossible as it's rarely listed on spec sheets. Viewing angles and color reproduction on TN panels tend to be good enough, but if a nicer monitor is needed, the Hot Rod and God Box pack a wealth of information.

For those who want something a little nicer, though, keep an eye on affordable e-IPS panels such as the HP ZR2240w, Dell U2212HM, LG IPS226V-PN, and their brethren. IPS panels tend to have better color reproduction and viewing angles, but they do cost more. They are also equally subject to variations in input lag and response time from model to model, so doing specific research before buying is strongly recommended.

Mouse, keyboard, and speakers

Altec Lansing BXR1221 2.1 speakers

Microsoft Wired Desktop 400 (keyboard and mouse)

The demise of the Microsoft Business Hardware pack (keyboard and mouse) leaves us sad, as it was an affordable combo for a very decent keyboard/mouse setup. The Microsoft Wired Desktop 400 is an acceptable replacement, but there are others out there. Due to the intensely personal preference in keyboards and mouse, we recommend individual builders try a few out before settling on something.

Serious gamers may consider riffing the Hot Rod's selection for a better gaming experience, as the Logitech G400 mouse is a very nice piece of kit.

For speakers, the Altec Lansing BXR1221 is a basic 2.1 setup that does the job. Most computer speakers are so-so to middling quality at best, and finding exceptions is almost impossible, even in boxes costing twice as much. Find something that works, and consider headphones if quality-for-your-money is a top priority.