Since the early 2000s , the Ars System Guides have been helping DIYers to become system-building tweakmeisters. This series is a resource for building computers to match any combination of budget and purpose.

The Bargain Box (formerly the Ultimate Budget Box) is the most basic box we cover in the System Guides. It's neither top of the line nor extremely cutting edge, but as the lowest-price box in the guides, it has a lot of competition today. Originally, the bargain box just went up against OEM pre-builts, then netbooks vied for the same market, and now tablets compete for the dollars of bargain desktop users.

Still, there is room for basic desktop systems in an office setting, where employees work spreadsheets and stream training videos, and at home, where users might need to store more movies, photos, and music than they could on the (relatively) limited storage of the average tablet or cell phone. 64GB or even 128GB of flash storage can get filled up quickly, meaning a place for a few hundred gigabytes of cheap storage is handy. Despite similarly priced alternative form factors, bargain desktops still belong in a home office, or even as the core of a low-budget HTPC.

There's no pretense of other needs in the Bargain Box. It gets a reasonable amount of storage despite its low cost, and there's no attempt at 3D ability outside the basic level of performance found in the integrated graphics (IGP). It's there to do the basic tasks with minimum fuss.

Why not Dell?

We addressed this in the April 2012 Bargain Box article, and little has changed: for the lowest-cost desktop possible, buying an OEM box makes more sense. As we wrote a year ago:

Big OEMs like Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, and others all get volume discounts and economies of scale that the individual builder or even smaller OEMs can't match. This holds particularly true with software. Paying for the OS is a big chunk of change in systems like these, and it's something that will significantly affect any builder. The Bargain Box is probably more useful to such buyers (and potential builders) as a reference on what specs their pre-built system should meet. For the enthusiast who insists on building his or her own box, though, a pre-built box isn't a choice. Building it yourself, even a bargain system, is a must. The Bargain Box is aimed at them. When even a stripped-down Budget Box is too much, the Bargain Box is designed to provide an even lower-spec'd price point. We do try to emphasize a few things we think are worth the money, particularly higher-efficiency power supplies (PSU) than are typically found in bargain-basement boxes. These features may not be critical, but if you're building it yourself, they are nice things to consider for relatively minimal cost, and are important differentiators compared to the big OEM prebuilts.

Bargain Box fundamentals

The basic tasks the Bargain Box are aimed at means the setup is very minimal compared to the majority of the boxes in the rest of the System Guides. As the lowest-cost setup in the System Guides, it's priced below the Budget Box, sacrificing any pretense of gaming ability and instead focusing only on competence at the most basic tasks.

We wanted to build the best box for the least amount of money, but like last year's Bargain Box, after balancing processing power and storage we allowed two slight indulgences over the absolute-lowest-cost: USB 3.0 and a decent, high-efficiency power supply. The setup permits enough storage to keep all that media, and enough processing power to make it worth using. The high-efficiency power supply helps save money in the long run and keeps your A/C load light in the summer.

The target is sub-$500 (without OS) for the Bargain Box, including monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Aiming even lower is possible for many, and while that gets almost competitive with OEM boxes, the cost of the operating system still tilts it in favor of the OEM pre-built. Continued progress means less than $400 may be possible, but we don't want to cut too many corners.

Final note: choosing an OS

Unfortunately, the operating system will make a large dent in a sub-$500 box. Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 8 Pro is easily 15 to 25 percent of the budget. Choosing an open-source OS such as Linux Mint or Ubuntu might be right for some, but those OSes still lack the traction (and the polish) on the consumer desktop that Windows has.

Windows often wins out simply because it's prevalent and so many users are familiar with it. In business circles it's almost unavoidable, so non-Windows operating systems are rarely an attractive option, especially if non-geeks will be using the desktop.

For those who want to try Linux, don't forget to look outside the mainstream full-on distros and into others, such as XFCE and Enlightenment desktop environments. There are also specific ones for specific uses (should your needs match up), like the media center focused XBMC.

The Bargain Box

As we did last spring, this year we cover two versions, one powered by AMD and one powered by Intel. Each has strengths and weaknesses: better CPU performance with Intel, better graphics performance with AMD.

We also discuss alternative components in the detailed recommendations. The Bargain Box is one system where additional features for a few bucks more might really break the budget for many, but specific upgrades might greatly enhance the utility of the Bargain Box beyond the most basic intentions of the guide.

Common components

Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 = $31.99

Seagate Barracuda 500GB (ST500DM002) = $59.99

Lite-On 24x DVD-RW (iHAS124) = $17.99

Antec VSK-3000 case = $29.99

Seasonic SS-300ET power supply = $38.99

Acer G205HVbd 1600x900 20-inch monitor = $89.99

Logitech MK120 wired desktop mouse and keyboard = $15.40

Speakers (no specific recommendation) = $15

Powered by Intel

MSI B75MA-E33 motherboard = $59.99

Intel Celeron G1610 retail = $49.99

Total = $409.32

Powered by AMD

AMD A4-5300 Trinity APU = $54.99

MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 motherboard = $59.99

Total = $414.32

Differences in performance between the processor and graphics are very real, but performance in the grand scheme of things is nevertheless limited. Still, the differences might matter more to specific user types, so we discuss both.

Processor

AMD version: AMD A4-5300 retail

Intel version: Intel Celeron G1610 retail

Reviews on the budget models of Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture and AMD's Trinity architecture are a bit scarce. A few bits of info on PassMark show that the G1610 is substantially faster than the A4-5300, but the results of a single benchmark provide only a very narrow view of actual performance. The higher-end versions of both chips are well reviewed, but performance benchmarking and scaling are imperfect at best, so it's hard to say.

We feel reasonably confident, though, that the Intel Celeron G1610 (dual-core, 2.6ghz, 55W TDP) is probably going to be a fair bit faster than the AMD A4-5300 (dual-core, 3.4ghz, 65W TDP) for most day-to-day tasks. AMD has made strides in power consumption recently, but Intel is likely to maintain the lead here, especially at full load.

3D graphics-wise, AMD should be faster, which may be a consideration for some—although the IGPs in any processor in this price range are going to be far too slow for serious gaming. AMD also seems to have done a better job with custom frequencies for home theater PC-type (HTPC) use, if the builder should want this Bargain Box to end up as the core of a HTPC rig.

Slower CPU options are available from both companies, but we would recommend avoiding them. No available option saves a significant amount of money, especially given how bad the performance hit would be. Single-core Celeron parts, AMD E-series APUs, or the worst of the lot, Intel Atom processors, all start to get downright ugly in performance. An older article from Xbitlabs provides a useful comparison between a Sandy Bridge-based dual-core Celeron, AMD E-350, and Intel Atom dual-core for the curious.

Faster CPUs, such as the marginally faster Intel Celeron G1620 probably aren't enough of an upgrade to be worthwhile. A bigger bump, such as the AMD A6-5400, Intel Pentium G645, or Intel Pentium G2020 may be within reach for some, but the actual performance benefits vs. the intended use case should be carefully considered before spending too much more money.

Next: a closer look at the motherboard, memory, and storage options.