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

Compared to the massive, across the board shakeups seen in some updates, this iteration of the System Guide looks pretty straightforward. The new System Guide accounts for a significant jump in graphics performance and the continuing evolution of faster CPUs, but the effects are limited.

Small but significant product changes add up, though, and enough of them mean an updated System Guide. It's hard to ignore shiny new CPUs and graphics cards—especially when the new shiny is cheaper, faster, or both!

New shiny

Intel's new 4th generation Core i-series processors, codenamed Haswell, bring nice improvements in performance and platform power consumption, but the Haswell processors available at launch are really only suitable for the Hot Rod. Haswell-E for Xeon processors won't be out until deep into 2014, and cheaper dual-core Haswell parts in the Budget Box price range won't hit until the second wave of Haswell processors later this year.

Overclockers have not been terribly happy overclocking Intel's 22nm processors (Ivy Bridge and Haswell), but in general, the IPC (instructions per clock) improvement and reduced power consumption have made Haswell a nice update all around. In the Hot Rod and God Box, AMD's current processors (based on Piledriver) lagged behind Ivy Bridge and fare worse against Haswell, but to AMD's credit, the very modest tweaks in its latest codenamed Richland APUs keep them very relevant in cheaper systems such as the Budget Box.

Video cards are a little easier. AMD's lineup changes are minor, but Nvidia's GK110 and GK104 GPUs get refreshed products with new price points; making the new Geforce GTX 700-series and (not so new) GTX Titan graphics cards strong candidates for the Hot Rod and God Box. This also knocks down prices on older GPUs that are relevant to the Budget Box, although the price drops aren't huge. It's not as exciting as an entirely new generation of GPUs, but the added performance is always nice.

Other areas are a little duller; incremental improvements in solid-state disks (SSDs) hit around the previous update, and shiny new 4K monitors now trickling into consumer hands are unfortunately extremely expensive. It's far out of typical System Guide builder range at the moment.

We continue to focus more on the tangible benefits for the System Guide: better overall performance and performance for your dollar (aka value) while trying to stay within the average enthusiast's budget for a new system.

System Guide Fundamentals

Beyond the Basics As a side note, we do address other systems in our occasional Specialty System Guides: green computing, more gaming-focused setups at slightly different price points, an even lower-cost office/"mom" box known as the Bargain Box, HTPCs, and others. A particularly large gap exists between the Hot Rod and God Box, which is filled by the occasional Gaming Boxes' Performance Gaming Box. If you don't see anything that interests you here, please feel free to check out two of our latest guides below: As a side note, we do address other systems in our occasional Specialty System Guides: green computing, more gaming-focused setups at slightly different price points, an even lower-cost office/"mom" box known as the Bargain Box, HTPCs, and others. A particularly large gap exists between the Hot Rod and God Box, which is filled by the occasional Gaming Boxes' Performance Gaming Box. If you don't see anything that interests you here, please feel free to check out two of our latest guides below: Ars Gaming Boxes, April 2013

Ars Bargain Box, February 2013



The main Ars System Guide is a three-system affair, with the traditional Budget Box, Hot Rod, and God Box addressing three different price points in the market from modest to a little crazy. The main System Guide's boxes are general-purpose systems with a strong gaming focus, which results in fairly well-rounded machines suitable for most enthusiast use. They also make a solid starting point to spin off into a variety of configurations.

The low end of the scale, the Budget Box, is still a capable gaming machine despite its reasonable price tag ($600-$800). A capable discrete video card gives it some punch for gaming, while sufficient CPU power and memory ensure it's good for everything else. The Hot Rod represents what we think is a solid higher-end general-purpose computer that packs plenty of gaming performance. 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 a showcase or a starting point for workstation builders or enthusiasts who believe in overkill with a capital "O." It may not do exactly what you want, but 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.

For the short version: the Budget Box is for those who are seeking the most bang for their buck. The Hot Rod is for enthusiasts with a larger budget who still know that there's a sweet spot between performance and price. The God Box, as excessive as it is, always has a slight dose of moderation (as mentioned in previous guides, "God wouldn't be a glutton").

Each box has a full set of recommendations, down to the 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 bit nicer. We also discuss alternative configurations and upgrades.

Operating Systems

For the typical System Guide user, this boils down to Windows or Linux. Windows occupies the vast majority of desktop space, with Windows 8 and now 8.1 on the way. Standard Windows 8 does fine for most, while Windows 8 Professional includes additional features such as BitLocker, Remote Desktop Connection, and domain support that home users may not need. Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional also sport similar differences, and these are equally viable. Some find the Windows 8 UI changes intolerable and prefer Windows 7, but we don't have a strong preference either way.

God Box builders sticking with Windows will want at least Windows 7 Professional or Windows 8 Professional (for a desktop OS) due to memory and CPU socket limits on some versions or specific versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 (HPC, Enterprise, or Datacenter) or Windows Server 2012 (Standard, Datacenter, or Hyper-V) for their support for large amounts of memory.

Microsoft has a detailed list of Windows memory limits.

Linux is a strong alternative, although support for many applications is somewhat limited. Gamers in particular are probably stuck to Windows for most mainstream games. If you do go the Linux route, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mageia, Debian, Arch Linux, and tons of others are around.

We do not try to cover all operating systems or front-ends here. We don't begin to touch media center-biased ones (such as XMBC, MediaPortal, or Plex), storage-focused ones (such as FreeNAS), or many others outside the focus and scope of the main three-box System Guide. So poke and tinker away—there's a ton more we can't begin to cover.

Those trying to build hackintosh systems for OS X are also outside the scope of the main three-box System Guide. If that's your goal, you should give our own Mac Achaia as well as sites such as tonymacx86 and OSx86 a look.

Budget Box

Core i3-3220 = $129.99

MSI H77MA-G43 = $84.99 (plus $5 MIR)

Crucial 2x4GB (8GB) DDR3-1600 CL9 1.5v = $72.99

Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB = $154.99 (plus $15 MIR)

Samsung 840 120GB = $99.99

Lite-On 24x DVD-RW = $17.99

Fractal Design Core 1000 = $39.99

Corsair CX430 = $44.99 (plus $20 MIR)

Asus VE228H 21.5" = $137.99

Logitech X-140 =$29.99

Logitech MK120 = $19.99

Total = $833.89 ($793.89 after rebates)

Intended as a solid foundation for an affordable gaming box that is also suitable for all-around use, the Budget Box is full of compromises that we believe are good (or at least reasonable). Moving to the upper end of our preferred price range nets a box with decent performance at 1920×1080 in modern games, 8GB of memory, and an SSD for what amounts to an extremely quick setup for the money.

Individual builders can adjust components to better-fit their specific needs. In particular, removing the video card would make the Budget Box a nice starting point for an office or HTPC, or a video card downgrade could better fit a user with more modest performance requirements.

CPU, motherboard, and memory

Intel Core i3-3220 retail

MSI H77MA-G43 motherboard

Crucial 8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 1.5v memory



The Budget Box processor choice has been an interesting one these past few years. If we inch closer to the upper range of the Budget Box price range, an Intel Core i3-3220 (3.3GHz, 3MB cache, 55W TDP) just barely squeezes in. It faces a formidable challenge from AMD's new Richland APUs, particularly the A10-6700 and A10-6800K. While AMD does well in multithreaded applications, overall performance works out fairly close, and in gaming, Intel's Core i3 maintains the lead. Given the Budget Box's slight tilt towards gaming, Intel's Core i3-3220 makes the most sense. Factor in power consumption and things definitely go Intel's way.

Haswell in dual-core Core i3 and Pentium variants isn't due until Q3 2013, so unfortunately it is not yet a factor in the Budget Box. It should further lower platform power consumption and improve performance, which will keep things interesting.

Aiming a little lower, the Pentium G2130/G2120/G2020 and Celeron G1620/G1610 compete against AMD's lower-end A4, A6, and A8-series Richland APUs. For a general purpose box the differences are small, although builders who don't need the additional performance of a discrete graphics card will find that AMD's onboard graphics are markedly superior to Intel's for light-duty gaming. As the Budget Box performance requirements mandate a discrete GPU, this means the formidable integrated performance of AMD's APUs is not a factor in the Budget Box.

Balancing features, performance, and cost is a little more delicate with an Intel board in this price range. The H77 chipset does not permit overclocking, but it does support onboard video (should any Budget Box builder choose to skip a discrete video card), SATA 6Gbps, and USB 3.0, which is finally standard on Intel 7-series chipsets. Switching to a Z77-based motherboard allows overclocking but costs a few bucks more. This is best done with a K-series processor, which is considerably beyond the Budget Box's price range.

AMD builders will want to look at AMD A85-based boards with Socket FM2 for AMD Trinity APUs. SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 are standard everywhere now and finding a suitable board is generally not a big deal.

The MSI H77MA-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, two SATA 6Gbps ports, four SATA 3Gbps ports, two USB 3.0 ports (plus more internally), 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 is more than adequate. Overclockers buying a Z87 board can look at heatsinks 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 DDR3-1600 at the JEDEC-standard 1.5v for optimal compatibility. 8GB of memory is so cheap it's worth the extra expense in the Budget Box to simply not have to worry about it in the future.