Bulldozer Comeback: $550 Budget Gaming PC Build That Plays It All

Gamers Nexus: "In March 2012's budget gaming PC build, we put together a powerful, elegant, yet cheap system which will aid you budget gamers in your quest to conquer the cyber world. Our previous build was built for those with a bit more cash, so if you have around $900 to spend, check this one out."

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Damn, nice work. I'll admit they tempted me to make my own PC following their work. My family and I need a second gaming PC for the den.

[5yN4MWQU]

The Intel i3-2120 is still an incredible CPU for the price, but the FX-4100 has finally been serviced to a point of reliability and performs almost equally to the i3-2120 at a slightly cheaper price.

Can't go wrong either way!

[ATi_Elite]

On a tight Budget but still want quality = AMD

Want the best performance your money can buy = Intel

It's just that simple!!!

[Velox]

Comeback? Lol they nvr went anywhere and aren't going to

[5yN4MWQU]

Actually, they are going to go somewhere. AMD announced about a month ago that they're pulling out of high-end gaming CPUs/computing and re-investing their efforts in APUs and the mobile device market.

The bad part about this is that there'll be less competition in the gaming CPU market, which means prices are more chaotic and will go unchecked. The good side is that mobile computing will have more competition and hopefully advance more rapidly than previously projected.

[NYC_Gamer]

Bulldozer is a piece of shit.

[5yN4MWQU]

I personally prefer Intel's i3-2120 and would recommend it to anyone that has an extra ~$40 ($20 more for a motherboard + $20 more for the CPU).

In this instance, though, AMD has managed to recoup some of their losses and fix a lot of the initial issues. The i3-2120 performs slightly better (about 10%) than the Bulldozer and is preferable for gaming, but if you're using any applications that utilize more than 4 synchronous cores (the i3 has 4 threads due to hyperthreading, of course), Bulldozer isn't a bad second option.

[josephayal]

$550.00?? My god PC gaming is Dam expensive

[kulex47]

When the PS3 came out it was 599 so wth are you on about? A decent computer for 550 is a steal! (unless that was sarcasm, if so use a /s)

[5yN4MWQU]

Not sure if it was sarcasm, I'll pretend it is since it was so daft. Considering the power of the video card alone in this build is about 12x what a PS3 discreet chip can produce, I'd say $550 is quite good.

[Drekken]

And obsolete in a few months.

[5yN4MWQU]

If by "obsolete in a few months" you mean "several hundred percent better performing than a console," then you're correct.

Source: http://www.gamersnexus.net/...

You may want to skip the words and jump to the pretty graphics, they do a good job at explaining it.

[admiralthrawn87]

ok i am primarily a pc gamer but just because a card is 700% better, doesn't mean you get 700% the results. considering optimization and all. so don't exaggerate please, you make your site look amateur. but yes pc games do look better right now and are currently on that small time frame where they will smoke the consoles, but they only have a year or so left to do it before the new consoles.

[Elwenil]

I totally understand the need for budget computers for gaming and other uses but honestly, after building many computers for myself and friends and family, I find that for gaming a budget computer is not a long term solution. Sure, you can build a system that will play everything today, maybe even on high graphic settings, but when the next batch of video cards, processors, operating systems, etc come out and games and programs move on to the capabilities of the newer parts and software, the old configurations fall farther and farther behind. I have built many systems trying to save money here and there and found that in 3 or 4 years time, there are games I can't run without upgrades on one sort or another. In the last 10 years we have gone through multiple interface changes for graphics cards alone and that doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon. So unless you can add another card to do SLI/Crossfire, you may be looking at buying a new motherboard just to upgrade your card. If the processors have moved on too much, it may be hard to find a MB to fit the socket of your processor. The RAM may be different, IDE cables not supported, etc, etc.

I also do not agree with buying the latest parts available as they always seem overpriced. Newest graphics cards and "extreme" processors and such are priced very high over their lower performing counterparts and the prices do not exactly reflect the increase in performance. I personally shoot for a "middle of the road" build. I try to use parts that have been around long enough to be proven performers that last and things that can hopefully be upgraded easily, overclocked or otherwise improved. My next build will include a I7 2700K, Asus P8P67 Deluxe, currently a EVGA GTX570, though I may upgrade to a 580 if prices drop enough with the 600 series. Not the latest technology for sure, not the most expensive, but it should be a solid build that should be able to play whatever I want for a few years. Unlike my last build, a Pentium 4, which was outclassed almost as soon as it was complete.

Just my .02

[Epsilon12]

While I want one, i'm pretty good with my Macpro right now, just need a new comp solely for gaming so I'll probably follow this when I can afford it ^_^.