Anandtech recommends $1,200 computer with no graphics.

They spend $500 dollars total on CPU/Motherboard/CPU cooler, and completely neglect a graphics card.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5184/holiday-midrange-system-buyers-guide/4

Graphics cards aren't just for gaming.

These guys are getting worse and worse every year.

I dont see the point of getting an i7-2600K and a nice motherboard if they dont intend to use it for gaming or overclocking. As a general purpose computer one of the locked i5's would have served just fine and saved money.

Lol, what kind of PC is over that money without a decentgpu?

The main cost is mainly coming from the SSD and the hard drive. So if you take out the SSD and hard drives prices were back to normal the systems would look a lot more reasonable. And if you already had an OS take another $100 off. And yes the new AMD line of GPU's is coming soon, so there is no reason to buy now, as prices will fall as they are released. Oh and the CPU is a bit much for gaming, and can be had for much less if you find it on sale.

Oh and the CPU is a bit much for gaming, and can be had for much less if you find it on sale.

GTSaiyanjin2

[QUOTE="GTSaiyanjin2"]

Oh and the CPU is a bit much for gaming, and can be had for much less if you find it on sale.

mitu123

Yes the 2500k is a great CPU.... Got one for my brother last month at Microcenter for $150 :D

Lol, what kind of PC is over that money without a decentgpu?

mitu123

[QUOTE="mitu123"][QUOTE="GTSaiyanjin2"]

Oh and the CPU is a bit much for gaming, and can be had for much less if you find it on sale.

GTSaiyanjin2

Yes the 2500k is a great CPU.... Got one for my brother last month at Microcenter for $150 :D

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

Lol, what kind of PC is over that money without a decentgpu?

WWIAB

[QUOTE="WWIAB"][QUOTE="mitu123"]

Lol, what kind of PC is over that money without a decentgpu?

mitu123

Technically a Mac isn't a PC :)istuffedsunny

They call that mid-range? :|

That's a terrble build. It's so imbalanced! Gah!

They call that mid-range? :|

That's a terrble build. It's so imbalanced! Gah!

Tezcatlipoca666

Indeed. I can see some of their reasoning behind it (used for work rather than gaming etc.), but the severe lack of balance within that system really calls out for some serious shifting in the budget allocations.

Yeah anandtech is good for reviews and such but they are awful at this stuff.

Shockingly, the PC without a GPU isn't designed for gaming, it's about getting a solid workstation at a relatively low price. As they said in the conclusion:

This Intel Core i7-2600K system rings up about 20% more expensive than the Core i5-2500K rig on the previous page. You lose the ability to game as this PC has no discrete video card (and the integrated Intel graphics are not gaming-level). Instead, you gain a larger SSD, increased overclocking capability, twice the RAM, and an extra four threads courtesy of Hyper-Threading. To be clear, the i5-2500K is likely a better fit for most computer users than this i7-2600K rig. However, this system can easily be turned into a gaming rig in the future, mitigating one of its drawbacks. And most importantly, certain more intensive applications like many video encoding titles will see more than a 20% improvement in performance for a 20% cost increase. If you can hang off buying a GPU for the time being, as we noted earlier the next generation AMD parts are due "real soon now" so you can grab one of those after the holidays.

Shockingly, the PC without a GPU isn't designed for gaming, it's about getting a solid workstation at a relatively low price. As they said in the conclusion:

This Intel Core i7-2600K system rings up about 20% more expensive than the Core i5-2500K rig on the previous page. You lose the ability to game as this PC has no discrete video card (and the integrated Intel graphics are not gaming-level). Instead, you gain a larger SSD, increased overclocking capability, twice the RAM, and an extra four threads courtesy of Hyper-Threading. To be clear, the i5-2500K is likely a better fit for most computer users than this i7-2600K rig. However, this system can easily be turned into a gaming rig in the future, mitigating one of its drawbacks. And most importantly, certain more intensive applications like many video encoding titles will see more than a 20% improvement in performance for a 20% cost increase. If you can hang off buying a GPU for the time being, as we noted earlier the next generation AMD parts are due "real soon now" so you can grab one of those after the holidays.

Slow_Show

I saw that too, but you have to consider the fact that the guide was not strictly for a workstation PC buyer, but rather just a PC buyer in general. In that sense, this build is severly lopsided for one purpose compared to everything else that the PC can be used for.

I saw that too, but you have to consider the fact that the guide was not strictly for a workstation PC buyer, but rather just a PC buyer in general. In that sense, this build is severly lopsided for one purpose compared to everything else that the PC can be used for.

ravenguard90

Again:

To be clear, the i5-2500K is likely a better fit for most computer users than this i7-2600K rig.

This isn't rocket science: the i5-based rig is for genera purpose/gaming use and the i7-based rig is a pure "how cheap can I get a workstation with decent specs and hardware?" rig; if one decides they need more CPU for the i5 rig or more GPU for the i7 rig, one does not need to be Gordon E. Moore to realize what upgrades/changes they need to make.

[QUOTE="ravenguard90"]

I saw that too, but you have to consider the fact that the guide was not strictly for a workstation PC buyer, but rather just a PC buyer in general. In that sense, this build is severly lopsided for one purpose compared to everything else that the PC can be used for.

Slow_Show

Again:

To be clear, the i5-2500K is likely a better fit for most computer users than this i7-2600K rig.

This isn't rocket science: the i5-based rig is for genera purpose/gaming use and the i7-based rig is a pure "how cheap can I get a workstation with decent specs and hardware?" rig; if one decides they need more CPU for the i5 rig or more GPU for the i7 rig, one does not need to be Gordon E. Moore to realize what upgrades/changes they need to make.

After reading the introduction again, I see what you're getting at now. I was under the impression that this guide was meant to demonstrate how much performance you can get for the same use for each budget tier. However, it seems that they are all meant for different uses, with one being for casual gaming, the second for enthusiast gaming, and the third for workstation purposes.

Seems I'm not the only one who missed out on that key piece of information here, either :P

I have a better dell optiplex 790 for a workstation at work, comes with a 2500 and it only cost 900 bucks and came with a discrete gpu.

anandtech has no clue what they are talking about.

Way too much RAM.

If I were going to get a casual workstation, personally, I would go for something cheaper.

Also, what's the point of getting a 120GB SSD, and then getting a 1TB HD as well, assuming the SSD would probably just be used for the OS? I would buy a 64 GB SSD if I absolutely needed one for this build (actually, for these specs, I wouldn't get one at all). I have a 60GB SSD, and Windows 7 64-bit doesn't even take up half of it. I can't imagine why a casual user would need a 120GB SSD HD along with a 1TB HD, but maybe I'm wrong here.

Sure a non-gaming PC doesnt need a graphics card but the most laughable thing about this build is the 430W power supply. :lol:

I mean they say that "this system can easily be turned into a gaming rig in the future, mitigating one of its drawbacks" and yet they include a power supply which wont allow you to "easily" pop in most any high-mid end card. Considering a better power supply would have cost like $20-30 more thats one epic fail from such a website.

But thats really how it's become, I find many of the tomshardware guides to be pretty laughable as well. One of their suggested rigs was running a GTX 460 on a 380W PSU. :?

Sure a non-gaming PC doesnt need a graphics card but the most laughable thing about this build is the 430W power supply. :lol:

I mean they say that "this system can easily be turned into a gaming rig in the future, mitigating one of its drawbacks" and yet they include a power supply which wont allow you to "easily" pop in most any high-mid end card. Considering a better power supply would have cost like $20-30 more thats one epic fail from such a website.

But thats really how it's become, I find many of the tomshardware guides to be pretty laughable as well. One of their suggested rigs was running a GTX 460 on a 380W PSU. :?

Gambler_3

Non gaming workstation computers that cost 1200 bucks sure as hell better come with a graphics card. Graphics cards don't just do games and intel HD3000 is awful at everything it does.

The 2500 machines we have at work even though come with just the HD3000 we get a discrete card because the only people that don't need a graphics card are people's grandmas.

16GB of ram and a SSD with no GPU...