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.
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.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/02/ars-technica-system-guide-bargain-box-february-2013/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29
