{"id":1979,"date":"2013-04-30T10:23:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T14:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2013-04-30T10:23:02","modified_gmt":"2013-04-30T14:23:02","slug":"ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-boxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/04\/30\/ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-boxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ars Technica System Guide: Gaming Boxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2013\/04\/ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-boxes-april-2013\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/nccomputertech.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/04\/system-guide-gaming-apr13.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Since the early 2000s, the Ars System Guides have been helping those interested become &#8220;budding, homebuilt system-building tweakmeisters.&#8221; This series is a resource for building computers to match any combination of budget and purpose.<br \/>\nThe main Ars System Guide is great for what it is\u2014an updated, step-by-step look at the best components for an all-around desktop build. But even this beast has some limitations and a few gaps. And if our System Guide build got much bigger, it might not ever get published.<br \/>\nIn particular, there are sizeable gaps between the Budget Box (our low-end, affordable build) and the Hot Rod (that &#8220;just right&#8221; bowl of build porridge). Quite frankly, there&#8217;s also an enormous gap between the Hot Rod and the God Box (where money is no obstacle). But if you do a focus shift from capable-all-around boxes with gaming capability to boxes that are purely gaming focused, you have an equally seismic shift. There&#8217;s where the newest System Guide comes in. Meet the special Gaming Boxes.<br \/>\nThe goal of Gaming Boxes is two-fold. First, we want to help build boxes that are the best gaming performance for the money. Second, we want to do so while highlighting different price points than what we see in the main System Guide. Let&#8217;s get to it.<br \/>\nShrinking differences<br \/>\nThe differences between the specialty Gaming Boxes and others may be smaller than some think, though. Many gamers have large collections of downloaded games, which means Gaming Boxes actually need fairly large amounts of storage. The shrinking cost of LCD monitors, affordable SSDs, fast video cards, and other components all mean that the adjustments in a build from a focused gaming box to a more well-rounded box aren&#8217;t all that bad on the wallet.<br \/>\nMeet the boxes (and their requirements)<br \/>\nThe Gaming Boxes give a greater emphasis on gaming performance than the boxes in the main System Guide. Hot Rod-class performance on a Budget Box price, or so goes the clich\u00e9. For those who desire something more than the Hot Rod but don&#8217;t need all the storage or processing power of the God Box (and with a stronger bent on value), the Gaming Boxes can provide that, too.<br \/>\nPrevious Ars system guides<br \/>\nArs forums: Gaming Box discussion<br \/>\nFebruary 2013: Ars Bargain Box<br \/>\nDecember 2012: Ars System Guide<br \/>\nThe Value Gaming Box sits between the Budget Box and Hot Rod for price but aims for Hot Rod-level gaming performance. With gaming as the primary focus, things like low noise might take a hit. However, modern components today tend to have energy efficiency designed in, so the power and noise penalties aren&#8217;t too bad. A target price between $1,000-1,200 seems to be an attractive spot for the Value Gaming Box. It budgets for a reasonable CPU and GPU plus a small(ish) SSD while leaving flexibility for individual builders to bump up a component or two if budgets allow.<br \/>\nThe Performance Gaming Box has many similarities to the Hot Rod, only done bigger and faster. The base components making up the Hot Rod today actually look quite solid, so bumping up some areas (such as CPU or memory) end up being a relatively poor value. Keeping those in the same class as the Hot Rod and focusing on the parts that matter for more gaming panache\u2014the video cards and monitor in particular\u2014seems to find the best balance between performance and money. Other components do end up tweaked as needed to handle the increased power draw of a pair of high-end video cards in SLI\/Crossfire (plus these can accommodate more gaming-specific demands).<br \/>\nValue is still a key, and to that end, the Performance Gaming Box ends up targeted somewhere around $2,500. This forces some difficult choices. Bumping up both frame rates and resolutions can cause a serious strain on the video subsystem as well as significantly increasing the cost of the monitors necessary to support higher frame rates, higher resolutions, or both. Needless to say, things can quickly get out of hand as we found in our time searching for reasonable configurations.<br \/>\nGaming peripherals<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2013\/04\/ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-boxes-april-2013\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/nccomputertech.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/04\/logitech_drivingforcegt.png\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Full Story: <a href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2013\/04\/ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-boxes-april-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica System Guide: Gaming Boxes | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the early 2000s, the Ars System Guides have been helping those interested become &#8220;budding, homebuilt system-building tweakmeisters.&#8221; This series [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Ars System Guide\u2019s Gaming Boxes: December 2014","author":"NCCT","date":"December 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The main Ars System Guide (last updated in August) is great for what it is\u2014a well-rounded system with a strong focus on gaming ability. However, it has some definite limitations and a few gaps in coverage. And if our System Guide build got much bigger, it might not ever get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2995,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/22\/ars-technica-system-guide-july-2013\/","url_meta":{"origin":1979,"position":1},"title":"Ars Technica System Guide: July 2013","author":"NCCT","date":"July 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7284,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/30\/the-20-best-games-of-2014-as-chosen-by-the-ars-brain-trust\/","url_meta":{"origin":1979,"position":2},"title":"The 20 best games of 2014, as chosen by the Ars brain trust","author":"NCCT","date":"December 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"From polished sequels to surprising new franchises, 2014 was a weird year in gaming. Before we dive in to the list, a reminder that Ars Technica's annual charity drive sweepstakes is still going on. Don't miss your chance to win some great prizes while giving to a good cause. 2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Software&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Software","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/blps14-640x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/blps14-640x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/blps14-640x400.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5579,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/05\/13\/linux-gets-fix-for-code-execution-flaw-that-was-undetected-since-2009-ars-technica\/","url_meta":{"origin":1979,"position":3},"title":"Linux gets fix for code-execution flaw that was undetected since 2009","author":"NCCT","date":"May 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Maintainers of the Linux kernel have patched one of the more serious security bugs to be disclosed in the open source operating system in recent months. The five-year-old code-execution hole leaves computers used in shared Web hosting services particularly vulnerable, so users and administrators should make sure systems are running\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linux&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linux","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/linux\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rockhopper_penguin_sick-640x807.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rockhopper_penguin_sick-640x807.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rockhopper_penguin_sick-640x807.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2907,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/12\/windows-server-2012-r2-preview-your-cloud-on-ramp-is-under-construction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1979,"position":4},"title":"Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview: Your cloud on-ramp is under construction","author":"NCCT","date":"July 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been just under a year since Microsoft released Windows Server 2012. Touted as an operating system built for the cloud, Server 2012 promised some significant improvements to storage, networking, and virtualization services. It tried to strike a balance between the complex and varied needs of its data center customers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Microsoft&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview: Your cloud on-ramp is under construction | Ars Technica","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6309,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/08\/26\/android-attack-improves-timing-allows-data-theft\/","url_meta":{"origin":1979,"position":5},"title":"Android attack improves timing, allows data theft","author":"NCCT","date":"August 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A malicious application could enable the theft of login credentials, sensitive images, and other data from Android smartphones by making use of a newly discovered information-leakage weakness in the operating system, according to a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of California at Riverside. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}