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.

There's nothing like a major GPU release and subsequent price war to wake the market up.

AMD unveiled its next-generation GPUs, codenamed Hawaii, back in September. The product promptly topped Nvidia's big guns, sparking price cuts and a surprisingly quick response. You can also add in a not-so-little update to Intel's Xeon product line with Ivy Bridge-E (third generation Core i-series) for the God Box. And to complement all the high-end product news, there was the release of the dual-core desktop versions of Intel's current 4th-generation (Haswell) Core i-series processors, ensuring top-to-bottom product refreshes for the two most critical components inside the System Guide.

As for the rest of the computing industry, at least as far as the System Guide is concerned, it has experienced much more gradual change since the last update.

SSDs (solid state disks), hard disks, power supplies, cases, and even monitors have seen only incremental improvements at best. However, the impact of additional maturity should not be underestimated—particularly now that 4K (3840×2160) monitors have enough video card to drive them for (well-off) mortals.

Today we'll 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

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 few bucks toward a decent discrete video card give 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 in the past, from $1,400 to $1,600 down to $1,200 to $1,400... and most recently 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. 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 a lower-cost office 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 Performance Gaming Box. If you don't see anything that interests you here, please feel free to check out three of our latest guides below:

Ars System Guide, July 2013

Ars Gaming Boxes, April 2013

Ars Bargain Box, February 2013


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, despite the gaming focus, 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, and Windows occupies the vast majority of desktop space. Standard Windows 8.1 does fine for most, while Windows 8.1 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 while remaining equally viable. Some