CORE VARIANCES

DUE TO PAGE LAYOUT RESTRAINTS, we can’t put all four variants of our system in the table on the right. However, as it’s only the processor that changes during testing, we’ll list them here.

Our base system features the Pentium G4600 listed in the table, with two cores, four threads, and a 3.6GHz clock speed (no turbo) for a total of $1,236. The next uses Intel’s Core i3-7300, with two cores and four threads, still sans turbo, packing an impressive 4.0GHz, taking the total to $1,278. The next step up is substantial: the Core i5-7600K, a four-cored, four-threaded turbo behemoth, capable of hitting 4.2GHz at stock, and bumping the price up to $1,361. And, finally, the Core i7-7700K. Four cores, eight threads, and a 4.4GHz maximum turbo brings the total skyrocketing up to $1,438—a difference of $202 from Pentium to Core i7.

We decided to take advantage of Corsair’s Carbide 270R. This budget chassis checks all the boxes for our mid-range build. It’s accessible, comes with just enough hard drive support to keep us happy, and provides a clean-looking aesthetic inside and out. Cooling support is strong, and the addition of a clean PSU cover made it a no-brainer. For GPU, we chose Nvidia’s GTX 1060 6GB. We could have gone with an AMD RX 480 8GB, but the GTX 1060 provides more frames per dollar than the RX 480, so it wasn’t a tough call to make. On top of that, two SSD hard drives and 16GB of DDR4 pull this beauty right into 2017 with a bang.