No matter if AMD, Intel or Nvidia, no matter if CPU or graphics card: The reader's article launched on July 25, 2006 by community member _DJ2P-GER_: The ideal gaming PC – “Assemble your own gaming PC” has been advising players for over 15 years in the form of an FAQ for the community in the ComputerBase forum.
Table of contents
- 1 C: B_retro Der_ideale_Gaming_PC
- The history and its hardware
- C: B_retro Der_ideale_Gaming_PC vintages
- 2006: Intel Core 2 Duo, Nvidia G71 and ATi R520
- 2011: Sandy Bridge and Radeon HD 6850 for 450 euros
- 2015: GCN, Hawaii, Haswell and the Xeon alternative
- 2017: AMD Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 arrive
- 2019: Ryzen 3000 and Turing for gamers
- 2021: Zen 3, Ampere and RDNA 2
- C: B_retro Der_ideale_Gaming_PC Umfrage
- C:B_retroFeedback
- Feedback is always welcome
- C: B_retro Review
- An overview of the last fifteen issues
On the occasion of the 15th birthday of “[FAQ] The ideal gaming PC” and its meanwhile more than 10 million page views, issue 90 of C: B_retro is dedicated to the history of this outstanding forum post, which was later continued by ComputerBase reader Campino219 and is now looked after by the forum moderator Na-Krul.
C: B_retro Der_ideale_Gaming_PC
The story and its hardware
As early as October 2009, in only the third year of the FAQ's existence, “The Ideal Gaming PC” received the first million calls from PC gamers who were mostly looking for help and advice and who were looking for the best possible configuration depending on the price range.
The editors also praised the success of the article and, in addition to congratulations, also expressed a big thank you to his community. The FAQ became a point of contact for German-speaking computer gamers.
We would like to congratulate the authors and thank them for updating this article, which has now been continuously updated for over two years, and which has become one of the contact points when looking for a new game computer on the German network!
ComputerBase, on October 6th, 2009
Since the beginning of 2008 ComputerBase had already taken into account the quality of many reader articles and started to present reader articles prominently on the homepage. This decision was already indicated in the ComputerBase chronicle from 2007.
In 2009, “The ideal gaming PC” made recommendations for gaming PCs in the six price ranges from 350, 400, 500, 650, 800 and 1,000 euros. The first of many milestones had been reached.
But which hardware was recommended for building a gaming PC in July 2006? Some of the configurations recommended at the time can be “reconstructed” from the old forum entries.
C: B_retro Der_ideale_Gaming_PC vintages
2006: Intel Core 2 Duo, Nvidia G71 and ATi R520
In July 2006, the ideal gaming PC in the price range up to 1,000 euros was based on a 65 nm Core 2 Duo E6300 based on the Conroe CPU architecture, which ComputerBase tested in advance with the Core 2 Duo E6700 (test) in June 2006 The mainboard was an Asus P5B, which was equipped with a total of 2 GB DDR2-800 CL4 from G.Skill and optionally an Nvidia GeForce 7900 GT (test) or an ATi Radeon X1800 XT (test) via PCIe x16.
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GeForce 7900 GT
Image 1 of 8
GeForce 7900 GT 
backside GeForce 7900figure. 
GeForce 7900 GT voltage converter
GeForce 7900 GT cooler 
GeForce 7900 GT without cooler 
1,4-ns-RAM on GeForce 7900 GT 
MSI GeForce 7900 GT The following recommendation was found in the forum for the ideal gaming PC in July 2006:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 135 euros RAM G.Skill 2 × 1,024 MB DDR2-800 CL4 220 euros graphics card Nvidia GeForce 7900 GT
ATi Radeon X1800 XT 320 euros power supply be quiet! Blackline P5 60 euros HDD Samsung SpinPoint P120 250 GB 60 euros 980 euros
The reader's article “The ideal gaming PC” should be in April 2010 cracked the limit of 1.5 million readers, which prompted ComputerBase to once again highlight the successful community feature “Readers' Articles”.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all readers' articles for their commitment, which has made the reader's article a figurehead for the ComputerBase community has, thank you. Thank you!
ComputerBase, on April 9th, 2010
Already in January 2011 it was said: The ideal gaming OC – 2,000,000 clicks for reader articles!
The ideal gaming PC Gamers who found out about the FAQ in July 2011 received a recommendation for a gaming PC up to 450 euros based on the 3.1 GHz dual-core CPU Intel Core i3-2100 (test), one of the insider tips at the time for gamers, as well as an inexpensive yet fast AMD Radeon HD 6850 (test) with a graphics memory of 1 GB GDDR5.
The wish list of the components in the price comparison back then listed the following hardware on:
The ideal gaming PC for up to 450 euros in June 2011 The editors also examined the AMD Radeon HD 6850, which was extremely popular at the time, in a large comparison test with five partner cards from Asus, HIS, MSI, PowerColor and Sapphire.
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Asus Radeon HD 6850
Image 1 of 5
Asus Radeon HD 6850 
MSD2581b1 
PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 
Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 In October 2010 it was AMD with the Radeon HD 6800 series (test) succeeded in dethroning the Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 (test) in a price range that will no longer exist in 2021.
The AMD Radeon HD 6850 was released for 150 euros, Nvidia already sent the GeForce GTX 460 into the race in July 2010 at a price of 230 euros.
A current graphics card of the latest generation under 200 euros is no longer imaginable today due to the acute shortage of chips as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated production and delivery bottlenecks.
2015: GCN, Hawaii, Haswell and the Xeon alternative
In July 2015, the reader's article “The ideal gaming PC” once again published new configurations from 400 to 1,100 euros. The advisor had long since developed into a real authority for gamers on the German network.
With almost five million hits, the advisor is one the most successful in the German network.
ComputerBase, on July 1st, 2015
The guide not only names fully configured systems for players in different price ranges, it also provides alternatives for each of the recommended components and gives further tips on putting together balanced computers for gaming.
A gaming PC in the price range up to 950 euros recommended in the guide for which the community is responsible was composed in March 2015 as follows:
In particular, the AMD Radeon R9 290 (test) and Radeon R9 290X (test) based on the second generation of the Graphics Core Next GPU architecture and the Hawaii type graphics chips enabled very powerful gaming PCs in the price range between 800 and 1,000 euros at the time.
A particularly popular alternative to the processors of the Core i5 and Core i7 series in 2015 was the Intel Xeon E3-1231 (test), which included the player for 240 euros four cores and eight threads at 3.4 to 3.8 GHz.
Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Toxic 
Just one year later, “The ideal gaming PC” should pass the next milestone. In February 2016, before its ten-year existence, the reader's article received 5 million hits.
The FAQ “The ideal gaming PC”, which has been maintained by the community in the forum for years, has made it and exceeded the mark of 5,000,000 views.
ComputerBase, on February 29, 2016
In the topic, which at that time had already grown to over 6,000 contributions, the selected components of the ideal gaming PC were discussed in detail. Of course, current developments and changed requirements due to new games were and will be included in the discussion.
5 million views In March 2017, a new price class for the ideal gaming PC was introduced with the 1,300 euro configuration. After the price reduction of the GeForce GTX 1080, this new combination now relies on a graphics card of this class for an additional charge of only 200 euros.
2017: AMD Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 are arriving
In April 2017 the ideal gaming PC in large parts of the switch from Intel Core to AMD Ryzen.
In the test of Ryzen 5 1600X, 1600, 1500X and 1400, AMD's mid-range processors were even more convincing than Ryzen 7, because the continuing weakness in gaming performance is clearly offset by the advantage of more cores in this lower price segment.
All in all, Ryzen 5 is currently preferable to the comparable Core i5 from Intel.
ComputerBase, April 17th, 2017
In July 2017, the article “The ideal gaming PC in the age of mining” also dealt with the effects of the rising prices of cryptocurrencies on the prices of graphics cards that are essential for gaming PCs.
Through their continuous work on the overview, the community members Na-Krul and Nightfly09, among others, ensured that their proposed system configurations could actually be implemented by interested parties at prices between 450 and 1,400 euros.
The smaller systems rely on the Pentium G4560 (test) from Intel as standard, the larger on Ryzen 5 (test) or Ryzen 7 (test). As always, alternatives were also available.
Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 earned the recommendation of the editors and community in 2017 The editors also gave the topic a gift with the contribution “Putting together a PC: From components to (gaming) computers” once again special attention.
In January 2018, the guidebook “The ideal gaming PC” also had to adapt. What followed were ideal gaming PCs in times of high RAM prices, in which, in addition to the top dogs of the first Zen generation, Intel Coffee Lake (test) also found its way.
In May 2018, new graphics cards followed for the configurations in the price ranges of 650 and 800 euros.
At the price point of 650 euros for the entire system without display and peripherals, the GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB instead of just 3 GB GDDR5 and at the price point of 800 euros the Radeon RX 580 with 8 GB instead of the GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB Sound on. The price of the AMD model in particular fell significantly after a three-digit surcharge had to be paid over the official RRP for months due to mining.
2019: Ryzen 3000 and Turing for players
After there were new ideal gaming PCs with more power or storage space from the community in April 2019, it was said in August of the same year: Ryzen 3000 finds its way into the ideal gaming PC. The Ryzen 5 3600 in particular became a standard recommendation.
AMD Ryzen 3000 in a quintet Players who were willing to invest up to 1,400 euros received the following recommendation for an ideal gaming PC in the ComputerBase forum in October 2019:
In the meantime the reader's article “The ideal gaming PC” has reached more than 10 million views and the AMD Ryzen 5000 (test) based on the Zen 3 architecture has blossomed into the standard recommendation among gamers. When it comes to the almost priceless graphics cards, AMD and Nvidia are fighting at eye level.
2021: Zen 3, Ampere and RDNA 2
While both Zen 4 and RDNA 3 as well as GeForce RTX 4000 are in the timetable for 2022, the Ryzen 5 5600X dominate , Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 9 5900X the recommendations for the ideal gaming PC 2021.
Due to the production and delivery bottlenecks, the Ryzen 5 3600 can still be found in the recommended configurations and Intel's best rocket, the Core i5-11400F (test), is a recommendable alternative.
With the currently excessively overpriced graphics cards, the Radeon RX 6000 series and the GeForce RTX 3000 series are in a head-to-head battle, but used graphics cards from the previous generations are recommended.
Important: The situation on the graphics card market is catastrophic because of the corona-related supply chain problems and, above all, the ongoing crypto mining boom.
The prices for the few graphics cards available are usually well above the RRP. Unfortunately, the market situation is not easing.
Na-Krul, in “The ideal gaming PC”
When will the community members have their first gaming? -PC built and what was the configuration like? The editors look forward to details and anecdotes in the comments to this issue.
C: B_retro Der_ideale_Gaming_PC Umfrage
When did you build your first gaming PC?
- 1980 to 1985
- 1985 to 1990
- 1990 to 1995
- 1995 to 2000
- 2000 to 2005
- 2005 to 2010
- 2010 to 2015
- 2015 to 2020
- 2020 to current
- I've never played a game -PC built or bought
- Abstain (show result)
Please log in to vote!
C: B_retro Feedback
Feedback is always welcome
The editors are happy to receive constructive criticism, praise, but also suggestions in order to be able to align the series even more closely to the wishes of the readership in the future. The editors wish you a relaxing Sunday with this reading material in your luggage.
C: B_retro Review
The last fifteen issues in the overview
The last 15 topics of the previous issues of C: B_retro :
- C: B_retro Issue_89 : Your best games of all time have been chosen
- C: B_retro Issue_88 : What are the best video games of all time?
- C: B_retro Edition_87 : The first IBM PC in the world to define standards
- C: B_retro Edition_86 : Microsoft Windows 96
- C: B_retro Issue_85 : AMD Phenom and Opteron (“K10”)
- C: B_retro Issue_84 : FIFA Soccer and other football pioneers
- C: B_retro Issue_83 : Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 with PowerVR Kyro II
- C: B_retro Issue_82 : ComputerBase builds the perfect Voodoo-2-Retro-PC
- C: B_retro Edition_81 : The first graphics cards of the ComputerBase community
- C: B_retro Edition_80 : The early history of the graphics card
- C: B_retro Edition_79 : Nokia Communicator
- C: B_retro Issue_78 : The first Microsoft Xbox
- C: B_retro Issue_77 : The Sinclair ZX81
- C: B_retro Issue_76 : The perfect gaming PC for 1999
- C: B_retro Edition_75 : The first MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo
- C: B_retro Edition_74 : Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Even more content of this kind and many more reports and anecdotes can be found in the retro corner of the ComputerBase forum as well as in the topic area chen C: B_retro and Retro.