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System Builder Marathon, Q4 2012: $500 Gaming PCDec 3, 2012 - in Reviews
We were hoping to kick this quarter's System Builder Marathon off with AMD's new Athlon X4 750K. But a lack of availability compels us back into the arms of Intel's dual-core Pentium. Happily, an affordable Radeon HD 7850 promises great performance.
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System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $2000 Performance PCAug 21, 2012 - in Reviews
We took our highest-priced build back to the drawing board to focus on features, rather than price. Can I compete with the less expensive configurations without spending all of my time worrying about benchmark results? Tomorrow's analysis will be telling.
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System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $500 Gaming PCAug 19, 2012 - in Reviews
Paul went all-out last quarter, cramming massive graphics performance into his $500 gaming PC. This time around, he pulls back a little bit on his GPU in order to use a better-balanced processor. Can he maintain playable frame rates in our gaming suite?
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System Builder Marathon, June 2012: System Value ComparedJun 7, 2012 - in Reviews
Frugality returned in this quarter's System Builder Marathon, tipping the balance towards less-elaborate gaming rigs. Does cutting deep into the budgets end up hurting our lower-cost build too much for it to compete, or is its value enhanced instead?
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System Builder Marathon, June 2012: $500 Gaming PCJun 6, 2012 - in Reviews
After stripping $150 from his already frugal budget, Paul is forced to make a tough gamble in order to hit his build goals. Will the decision to spend big on graphics bite him in the rear when he has to cut back on everything else, or is the choice sound?
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2011: $1200 Enthusiast PCDec 19, 2011 - in Reviews
We mix things up with a $1200 budget, a brutally powerful Radeon HD 6950 CrossFire combo, and AMD's new FX processor in the final mid-range System Builder Marathon PC of 2011. The results are predictable in some ways, but surprising in others.
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: System Value ComparedSep 25, 2011 - in Reviews
Big changes to a few components radically alter the performance profile of every machine in this quarter's competition. We’ve already seen how these changes affect the value of each machine, but how will they compare to each other?
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: $1000 Enthusiast PCSep 20, 2011 - in Reviews
This quarter's $1000 enthusiast-oriented PC gets a new lease on life with a 30 GB solid-state drive and a couple of GeForce GTX 460s. Does that make a difference over the last build and its conventional hard disk and Radeon HD 6850 CrossFire setup?
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: $2000 Performance PCSep 19, 2011 - in Reviews
Falling memory prices make it easier to spend our $2000 budget on the fastest available components. How much faster is a pair of GeForce GTX 580s than two Radeon HD 6970 cards? Noticeably. But is the value any more compelling? You're about to find out.
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System Builder Marathon, June 2011: Value ComparedJun 23, 2011 - in Reviews
With so little happening in the hardware world since the beginning of this year, our second-quarter System Builder Marathon sees only minor hardware changes. But each builder unquestionably comes closer to dialing in ideal setups at each price point.
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System Builder Marathon, June 2011: $1000 Enthusiast PCJun 21, 2011 - in Reviews
This quarter, we're keeping the Core i5-2500K processor from our previous build, but we're adding a pair of Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire. How will those two boards stand up against the modified Radeon HD 6950 we used last time? The answer is within!
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System Builder Marathon, December 2010: Value, ComparedDec 19, 2010 - in Reviews
New benchmarks, new test methods, and new hardware mark exciting updates to this month’s System Builder Marathon. Today, we cover the most exciting part of all: the value competition. Remember, we're giving all three systems away, so enter to win them!
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System Builder Marathon, December 2010: $1000 PCDec 13, 2010 - in Reviews
Although we were afraid of the results, this time around we decided to try something new, forgoing the Core i5 in favor of a dual-core Core i3 CPU in our build. Can the higher clock rate compensate for the loss of two physical cores in our $1000 system?
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2010: Value ComparedSep 9, 2010 - in Reviews
Three systems represent our builders' best performance and value hopes for budget, mainstream, and high-end users. Last quarter's marathon demonstrated how each system compared to its predecessor, and today we find out how these compare to each other.
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2010: $400 Gaming PCSep 8, 2010 - in Reviews
The third and final build in this quarter's System Builder Marathon is a direct answer to your feedback. Paul went as low as he could go in compiling the parts for his $400 Gaming PC. Is gaming still within the realm of possibility at this price point?
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2010: $1000 Enthusiast PCSep 7, 2010 - in Reviews
In this quarter's System Builder Marathon, we balance out our CPU and graphics subsystems, rather than piling on the GPU performance like last time. The results are shocking, to be quite honest. Check out the performance of our $1000 enthusiast system.
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Part 4: Building A Balanced Gaming PCAug 11, 2010 - in Reviews
What does it mean to build a truly-balanced PC? How great would it be to piece together a machine bottlenecked by neither CPU or GPU? We set forth to measure the perfect balance in seven different games and four resolutions in this fourth of many parts.
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System Builder Marathon, June 2010: System Value ComparedJun 18, 2010 - in Reviews
Smaller budgets were the rule for this quarter’s System Builder Marathon, but better performance was the exception. How will this affect our multi-budget value comparison? Check out the performance results, and don't forget to register to win these boxes!
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System Builder Marathon, June 2010: $1,000 Enthusiast PCJun 16, 2010 - in Reviews
This quarter, we're dropping the budgets on all of our systems, the enthusiast-class build, specifically, by $500, giving us $1,000 to fight the $1,500 system's performance. Read on to see what value we managed to squeeze out of this shrunken-cost box.
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Part 3: Building A Balanced Gaming PCMay 11, 2010 - in Reviews
What does it mean to build a truly-balanced PC? How great would it be to piece together a machine bottlenecked by neither CPU or GPU? We set forth to measure the perfect balance in seven different games and four resolutions in this third of many parts.
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System Builder Marathon, March 2010: System Value ComparedMar 19, 2010 - in Reviews
Budget enhancements to this month’s SBM finally reflect last year’s price increases, allowing the return of liquid cooling at the high-end and Core i7 for the mid-priced systems. With big improvements to its bigger brothers, can the low-cost PC still win?
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System Builder Marathon, March 2010: $750 Gaming PCMar 18, 2010 - in Reviews
The last machine in this quarter's System Builder Marathon, Paul's $750 Gaming PC certainly isn't least. A triple-core Athlon II X3 didn't necessarily overclock well, but a fourth-core unlock gives this system a huge efficiency advantage in our suite.
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System Builder Marathon, March 2010: $1,500 Enthusiast PCMar 17, 2010 - in Reviews
In this System Builder Marathon, we get to make a great $1,500 Core i7-920 enthusiast PC and then pit it against the Core i5-750 system from our previous series. Is the extra money for the Core i7-920 worthwhile, or can the Core i5-750 go the distance?
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System Builder Marathon, March 2010: $3,000 Extreme PCMar 16, 2010 - in Reviews
We loosened the leash on our budgets a little this month in order to pack all of your most requested features into a system that's accessible to more than just affluent enthusiasts. Will this build be complete enough to avoid previously noted regrets?
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: System Value ComparedDec 25, 2009 - in Reviews
Our mid-priced and high-end systems are ready to challenge the notion of value supremacy for low-cost parts. Will Intel’s latest architecture provide enough performance to break the $700 machine’s value winning monopoly? How do ATI's new GPUs factor in?
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System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: $1,300 Enthusiast PCDec 23, 2009 - in Reviews
Last quarter, we presented you with four Radeon HD 4850s under $1,250. This time around, we put together a very respectable Core i5 system with a couple of Radeon HD 5850s in CrossFire. Let's see how it compares against the previous "QuadFire" system.
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Part 2: Building A Balanced Gaming PCNov 30, 2009 - in Reviews
What does it mean to build a truly-balanced PC? How great would it be to piece together a machine bottlenecked by neither CPU or GPU? We set forth to measure the perfect balance in seven different games and four resolutions in this second of many parts.
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Tom's Hardware's 2009 Gift Guide: Part 1, For System BuildersNov 25, 2009 - in Reviews
Welcome to Part One of Tom's Hardware's Holiday Gift Guide. This first episode is geared toward those system builders planning to pool some Christmas cash to construct a powerful (yet value-oriented) system. This year, Sarah is back to show off our picks.
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Part 1: Building A Balanced Gaming PCNov 9, 2009 - in Reviews
What does it mean to build a truly-balanced PC? How great would it be to piece together a machine bottlenecked by neither CPU or GPU? We set forth to measure the perfect balance in seven different games and four resolutions in this first of several parts.
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System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: AMD System Value ComparedSep 29, 2009 - in Reviews
Our response to reader-demand for AMD systems focuses on the company’s penchant for gaming value across three budget classes. How do these fully-optimized systems compare to each other in ultimate performance and value?