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System Builder Marathon, Q4 2012: $500 Gaming PC
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1. Squeezing More Bang From The Same Buck

System Builder Marathon, December 2012: The Articles

Here are links to each of the four articles in this quarter’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon.

To enter the giveaway, please fill out this SurveyGizmo form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!

Day 1: The $500 Gaming PC
Day 2: The $1,000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $2,000 Performance PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected

Introduction

After last quarter's build (System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $500 Gaming PC), our intention was to move away from a pure $500 gaming rig and instead shift focus to a more well-rounded machine based on a quad-core AMD processor. 

And then we caught wind of AMD's Radeon HD 7850 with 1 GB of GDDR5 for the same price as Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560, which we used last time around.

Procuring that much 3D performance for our budget gaming box became priority number one, even if it meant limiting the amount of money we could spend on our system's CPU.

Normally, when we think of AMD's Trinity architecture, we're reminded of capable on-die graphics and not super-fast x86 performance. But when the company introduced its current-gen APUs recently, we noticed an odd addition that looked like it could have been an alternative to Intel's dual-core Pentium.

We pinned our hopes on the Athlon X4 750K, armed with two Piledriver modules totaling four cores. A base clock rate of 3.4 GHz would ramp up to 4 GHz under the influence of Turbo Core, though we'd use its unlocked multiplier to go as fast as possible. Because the chip's graphics engine was disabled, according to AMD's specs, we wouldn't need to worry about unused logic wasting power. And as a result of the new Socket FM2 interface, we'd supposedly have an upgrade path moving forward.

But when the new X4 750K didn't show up for sale after launch, we reached out to AMD, which unfortunately seemed bewildered by the lack of availability, too. We had a couple of weeks to spare waiting for Microsoft's Windows 8 launch, but our deadline to order parts came and went without the Socket FM2-based Athlon showing up. As of this writing, the X4 750K is still nowhere to be found. 

Starting at $130, the new Piledriver-based FX chips were out of this build's price range, and better-suited to one of the two higher-end configurations we'll be presenting. We would have had to drop to a Radeon HD 7770, 4 GB of memory, and still come up with another $15 of cost savings just to get the entry-level FX-4300.

Unfortunately, Bulldozer-based FXes hadn't come down in price either. The FX-4100 was still $110, and the faster FX-4170 was $120. Our best alternative remained the quad-core Phenom II X4 995 Black Edition for $95. But we chose not to revisit this old favorite, figuring that adding a Radeon HD 7850 would have taxed our budget. After all, we already covered similar CPUs in multiplier-locked and enthusiast-friendly Black Edition trims.

$500 Gaming PC System Components 
CPU
Intel Pentium G850 (Sandy Bridge): 2.9 GHz Base Clock Rate, No Turbo Boost, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache
$70
Heat Sink
Intel Boxed Heat Sink and Fan
0
Motherboard
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP: LGA 1155, Intel H77 Express
$70
RAM
G.Skill Value Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1333 F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT$34
Graphics
PowerColor AX7850 1GBD5-DH: Radeon HD 7850 1 GB$170
Hard Drive
Western Digital WD3200AAKX: 320 GB, 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
$65
Case
Rosewill Blackbone ATX Mid-Tower$40
Power Supply
Antec VP-450 450 W$36
Optical Drive
LG 24x DVD Burner SATA Model GH24NS90-OEM$16

Total Price$501


Given the challenges on AMD's side, we just couldn’t ignore the price drops on Intel's proven dual-core line-up. With the Pentium G850 at our disposal for just $70, we could build a more potent gaming rig than last quarter and still have money left over for other components, allowing us to buy a more feature-complete motherboard and, finally, 8 GB of memory. 

The only compromise we had to make was the same $65 storage budget as last time around. And this quarter, we were only able to secure 320 GB of capacity. We didn’t want to break the budget for storage we didn’t need, but we were disappointed to pay so much per gigabyte when larger drives were selling for only a few dollars more.

2. CPU And Cooler

Processor: Intel Pentium G850

Intel’s Sandy Bridge-based Pentiums deliver amazing performance for budget-minded gamers right out of their boxes. But their overall potency is capped by two processing cores, a locked multiplier ratio, and a lack of value-added extras like Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading.

Although it's a slap in the face to many enthusiasts, what you see here is what you get. At least the 2.9 GHz Pentium G850 offers great performance per clock, low power consumption, 3 MB of shared L3 cache, and DDR3-1333 memory support. More important still, its $70 price tag freed up resources we could spend on other system components.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Pentium G850


Cooler: Intel's Boxed Heat Sink And Fan

Intel's boxed cooler consists of a familiar orb-style aluminum heat sink, a low-speed PWM-controlled fan, and a push-pin mounting bracket. It's quiet, which we like, and wholly sufficient given this platform's complete inability to overclock.

3. Motherboard And Memory

Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP

Based on Intel's H77 Express chipset, ASRock's H77 Pro4/MVP is designed to support third-gen Core processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture. It features official DDR3-1600 memory and PCI Express 3.0 support.

Some of the features more relevant to our configuration include all-solid capacitors, four DIMM slots, native SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0 ports, a handful of USB 2.0 ports, and legacy PCI expansion slots. The board also supports Intel's Smart Connect and Rapid Start features, along with Lucidlogix's Virtu Universal MVP technology. Even AMD's CrossFire is supported, though you'd need to accept a less-than-optimal x16/x4 arrangement.

ASRock's Combo Cooler Option gives you the flexibility to mount LGA 775-, 1155-, and 1156-based coolers, too.

Read Customer Reviews of ASRock's H77 Pro4/MVP


Memory: 8 GB G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT DDR3-1333  Memory Kit

The Pentium G850's dual-channel memory controller limits us to 1333 MT/s data rates yet again. This time, however, we have the money left over to splurge on an 8 GB kit from G.Skill's Value Series.

Read Customer Reviews of G.Skill's F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 8 GB Memory Kit

4. Graphics Card And Hard Drive

Graphics Card: PowerColor AX7850 1GBD5-DH

This affordable Radeon HD 7850 delivers amazing performance in a compact design that requires just one six-pin power connector. As we'd expect, AMD's Pitcairn GPU serves up 1024 ALUs running at 860 MHz, while 1 GB of GDDR5 memory operates at 1200 MHz.

PowerColor’s offering does go a little sparse on connectivity, including one dual-link DVI-I, one HDMI, and one DisplayPort output. And the company's bundle lacks a CrossFire bridge or power adapter. Instead, it comes with one DVI-to-VGA adapter, a driver disc, and a thin manual. But as one of the most affordable Radeon HD 7850s on Newegg, we found this card perfect for budget-minded system builders.

Read Customer Reviews of PowerColor's AX7850 1GBD5-DH


Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKX 320 GB

Western Digital’s 320 GB Caviar Blue drive spins at 7200 RPM and includes a SATA 6Gb/s interface. We also like its 16 MB data cache. For the price, a two-year warranty isn't shabby, either.

 

Read Customer Reviews of Western Digital's Caviar Blue WD3200AAKX 320 GB

5. Case, Power Supply, And Optical Drive

Case: Rosewill Blackbone ATX Mid-Tower

Although it looks like we splurged and spent an extra $10 this quarter to get Rosewill’s Blackbone, the reality is that every one of the $30 ATX cases that we wanted was more than $40 with shipping added. Priced at $42, shipped, the Blackbone gave us two pre-installed 120 mm cooling fans, four front-mounted USB 2.0 ports, and plenty of room to house our components and route our wiring.

Read Customer Reviews of Rosewill's Blackbone Mid-Tower Case


Power Supply: Antec VP-450 450 W

Despite the fact that AMD says you need a 500 W power supply for its Radeon HD 7850, it only exposes one six-pin lead, and our fully-loaded system is going to sip power otherwise.

With a combined +12V rating of 30 A, the affordable Antec VP-450 could yet again cover our power needs, with reserve. A quiet 120 mm fan, protection circuitry, and Antec’s two-year warranty add additional peace of mind.

Read Customer Reviews of Antec's VP-450 450 W Power Supply


Optical Drive: LG 24x GH24NS90-OEM DVDN Burner

Given our budget, we look to spend as little as possible on a reliable SATA-based DVD burner. This time around, LG’s 24x GH24NS90 is just what we need to satisfy our optical needs.

Read Customer Reviews of LG's 24x GH24NS90-OEM DVD Burner

6. Assembling Our Budget-Oriented Box

Prepping Rosewill’s Blackbone is simple. The front bezel snaps off with a small tug from the bottom. And with no front-panel wiring attached, it's easy to set that aside while you're working on the drive cages or fiddling with the front fan.

As we’ve seen in the past, threading the painted standoffs into the painted motherboard tray requires a nut driver. We couldn't do this by hand.

The ASRock H77 Pro4/MVB gives us an option to reuse a cooler designed for Intel's LGA 775 interface, which is nice. But frankly, this is overshadowed by the board's thin, flexible PCB (not so nice). Exercise extreme caution when it comes to mounting the boxed Intel heat sink and attaching the 24-pin ATX power connector. I can't recall the last time I was worried about damaging a motherboard during system assembly.

As you can see, the Blackbone is a roomy case. Our short 8” graphics card made it possible to mount the hard drive in any of the internal 3.5” bays. Unlike some of the enclosures we’ve used, Rosewill doesn't skimp on the length of its internal cables. The fan and front-panel leads are long enough for us to wire everything up neatly. Unfortunately, although our motherboard has an on-board USB 3.0 header, this older case design doesn't offer front-panel USB 3.0 ports. We were able to connect all four USB 2.0 ports using on-board headers, but had to curl up the eSATA cable, leaving one non-functional port on the front header.

Although the assembly was pretty straightforward and we were able to get this machine up and running quickly, we did run into one small problem the first time we fired it up. The bezel’s vent filter was a bit warped inward, making the slightest bit of contact with the case fan. The result was a faint ticking sound. It was only a minor issue, solved by removing the bezel and pressing the grill out a bit.

7. Limited Overclocking Strikes Again

With no access to base clock settings, a locked ratio multiplier, and memory data rates fixed at 1333 MT/s, we were once again limited to pushing lower latencies as the only way to improve platform performance. Unlike our last effort, this ASRock board gives us a wealth of voltage adjustments. The memory defaulted to 1.585 V at the Auto setting. And, with just a small bump to 1.6 V, we found G.Skill's value kit stable at 7-8-7-22 1T timings.

I was also eager to see how far I could take PowerColor's retail Radeon HD 7850 above its stock 860 MHz core and 1200 MHz memory clocks. AMD's Overdrive applet offers sliders up to 1050/1450 MHz. But we also know that, last quarter, we were able to use MSI's Afterburner software to boost the voltage of our GeForce GTX 560, yielding a solid 950 MHz core and 1102.5 MHz clock rate. Hoping for the same great scalability, we chose to use something a little more enthusiast-class than Overdrive.

By default, the card's GPU voltage stuck at 1.138 V under 3D loads, and then dropped to 0.90 V in 2D mode. Messing with the memory clock rate in AMD Overdrive, MSI Afterburner, or Sapphire TriXX forced our GPU to a constant 1.138 V, regardless of what the card was doing, though. Only Asus' GPU Tweak utility could augment the GPU's voltage, enable functional core clock rates above 1050 MHz, and maintain separate 2D and 3D frequencies and voltages once overclocked.

PowerColor tunes its fan to stay very quiet. Throughout testing at stock clocks, it idled at a 20% duty cycle. At 30%, it kept the Pitcairn GPU from cresting 60 degrees while looping 3DMark11’s graphics tests. We're glad the cooler is so effective, though, because it gets pretty loud at higher rotational speeds. At an 1100 MHz core setting, and with the fan set to Auto, the GPU was running at 63 degrees with the fan at 31%. As soon as it hit 65 degrees, the fan jumped all the way to 41%. At that point, I set it to an intrusive 80%, just to figure out the core's maximum overclock. 

Our GPUs was stable up to 1130 MHz at its stock voltage, and it broke past 1200 MHz after a bump to 1.205 V. That's an astounding 40% overclock! I had no intention of pushing the memory all the way to 1450 MHz, since we know there's a point where higher clocks won't translate to better performance. However, I was disappointed when artifacts started showing up at 1350 MHz. At the end of the day, we settled on a 1200 MHz core and 1310 MHz memory overclock.

Side note: ignore the driver version listed in GPU-Z. We tested using the Catalyst 12.10 build, but our screen shot was captured later, after the 12.11 build was installed.

Now, we'd never test with an overclock that required a screaming-loud fixed fan speed. But I was concerned the automatic settings would respond too slowly. So, I set up a user-defined fan profile in GPU Tweak to push more air any time the machine saw a 3D load. It took some tuning, but it worked flawlessly once everything was dialed in, idling quietly in 2D mode, ramping up to 33% shortly after entering a game, and keeping our overvolted and overclocked GPU from cresting 60 degrees between a 40 and 50% duty cycle. While my tuning may be considered loud by some folks, I prefer the stability that comes from pushing more air over an overvolted GPU compared to PowerColor’s fairly relaxed automatic settings.

8. Test System Configuration And Benchmarks

Current $500 PC System Test Configuration
Component Base Settings Overclock Setting
CPUIntel Pentium G850 (Sandy Bridge), 2.9 GHz, LGA 1155, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache, Power-saving features enabledUnchanged
CPU CoolerIntel Boxed Heat Sink and FanUnchanged
MotherboardASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Intel H77 Express, BIOS P1.40 (09-21-2012)Unchanged
RAM8 GB G.Skill DDR-1333 Kit
2 x 4 GB, CL 9-9-9-24 1T at 1.585 V
DDR3-1333, CL 7-8-7-22 1T at 1.6 V
GraphicsPowerColor AX7850 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 7850
860 MHz GPU, 1200 MHz (4800 MT/s) Memory
1200 MHz GPU @ 1.205 V, 1310 MHz (5240 MT/s) GDDR5 Memory
Hard DriveWestern Digital WD3200AAKX
320 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache
Unchanged
SoundIntegrated Eight-Channel HD AudioUnchanged
NetworkIntegrated Gigabit NetworkingUnchanged
PowerAntec VP-450 450 WUnchanged
OpticalLG 24x GH24NS90-OEM DVD Burner
Unchanged
 Software and Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 8 Professional x64Unchanged
Graphics DriverAMD Catalyst 12.10Unchanged
Platform DriverIntel 7-series Inf v. 9.3.1025Unchanged
August $500 Gaming PC System Test Configuration
Component Base Settings Overclock Setting
CPUIntel Pentium G860 (Sandy Bridge), 3.0 GHz, LGA 1155, 3 MB Shared L3, Power-saving features enabledUnchanged
CPU CoolerIntel Boxed Heat Sink and FanUnchanged
MotherboardGigabyte GA-B75M-D3V, Intel B75 Express, BIOS F5 (03-27-2012)Unchanged
RAM4 GB G.Skill DDR3-1333 Kit
2 x 2 GB, CL 9-9-9-24 1T at 1.5 V
Unchanged
GraphicsMSI N560GTX-M2D1GD5 GeForce GTX 560
810 MHz GPU, 1002 MHz (4008 MT/s) Memory
950 MHz GPU @ 1.050 V, 1102.5 MHz (4410 MT/s) GDDR5 Memory
Hard DriveWestern Digital WD5000AAKX
500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache
Unchanged
SoundIntegrated Eight-Channel HD AudioUnchanged
NetworkIntegrated Gigabit NetworkingUnchanged
PowerAntec VP-450 450 WUnchanged
OpticalSamsung 22x SH-222BB/BEBE-OEM DVD Burner
Unchanged
 Software and Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate Edition x64Unchanged
Graphics DriverGeForce R300 Driver v.300.42Unchanged
Platform DriverIntel 7-series Inf v. 9.3.1019Unchanged
Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Battlefield 3Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 11, 90-sec. FRAPS "Going Hunting"
Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No AA, 4X AF, SSAO
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset,  4X MSAA, 16X AF, HBAO
Elders Scroll V: SkyrimVersion 1.8.151.07, Version 1.6.89.06 (Aug.), 25-Sec. Fraps
Test Set 1: High Preset, No AA, 8x AF, FXAA Enabled
Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA Enabled
F1 2012Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark
Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA
Audio/Video Encoding
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.98, Video: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 frames) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds, Audio: PCM-S16, 48 000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
iTunesVersion 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format 
Lame MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
TotalCode Studio 2.5Version: 2.5.0.10677, MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Photoshop CS6Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Autodesk 3ds Max 2012Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
7-ZipVersion 9.28, LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
WinRARVersion 4.2, RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3"
Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
WinZipVersion 17.0 Pro, Best Method, ZIPX
Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11Version: 1.0.1, Entry, Performance, Extreme Suite
PCMark 7Version: 1.0.4, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks
SiSoftware Sandra 2012Version: 2012 SP5c-1872, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
9. Benchmark Results: Synthetics

When you take into account the similarities between these two platforms, the biggest difference in 3DMark 11 performance is going to come down to the graphics cards in each machine.

The more modern build boasts a Radeon HD 7850, while last quarter's configuration has a GeForce GTX 560. Even overclocked, Nvidia's board can't keep up to AMD's stock settings. That we're able to fit the Radeon HD 7850 in our same budget is going to be great for value.

 

We didn't expect to see any large deltas in PCMark 7, since both rigs employ Intel 7-series chipset, Pentium G800-series processors, DDR3-1333 memory, and Western Digital Blue hard drives. This quarter's Windows 8-based build takes a narrow victory in the overall PCMark score, but is edged out in the Productivity and Storage sub-tests.

The current build suffers a 100 MHz CPU frequency deficit, which is why it trails in Sandra's processor tests. It does enjoy slightly more memory bandwidth, though.

10. Benchmark Results: Battlefield 3

The very foundation for today’s comparison is how these two machines measure up in the games shared between last quarter's benchmark suite and the this quarter's: Battlefield 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3’s single-player campaign is the most graphically demanding test in our current gaming suite, giving our new build its biggest opportunity to shine. There are more taxing sequences in this game than our 90-second Fraps test, so I shoot for an average of 45 frames per second as a minimum target.

At medium detail levels, and without anti-aliasing applied, our current build leads last quarter's by more than 12 FPS on average in the four tested resolutions. It in fact, even at stock settings, it beats our best attempts to overclock Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 across the board.

The most impressive victory comes from the overclocked Radeon HD 7850 at 1920x1080, where it averages more than 100 FPS and bests the overclocked GeForce GTX 560 by more than 40%. When we bought them, each of these cards claimed the same $170 of our system budget.

We already determined that an overclocked GeForce GTX 560 or GTX 560 Ti is the lowest-end card you'd want to play through Battlefield 3's single-player campaign at 1680x1050 using the Ultra quality preset. Last quarter, we picked up about 15%-higher frame rates from our graphics card overclock, but that still wasn't enough to make 1920x1080 viable.

Our current PC is 20% faster at 1680x1050 and 1920x1080. And, after a run through of the demanding “Operation Guillotine” level, we're calling it playable at our highest test settings, even if there were brief drops down into the mid-20 to low-30 FPS.

Thankfully, we didn’t need to settle for borderline playability. In story form, we had barely begun to tap the Radeon HD 7850's full potential. Using last quarter's stock machine as our baseline, we squeezed 50%-higher frame rates (on average) out of the four tested resolutions. More important, the gains were greater-than-50% at the two resolutions most interesting to us. At 1920x1080, performance during “Operation Guillotine” rarely dipped below 40 FPS!

11. Benchmark Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Though CPU-limited, both gaming systems breeze through Skyrim’s High detail preset. Our new machine leads by two percent on average, falling just shy of last quarter's overclocked rig. At 1920x1080, only 6 FPS (or 8%) separate the fastest and slowest configurations.

We know you don't spend $170 on a graphics card to play Skyrim at these lower-end settings, though...

At Ultra details and with 8x MSAA applied, this quarter's PC still looks platform-limited (we can tell because frame rates at 1920x1080 match those at 1280x720).

The slight improvement we see across the board on the overclocked config looks like the result of tighter memory timings as much as graphics overclocking. We still see notable gains compared to last quarter's PC, though. Last time around, overclocking bolstered performance at 1920x1080 by 14%. Our efforts this time yield a 27% boost at stock settings and a 32% increase overclocked.

In the end, both machines easily cut through Skyrim’s highest detail levels, maintaining at least 40 FPS at all times. However, they also share the same weakness: graphics cards with 1 GB of on-board memory. I'm sure that many of the Tom's Hardware readers who play Skyrim on their PCs don't run the vanilla game. If you plan to use the official high-resolution texture pack and/or other mods to improve this title's quality, stepping up to a 2 GB card would probably be worthwhile.

12. Benchmark Results: F1 2012

F1 2012

We’re replacing DiRT 3 with F1 2012, which is another of Codemasters’ racing sims based on its own EGO Engine 2.0.

Although we don't have comparison data from last quarter, we immediately see lower frame rates compared to what we're used to from DiRT 3.

This quarter's $500 gaming PC handles the High detail preset easily, so let's crank up the settings.

The more demanding Ultra detail preset with 8x MSAA knocks our stock rig down to an average of 45 FPS. Frame rates appear limited by platform limitations, though the 14% speed-up realized from graphics overclocking does let us know that graphics have an impact as well.

13. Benchmark Results: Audio And Video

Although a number of our tests are changing this quarter, we retain the same workloads and executables for iTune and Lame. We know that there's virtually no difference between Windows 7 and 8. So, we can assume the difference in encoding time between both machines is a result of this quarter's 100 MHz-lower clock rate.

Our comparison has to end there, though, since we're updating the rest of our tests.

Considering the processors in both machines share the same architecture, we expect (and receive) roughly the same outcome from our threaded benchmarks. This quarter's machine ends up being a little bit faster. Could this be a result of tighter memory timings?

14. Benchmark Results: Productivity

Once again, we don't have comparison data for a number of these tests because we're adding performance data to our System Builder Marathon.

However, we already know that threaded apps like 3ds Max and FineReader are going to punish Intel's dual-core architecture compared to what we might have achieved with a cheap Trinity-based Athlon X4. The fact that we cannot overclock adds insult to injury.

15. Power Consumption And Temperatures

In an effort to replicate the way you'd use this PC, we leave power-saving features enabled on both rigs. Also, we don't override the automatic fan controls on either of the stock configurations. As a result, we basically sacrifice thermal performance and impose higher system temperatures in order to enjoy less fan noise.

Both machines employ an Antec VP-450 power supply, which offers respectable efficiency, even if it doesn't boast an 80 PLUS certification.

There's clearly a problem with this quarter's active idle power use on the desktop, since we'd expect it to land right around 50 W. We're thinking that something was messing with the graphics card's power management. And, despite our best efforts, we were unable to solve this mystery.

Monitoring utilities confirmed for us that, at its stock and overclocked settings, the card was properly idling down to its 2D frequencies and voltage levels. Our power meter begs to differ, though. Confirming our suspicion of PowerColor's card is the fact that, when the system enters standby, consumption drops under 42 W instead of giving us the 10-12 W reduction expected from ZeroCore kicking in. For one reason or another, our graphics card simply chews up an extra 20 W on the Windows desktop.

Though the performance of Intel's bundled heat sinks and fans isn't particularly impressive, they serve up quiet operation and adequate cooling, particularly since we're unable to overclock.

At a 20-25% fan duty cycle, our Radeon HD 7850 runs hotter than last quarter's GeForce GTX 560. It's entirely possible that the higher temps are directly attributable to the power consumption issues mentioned above. But GPU load temperatures weren't a big problem. Both overvolted and overclocked cards had cooling in reserve. The Radeon barely hit a 50% duty cycle, while the GeForce peaked at 53%.

16. Is This Our Best $500 Gamer Ever?

With a number of new benchmarks added to our suite, we have to skip the full performance comparison this quarter. Fortunately, our two platforms and their Sandy Bridge-based Pentium processors are separated by a scant 100 MHz. So, the most important data to look at comes from our games. 

We'll start by summarizing average frame rates in the two titles we used last quarter and today, Battlefield 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, using the older stock $500 system as a baseline.

When we average all four resolutions, and include mid-range and high-end detail settings, we end up letting a number of bottlenecks affect our results. It's pretty amazing, then, that we see a 12% frame rate boost favoring our current PC, even besting last quarter's overclocked setup. Even more impressive is when we start tuning the Radeon HD 7850. 

Now let's factor out the CPU-limited low-resolution tests and focus purely on the settings we'd actually use for gaming.

Just look at that beat-down! It’s pretty obvious why AMD's Radeon HD 7850 is our new favorite in the sub-$200 graphics card category.

It's a shame that we're only comparing two games. But when we look to the past, Battlefield 3 historically favored Nvidia's hardware. It appears safe to say that the Radeon HD 7850 and Catalyst 12.10 driver package, together, generate more bang from our $170 graphics budget than any card before.

Conclusion

Intel’s Pentium G800-series processor repeatedly prove themselves as capable foundations on which to build a gaming machine. There's a reason that, month after month, they secure the first recommendation in Don Woligrowski’s Best Gaming CPU For The Money column. But what we like most about the Pentium G850 is its $70 price tag. That allowed us to free up additional funds for a higher-end platform, more system memory, and the stellar Radeon HD 7850. Of course, prices change on a daily basis, and we're amused to see the Pentium G860 selling for even less just before publication.

We're disappointed that AMD's Athlon X4 750K is still unavailable here in the U.S. But we're thrilled to present an improved gaming PC based on Intel's Pentium family. This rig sets a new baseline for performance at our $500 price point. There's certainly room for improvement in productivity and content creation apps, but we at least have a good understanding of what we'd give up in the future if a pricier CPU draws budget away from a great graphics card.