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System Builder Marathon, Q1 2013: $800 Enthusiast PC
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1. Building A PC: What Do We Get For $800?

System Builder Marathon, Q1 2013: 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 $600 Gaming PC
Day 2: The $800 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $1,000 Performance PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Day 5: The $1,600 Alternative PC

Introduction

As Paul let us know yesterday, this quarter's System Builder Marathon is a little different in that we're putting a bigger emphasis on performance per dollar by narrowing our budgets to $600, $800, and $1,000. Thomas has long maintained that there is this point of diminishing returns that shows up right around $800. Above it, and you pay more for every unit of performance you get. Under it, and you're leaving easy gains on the table. By the end of our experiment, we hope to know whether Soderstrom's Theorem is sound enough to become law, or if the line is blurrier than he thinks.

Unfortunately for me, a shifting price target means that my mid-range enthusiast-oriented build loses $200 compared to the $1,000 system I built back in December. As a result, I decided to ditch the SSD. Also, I can no longer afford a powerful GeForce GTX 670 for $370.

The good news is that AMD's Radeon HD 7870 is now available from a couple of different companies with a stripped-down Tahiti GPU, delivering strong graphics performance under $300. Although we're going to miss the snappy boot-up times and almost-instant application launches the solid-state drive enabled, we probably won't be penalized too much in the benchmark results.

We're still expecting great things from this $800 setup. I even have my hopes that it'll give last quarter's pricier $1,000 configuration a run for its money.

$800 Enthusiast System Components
MotherboardASRock Z77 Pro3: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 Express
$90
ProcessorIntel Core i5-3570K: 3.4 GHz Base Clock Rate, 3.8 GHz Turbo Boost, 6 MB Shared L3 Cache
$230
Heat Sink
Rosewill RCX-ZAIO-92
$15
MemoryCrucial Ballistix Tactical BLE2KIT4GD31608DE1TX0: DDR3-1600 C8, 8 GB (2 x 4 GB)$53
GraphicsPowerColor PCS+ AX7870 Myst Edition 2GBD5-2DHPPV3E
$240
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002, 500 GB, 7,200 RPM, SATA 6Gb/s
$60
OpticalSamsung SH-224BB: DVD Burner
$18
CaseXigmatek Asgard II B/B
$34
PowerAntec Neo Eco 520C: 520 W, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS-Certified
$55
 Total Cost
$795


Just to show you that we really try to abide by our budgets, I'm listing the prices I paid for the components back when they were ordered. Some of the components might have fluctuated a bit (for example, the memory now costs $11 bucks extra, though we're happy to report that the PowerColor card should be in stock again at Newegg this week for less than $210).

2. CPU, Motherboard, And Cooler

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K

This is the staple component of our $800 system, and we'd frankly need a lot more money in our budget to even consider a pricier Core i7. Fortunately, this K-series SKU is multiplier-unlocked, giving me a significant differentiator that Paul's $600 box does not enjoy.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i5-3570K


Selling for $230, the Core i5-3570K might be challenged by AMD's $200 FX-8350 at it stock clock rates in threaded applications (albeit at much higher power consumption. When overclocking is an option, however, this Intel chip is in a league of its own.

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3

Read Customer Reviews of ASRock's Z77 Pro3


Our smaller budget means we have less flexibility when it comes to platform selection. Thankfully, ASRock sells a number of value-oriented options designed for enthusiasts. The Z77 Pro3 has all of the BIOS settings needed for serious overclocking attempts, but at a reasonable $90 price tag.

It's pure coincidence that this platform is so similar to the Z75-based board Paul chose in yesterday's story; we don't compare notes before making our selections.

CPU Cooler: Rosewill RCX-ZAIO 92

Read Customer Reviews of Rosewill's RCX-ZAIO-92


We reviewed Rosewill's inexpensive RCX-ZAIO-92 back in 2010 (Roundup: Six Sub-$40 Performance CPU Coolers Compared). It performed well in that story, particularly at its low price point. 

Given a lower budget today, we thought it'd be a perfect time to try this third-party solution once again. The RCX-ZAIO-92 only adds $15 to our total cost.

3. Video Card, Power Supply, And Case

Video Card: PowerColor PCS+ AX7870 Myst Edition

Don't let its name fool you; the GPU in this graphics card is actually a cut-down Tahiti (check out Tahiti LE, Tested: PowerColor's HD7870 PCS+ Myst Edition). That's right, the same one used in AMD's Radeon HD 7900-series cards. 

Previously, the Pitcairn-based Radeon HD 7870 with 1,280 shaders and 1,200 MHz memory was this segment's price/performance leader. But this card, with 1,536 shaders and 1,500 MHz memory, beats it.

Read Customer Reviews of PowerColor's PCS+ AX7870 Myst Edition


At $240 on Newegg, and with stock performance closer to the 1,792-shader Radeon HD 7950, this graphics card allows our $800 enthusiast-oriented PC to remain competitive in the high-end gaming arena.

Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520C 520 W

Read Customer Reviews of Antec's Neo Eco 520C


Although we've been favoring Corsair's CX600 in our mid-range builds lately, today's budget cut forces us to look elsewhere. Antec's Neo Eco 520C has an excellent reputation for a low-priced power supply, and our decision to use an Intel CPU should help keep consumption down compared to the FX-8350 we used last time. At $55, this is an exceptional component for the money.

Case: Xigmatek Asgard II

Read Customer Reviews of Xigmatek's Asgard II


The case is another component that we saved a few dollars on in order to remain within our $800 budget. Thankfully, the Asgard II is a very spacious, elegant-looking case that we can live with. There's only a single 120 mm rear fan, the PSU is top-mounted, and the drives are aligned front-to-back. However, considering the $34 retail price, we can't really complain.

4. Memory, Hard Drives, And Optical Drive

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Kit

Despite our lower budget, you've made it clear that you want to see at least 8 GB in this mid-range build. Crucial's DDR3 kit does the job for a reasonable $53 on Newegg, and with good 8-8-8-24 timings at 1,600 MT/s, too.

Read Customer Reviews of Crucial's BLE2KIT4GD31608DE1TX0 8 GB Kit


Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500 GB

Read Customer Reviews of Seagate's ST500DM002 500 GB Hard Drive


With no money for an SSD boot drive, today's system relies on a 500 GB Seagate Barracuda.

It's true that 500 GB isn't very large by today's standards. At least the 7,200 RPM spindle and 16 MB data cache help on the performance side, though. Make no mistake: the reason we went for this disk was its $60 price tag.

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD-ROM

Read Customer Reviews of Samsung's SH-224BB DVD-ROM


To put it simply, we chose the DVD-R drive with the lowest price. On the day we placed our order, Samsung's SH224BB earned that distinction for $18.

5. System Assembly And Overclocking

We were pleasantly surprised with Xigmatek's Asgard II case. The tool-less drive mounts work well, and the spacious interior provides ample room for a clean installation. For a budget-oriented chassis, it actually feels well-built, too. Our biggest complaint about this enclosure is that it appears to have been dropped during shipping, requiring us to push out a few creases.

With that said, Paul has used this case several times in the System Builder Marathon, and was happy with it in the past. It's good enough for me and my less-full wallet today.

The good news is that we didn't have any issues with the case, unlike Paul's experience yesterday. The orange-on-black color scheme inside is attractive enough, and we almost wish we had picked the orange-trimmed version to match.

Overclocking

Overclocking the Core i5-3550K is straightforward enough, and ASRock's Z77 Pro3 gives us all of the settings we need to do it properly. We did give the BIOS' auto-overclocking feature a try, but it failed to boot at 4.6 GHz. And while the automatically-configured 4.4 GHz setting did load up into Windows, one thread failed during a Prime95 stress test.

This forced us to tackle the overclock manually. Even with incremental voltage increases, the system wouldn't boot at 4.6 GHz. A 0.1 V bump to the processor yielded a stable 4.5 GHz. However, certain benchmarks returned lower performance than what I was getting at stock frequencies. So, I dropped the overclock to 4.4 GHz with a +0.085 V offset and got the speed-up I was expecting.

As for the memory overclock, I simply triggered the memory kit's XMP profile, which increased the frequency to DDR3-1600 with 8-8-8-24 timings.

I then swapped over to my graphics card. Not sure what to expect from AMD's Tahiti LE GPU, I was surprised to see the chip take 1,275 MHz and a memory frequency of 1,650 MHz. Unfortunately, those settings triggered some throttling during our benchmarks, requiring that I step back to a 1,150 MHz core clock and 1,575 MHz memory. Still, when you consider PowerColor's card ships at 975 MHz, our GPU overclock is respectable.

6. Test System And Benchmarks

Q1 2013 $800 Enthusiast PC Test Settings
 Default Configuration
Overclocked
MotherboardASRock Z77 Pro3: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 ExpressUnchanged
ProcessorIntel Core i5-3570K: 3.4 GHz Base Clock Rate, 3.8 GHz Turbo Boost, 6 MB Shared L3 Cache4.4 GHz @ +0.085 V
MemoryCrucial Ballistix Tactical BLE2KIT4GD31608DE1TX0:
DDR3-1333 CL 8-8-8-24 1T at 1.5 V
XMP Profile: DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-24-2T
GraphicsPowerColor PCS+ Myst Edition AX7870 2GBD5-2DHPPV3E : 2 GB GDDR5 @ 6,000 MT/s, GPU @ 975 MHz (Boost)GDDR5 @ 6300 MT/s, GPU @ 1,150 MHz (Boost), Power @ 120%
Hard DriveSeagate Barracuda ST500DM002, 500 GB, 7,200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA 6Gb/s
Unchanged
OpticalSamsung SH-224BB: DVD BurnerUnchanged
CaseXigmatek Asgard II B/BUnchanged
PowerAntec Neo Eco 520C: 520 W, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS-CertifiedUnchanged
Q4 2012 $1,000 Enthusiast PC Test Settings
 Default Configuration
Overclocked
MotherboardGigabyte DA-970A-D3, Socket AM3+, AMD 970 ChipsetUnchanged
ProcessorAMD FX-8350 (Piledriver): 4 GHz Base Clock Rate, 4.3 GHz Maximum Turbo Core, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache4.33 GHz @ 1.3375 V
MemoryMushkin Enhanced Blackline: DDR3-1600, 2 x 4 GB (8 GB) Dual-Channel Desktop Memory Kit1866 MT/s 9-9-9-24-1T @ 1.6 V
GraphicsGigabyte GeForce GTX 670 GV-N670OC-2GD: 2 GB GDDR5 @ 6,008 MT/s, GPU @ 1,058 MHz (GPU Boost)
GDDR5 @ 7,012 MT/s, GPU @ 1,137 MHz (GPU Boost) Power @ 112%, +1 mV
Hard DriveHitachi GST Deskstar 7K1000.C: 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/sUnchanged
OpticalSamsung SH-222BB/BEBE: 22x DVD BurnerUnchanged
CaseRosewill Redbone
Unchanged
PowerCorsair CX600: 600 W, ATX12V, EPS12V, 80 PLUS-CertifiedUnchanged


And here are the benchmark details:

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
The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimVersion 1.6.89.06, Version 1.5.26.05 (June), 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
Far Cry 3
Version 1.04, 50-sec, Fraps "Ananaki Village"
Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA, Standard Alpha, SSAO
Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset,  4X MSAA, Enhanced Alpha, HDAO
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:MPEG2 (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
7. Results: Synthetics

I'd expect 3DMark 11 to be one of the most interesting benchmarks in our suite due to its ability to measure aggregate performance, an isolated graphics score, a CPU metric in its Physics suite, and a Combined result.

Even when we overclock it, this quarter's Tahiti LE-based Radeon HD 7870 cannot overcome the GeForce GTX 670's graphics performance. This is where losing $200 seems to hurt the most.

At stock clock rates, the Core i5-3570K doesn't do particularly well against the FX-8350 in Futuremark's Physics sub-test. Once we overclock it, however, the Core i5 sails past last quarter's result, helping our $800 configuration record its first victory against the previous $1,000 setup.

Intel's processors tend to do well in PCMark, so it comes as little surprise when our current $800 build edges out our FX-based effort in the Overall and Productivity tests. Meanwhile, last quarter's SSD earns that machine a vastly superior storage result.

8. Results: Media Encoding

Both LAME and iTunes are used to convert audio files from one format to another, and neither test is threaded. Consequently, Intel's Core i5-3570K does notably better than AMD's FX-8350 thanks to better performance per clock cycle. Access to unconstrained overclocking propels the Ivy Bridge-based chip even further ahead in both benchmarks.

Unlike the audio transcoding workloads, our video-oriented conversions, HandBrake and TotalCode Studio, are heavily-threaded. These demonstrate an advantage for AMD's module-based architecture at stock clock rates. But Intel's i5-3570K has much more room for overclocking, and manages a slight win in both categories when tweaked.

9. Results: Rendering And Productivity

As with our video transcoding tests, rendering software is notorious for exploiting the benefits of multi-core processors. Thus, it comes as no surprise to see  taking advantage of multiple threads, so it comes as no surprise that 3ds Max and Blender perform very well on AMD's four-module FX flagship. Once again, though, Intel's overclocked Core i5 catches up.

Likewise, ABBYY FineReader and Visual Studio 2010 make effective use of multiple cores. And as before, the Core i5 trails AMD's FX at stock clock rates, and passes it once we factor in overclocking.

10. Results: Adobe Creative Suite

As you already know, we run two scripted Photoshop benchmarks: one that is threaded and runs on our CPUs and another that leverages OpenCL acceleration to tax our graphics cards. They're completely different workloads, which is why performance varies so much.

In the CPU-oriented test, last quarter's FX comes out ahead at stock clock rates. Then, both processors tie when we overclock. The OpenCL-based benchmark shows a huge advantage favoring AMD's Radeon HD 7870 over the GeForce GTX 670.

Meanwhile, we know that Adobe's Acrobat X is single-threaded. Naturally, then, our PDF document creation workload favors the Core i5 stock and overclocked.

Premiere Pro's media encoder is threaded, and our results from that benchmark consequently look a lot like the other content creation apps we've already tested.

After Effects has always seemed very sensitive to memory allocation, and AMD's ability to operate on eight threads in parallel might actually be hurting it in our AE benchmark. The Intel platform gets more memory per core, and consequently turns in notably better scores at stock and overclocked settings.

11. Results: Compression Tools

Corel's WinZip 17 is the product of much retooling. The company heard complaints that its engine wasn't threaded, went back, and optimized for multiple CPU cores. Moreover, it also put in the time to enable OpenCL support. At first, this only worked on AMD GPUs. But the latest version allows OpenCL support on any platform with the requisite drivers.

In our CPU-only test, we'd expect AMD's four-module design, capable of handling eight threads at a time, to turn in a lead. It doesn't, though, and Intel's Core i5 wins at stock and overclocked frequencies. 

The OpenCL-based results are much closer together, though the Intel/AMD combination comes out on top again.

WinRAR shows both systems performing similarly at stock clocks, though the Intel box pulls away once it's overclocked.

7-Zip sees a benefit from the FX-8350 that must be related to its ability to operate on eight threads at a time.

12. Results: Battlefield 3 And The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3's single-player campaign is typically limited by graphics performance. Given the dissimilar graphics cards we're using, it's actually really surprising to see our results so close together at this title's Medium quality preset. Once we step up to the more demanding Ultra settings, though, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 670 assumes a lead.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Unlike Battlefield, Skyrim tends to be limited by processor performance rather than the graphics card.

At the High detail preset, this quarter's Intel-based build takes a notable lead. Using the Ultra preset with 8x MSAA, that advantage is maintained until 2560x1600, where the bottleneck shifts to the GPU.

13. Results: F1 2012 And Far Cry 3

F1 2012

DiRT Showdown was replaced by F1 2012 last quarter, which is newer and circumvents some of the performance issues we saw in the previous title.

Like Skyrim, this is another CPU-limited game. Intel's Core i5 exhibits a significant average frame rate advantage until we test at 2560x1600, where graphics demands shift the load back onto our graphics cards.

Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 is a new addition to the game test suite. This demanding game demonstrates a CPU bottleneck at the High quality setting. However, under the influence of the Ultra preset with 4x MSAA enabled, we're decidedly GPU-limited.


14. Power And Temperature

At this point, the power consumption chart we see below should have been expected. We're already well-acquainted with the Ivy Bridge architecture's efficient nature compared to anything we've seen AMD achieve with Piledriver. But it really hits home when you consider that we used a 520 W power supply in an $800 build, and barely topped 350 W of consumption with our CPU and GPU overclocked. I don't think I'd be comfortable using the same PSU on last quarter's build, which approached 500 W when we overclocked it.

The thermal results come in fairly close to each other, though Intel's CPU does heat up quickly when we apply more voltage and a higher multiplier to it. Rosewill's RCX-ZAIO-92does a great job at stock clock rates. However, it's quickly overwhelmed when the Core i5 is pushed to 4.4 GHz (it makes sense now that Thomas said, "Though it was somewhat hot and noisy on our Core i7 test system, we could recommend the Rosewill unit specifically to Core i3 overclockers with extremely tight budgets" in his review of this sink).

Considering the FX-8350's high power usage, the $1,000 build’s Xigmatek's Loki heat sink does quite well in comparison.

15. When Does $800 Buy You More Than $1000?

When we compare this quarter's $800 machine with last quarter's pricier configuration, we come away with differences that are so familiar they now seem cliche. The FX-8350 does really well in threaded software, but cannot overclock as well on air. Thus, when it's put up against an overclockable Intel chip (even a quad-core model without Hyper-Threading), the FX falls behind. Compounding the performance story, FX-8350 uses more power every step of the way. None of that is news, though. We've seen it happen time and time again.

As such, our mid-range CPU recommendations remain the same. If you're not overclocking and you don't care about power consumption, the FX remains a solid option in an affordable workstation tasked with running content creation or media-oriented applications. Unfortunately, for the market AMD is targeting, overclocking is popular. If you're down to tweak and tune, Intel's Core i5 can be made to run faster, even while using less power. Overclocked or not, though, the Ivy Bridge-based chip is faster in lightly-threaded workloads.

How about gaming, though? Let's zero in on performance at 1920x1080 for a moment:

These results fall fairly close together, considering they're completely dissimilar platforms. The high detail settings and 1920x1080 resolution help put an emphasis on graphics performance. Remember, though, that the AMD processor benefits from Nvidia's GeForce GTX 670, while Intel's Core i5 plays host to a slower Radeon HD 7870 powered by AMD's Tahiti LE GPU. This quarter's machine achieves better performance with Core i5 working its magic to push that Radeon card out in front of the GeForce. Overclocked, the combination really shines.

What did dropping our budget teach us? Nothing that we couldn't have guessed before we started: losing the SSD only quantifiably hurt our storage benchmarks, less money for graphics hurt our gaming performance a bit, and Intel's Core i5, overclocked, is the way to go if you can afford it. We'll have a lot more context tomorrow when Thomas hits us with a $1,000 work of art. Stay tuned!