System Builder Marathon, March 2010: $1,500 Enthusiast PC

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

Power And Temperature Benchmarks

While the stock Core i7 system is in the same league as the overclocked Core i5 machine, the overclocked Core i7 brings power usage to new heights. There is a definite trade-off here, and the Core i5 looks to be a better choice for efficiency.

The Core i7 system shows a definite benefit here, but keep in mind that the Core i5-750 is saddled with the stock cooler to keep the system under its budget.

Don Woligroski
93 Comments Comment from the forums
  • shubham1401
    Now this is an excellent PC for overall usage...


    Reply
  • sabot00
    Love to have this PC. Great components, really wish Fermi at least drops prices.
    Reply
  • skora
    I find it funny Cleeve that you mention the effects of ATIs monopoly on the high end GPU market but nothing on the CPU front. How much better off would we all be if AMD had a competing product for the Core i5/7s.

    Out of curiosity, how big is the storage capacity needed for your benchmark suit? I know you were over budget, but how close could you have come to one of the lower capacity SSDs and their performance advantages?
    Reply
  • The labels on all the charts appear to be wrong. They're mentioning a "Current $1300 System" but I thought the current system was $1500?
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    To be honest, this just somehow seems disappointing to me.
    But then I think of how much I spent on my rig, and got less, I'm even more disappointed.

    It's crazy that prices keep raising on everything though. 6 months ago I was $9/GB for DDR2, in Canadian dollars. $12.50/GB for DDR3. It's absolutely ridiculous.
    Reply
  • Otus
    It looks like i5->i7 is not worth it for gamers. The increases when FPS
    Reply
  • Crashman
    OtusIt looks like i5->i7 is not worth it for gamers. The increases when FPS
    I've got news for you: i3->i7 is not worth it for gamers. Tom's Hardware has an interesting article in the works.
    Reply
  • p1n3apqlexpr3ss
    @Crashman
    Sounds good, this something to do with the i3 HTed vs traditional quad thing?
    Reply
  • Crashman
    p1n3apqlexpr3ss@CrashmanSounds good, this something to do with the i3 HTed vs traditional quad thing?
    I think it's a Windows 7 thread shifting and dual-threaded games thing, since both the i3 and i7 have HT.
    Reply
  • Stardude82
    SethVNThe labels on all the charts appear to be wrong. They're mentioning a "Current $1300 System" but I thought the current system was $1500?
    The whole comparison is BS. $200 is a lot of money where I come from and the stock cooling on the i5 750 is garbage. The low-end Conroes had much better cooling and they were only 65W TDP. I say stick your no-name heatsink on last quarters machine, call it a $1400 box, redo the overclocking and then publish the results as that way they will be at least somewhat relevant.
    Reply