System Builder Marathon, March 2010: The Articles
Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’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 check out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!
Day 1: The $3,000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1,500 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $750 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Introduction
In this installment of the System Builder Marathon (SBM) series, our mid-priced PC is more than just a solid machine built from great components. Instead, it's also an experiment to see exactly what benefits Intel's Core i7-920 offers when compared to the cheaper Core i5-750.

We used the Core i5-750 in our last SBM, and this is an excellent opportunity to show the difference between the two. With the price of some Core i7-capable X58-based motherboards dropping, the real-world difference in price between a home computer based on either of these CPUs is probably in the $150 range. Since we'll use the same type of Radeon HD 5850 graphics cards in CrossFire that we did in our previous SBM, this new build gives us a really good idea of what the extra cash invested in the X58 platform and Core i7-920 provides in the way of performance.
Here are the components we chose:
| $1,500 Enthusiast System Components | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASRock X58 Extreme LGA 1366 Chipset: Intel X58 Express | $160 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-920 2.66 GHz 4 Cores, 8MB L3 Cache | $289 |
| CPU Cooler | Rosewill Fort 120 LGA 1366 | $40 |
| Memory | Crucial 6GB (3x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3-1333 Triple-Channel Desktop Memory Kit | $165 |
| Graphics | 2 x Radeon HD 5850 (CrossFireX) 1GB GDDR5-4000 Per Card Radeon HD 5870 GPU at 725 MHz | $640 |
| Hard Drives | WD Caviar Black 750GB 750GB, 7,200 RPM, 32MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s | $80 |
| Optical | Samsung SH-S2232C 22x DVD+R, 8x DVD+RW, 16x DVD ROM, 48x CD ROM | $20 |
| Case | Cooler Master CM 690 | $80 |
| Power | Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V, EPS12V , 80-Plus Certified | $110 |
| Total Current Cost | $1,582 | |
We call this the $1,500 build because that's what we paid when we ordered it, but prices have changed quickly in the past couple of months. The PowerColor Radeon HD 5850 graphics cards we selected have increased in price to $320 each, but only a short while ago these cards could be had for $290. This accounts for the lion's share of the price increase and is an unfortunate side effect of what happens when a company has a virtual monopoly in the high-end graphics card space. If Nvidia provides some competition with its next-gen parts in the near future, we might see some healthy competition on the price front, which can only be a good thing for the consumer.
Regardless, the point is that even though the new system's price is almost $250 higher than the Core i5 system we tested in November, the price of building that same Core i5 system today would be much closer. Is the Core i7-920 CPU worth the price spread when compared to the i5-750? That's what we'll try to answer with this comparison. Now, let's examine our specific component selections.
- The Components
- CPU, Motherboard, And Cooler
- Video Cards, Power Supply, And Case
- Memory, Hard Drive, And Optical Drive
- Assembly And Overclocking
- Test System And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Media Encoding
- Benchmark Results: 2D And 3D Graphics
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Crysis And World In Conflict
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
- Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Power And Temperature Benchmarks
- Conclusion
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?
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.
I've got news for you: i3->i7 is not worth it for gamers. Tom's Hardware has an interesting article in the works.
Sounds 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.
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.
One thing I would change is the case...this doesn't look mean/rough enough for such a gaming rig, and there's no option of adding lights to interior to beef it up cuz the side cover isn't transparent
On a side note, whoever that gets this rig is very lucky, the i7 in this one is probably one of the more overclockables ones, it seems. Too bad I'm just north of the 49th
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-h50-fort120,2370-5.html
2 x A-Data 2GB DDR3-1333 Kit
2 x 2GB (4GB Total), 533 MHz (1,066 MHz DDR), CAS 7-7-7-59
Feel free to delete this comment once it's fixed.
Nearly any no-name heatsink would be better than the current stock cooling. I wasn't dissing the sink, the defensiveness makes me think there was some shilling for New Egg going on since Rosewill is just the name New Egg slaps on to "unbranded" imports.