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Results: Far Cry 3 And Grid 2

System Builder Marathon Q3 2014: Budget Gaming PC
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Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 is well-threaded, bringing many entry-level processors to their knees. It also happens to be the most graphically demanding title these machines need to face.

In the past, I found Ultra quality too intense for dual-core processors, whether I was talking about a highly overclocked Core 2 Duo or more recent Ivy Bridge-based Pentiums. Naturally, I was eager to fire up Far Cry 3 on this unlocked G3258 and a capable graphics card.

At high-quality settings without anti aliasing, both machines are CPU-limited at Full HD. Sporting four integer cores, the Athlon is stronger right out of the box. But of course, it benefits from higher Turbo Core frequencies also. The new machine does maintain slightly higher minimum frame rates at each resolution, and both configurations remain smooth though 1920x1080.

I had to overclock last quarter’s machine to stay above 30 FPS at 4800x900, while this quarter’s configuration doesn't drop below 33 in its stock form (and keeps its nose above 37 FPS once overclocked). Keep in mind that our benchmark is about as demanding as this game gets.

At Ultra quality, both stock configurations manage to stay above 30 FPS at 1280x720, though neither feels completely smooth. The new machine is held back by its 3.2 GHz dual-core processor, while last quarter’s Radeon R7 265 was already struggling to cope with the added stress of 4x MSAA.

Overclocked, our new PC survives nicely through 1600x900 with 4x MSAA. However, the minimum frame rate drops by about 10 when we jump to 1920x1080. It feels smooth at 1920x1080 only when we drop to Very High quality with 2x MSAA, averaging almost 40 FPS and keeping above 35.

Grid 2

In Grid 2, both machines breeze through 4800x900 at the system-bound High Quality preset.

As demands shift over to graphics hardware, the new PC distances itself from my prior effort and its Radeon R9 270 is potent enough to survive all the way through 4800x900. The machine even delivers higher sustained frame rates with 8x MSAA than last quarter’s PC at 2x.

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  • 2 Hide
    Memnarchon , September 23, 2014 1:12 PM
    Wow! Pentium G3258 becoming a monster for that price, once it goes over 4Ghz...
  • 2 Hide
    g-unit1111 , September 23, 2014 1:24 PM
    I would personally love to get a Pentium G3258 for my HTPC, it's only like $50 at Micro Center and the motherboard is $70 at Newegg. Hmm... decisions, decisions. :lol: 
  • 4 Hide
    ScienceGuy3 , September 23, 2014 1:51 PM
    What about the Frame Times? Isn't this processor notorious for bad frame times in heavily threaded games like BF4?
  • 1 Hide
    elbert , September 23, 2014 1:57 PM
    Quote:
    serves up to 30 A across its +12 V rails.

    Its rated to serve up to 30 Amps but can do far more. Tests on this little gem shows it can output 22amps on each rail and maxes out around 38~39 Amps on both. Im paraphrasing a popular power supply testing site. Max wattage is about 553ish which is a good deal more than rated. This power supply can't be certified due to it lacks a circuit required but exceeds 80 percent efficiency.
  • 1 Hide
    de5_Roy , September 23, 2014 1:57 PM
    a lot of things went right for this build: amd introduced the full pitcairn/curacao gpu based r9 270 under 150w, needing single 6 pin pcie power connector, cryptocurrency craze was over and gfx card prices came down, hdd prices came down to sane levels, cpu-overhead-reducing gfx card drivers came out, intel released an unlocked dual core cpu and allowed o.c. bioses....
  • 1 Hide
    jdwii , September 23, 2014 2:06 PM
    I'm just not sure for one they didn't show latency times. I'm pretty sure this build will suck for future gaming to such as GTA5.
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pentium-g3258-overclocking-performance,3849-5.html
    When toms reviewed this CPU it was shown to have poor latency
    For a 500$ build i would probably do a 6300+265 build. 600$ i would probably jump the build up to a I5+265 or 8320+270X.
  • 0 Hide
    Onus , September 23, 2014 2:47 PM
    No stuttering? Very interesting; looks like more testing might be needed, but perhaps settings can also be adjusted.
  • -6 Hide
    akula2 , September 23, 2014 3:13 PM
    Since this CPU is super performer on various fronts (single core), so why not this config?

    Pentium G3258 - $69.97
    NZXT Kraken X31 - $73.98
    Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO - $203.99
    G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 - $184.99
    Crucial M550 1TB 2.5" SSD - $447.98
    Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX - $349.99


    NZXT Phantom 530 (White) - $121.98
    EVGA 650W ATX12V - $64.99 (not sure about its power good signal value?)
    Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer - $16.99

    Asus VG248QE Monitor - $264.99

    D-Link DWA-171 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 2.0 - $29.27
    Logitech MK550 w/Laser Mouse - $49.99
    Corsair Vengeance 2100 - $79.99
    Logitech Z506 155W 5.1ch - $69.99

    Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (32/64-bit) - $170.99

    Total: $2200

    What you guys think? Usage? Racing Games at homes, audio/video encoding etc. I don't need K CPUs because I'm not in a hurry in this case.

    Power source: 100% green aka Solar energy.
  • 0 Hide
    Janemba , September 23, 2014 3:46 PM
    Will 400 watt enough for R7 265 ?? tell me ??
    i use i3-4130 btw.
  • 0 Hide
    alchemy69 , September 23, 2014 3:52 PM
    Very similar to the system I just put together for myself except that I felt a 260X was more than enough power for the GPU and put the savings towards a small SSD for the boot drive.
  • 0 Hide
    Tzn , September 23, 2014 4:24 PM
    Nice but if you really want a cheap one that will drop your jaw you should consider G1820+GTX 750Ti from Evga(display port) and 2X4 gb ddr3 1600mhz ram. Give it a try, you might run naked on streets when you will see how it runs Battlefield 4, not to consider the the low price :) 
  • 0 Hide
    InvalidError , September 23, 2014 4:30 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    serves up to 30 A across its +12 V rails.

    Its rated to serve up to 30 Amps but can do far more. Tests on this little gem shows it can output 22amps on each rail and maxes out around 38~39 Amps on both. This power supply can't be certified due to it lacks a circuit required but exceeds 80 percent efficiency.

    To be more specific, the VP450 lacks PFC circuitry and as you said, this is required for 80+ certification. If the VP450 had it, it might manage 80+ Bronze.

    I bought one last month to replace an old PSU (Antec SmartPower SL350) that got damaged by a power surge. At a glance, it looks like a nice little unit... and it is tier-2b too, which means close to as-good-as-it-gets.
  • 0 Hide
    gallovfc , September 23, 2014 6:20 PM
    Hey Paul ! How's it going !? It would be MUCH better if you, Thomas and Don posted the links to the three machines' 3DMark and PcMark 8 results, so we could be able to compare them to ours. Hope you gyus are still able to post it at "Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected".
  • 0 Hide
    Amdlova , September 23, 2014 8:52 PM
    pentium g3258 IS THE KING!
  • 1 Hide
    Rafy93 , September 24, 2014 2:02 AM
    Athlon 860k...
  • 1 Hide
    Rafy93 , September 24, 2014 2:06 AM
    The Athlon 860k is more future-proof , waiting for a review...
  • 1 Hide
    milkod2001 , September 24, 2014 2:49 AM
    @akula2

    you could possibly get mobo for half of your estimated price and put this money towards better CPU(that's necessary for video/audio encoding).

    Also Crucial M550 1TB 2.5" SSD - $447.98 is overkill, you'll be better off with 256GB SSD & 3 TB regular HDD = more capacity and your saved money could be spent on better PSU(Seasonic, Corsair, whatever).
  • 0 Hide
    elbert , September 24, 2014 4:31 AM
    @milkod2001

    You may want to put Antec at the first place in that list. Look them up as they are oldest and second to none in power supply companys. Seasonic was once their main manufacturer and many of their units are designed off Antecs leading power supply designs. Look up on newegg for example the highest rated power supply and you will see the Antec earthwatt 380. At the 650 Watt they again are the highest rated with Seasonic in about a second place. Their 750 hcg is about a tight with Corsairs much higher priced HX 750i.

    Trust me that PSU is the best part of that build. While it doesn't have a second PCI-e power plug you could use a molex to PCI-e connecter and run a R9 285. Again this power supply is highly under rated in both watts and Amps output.
  • 1 Hide
    Onus , September 24, 2014 5:25 AM
    Although I agree that Antec is one of the better PSU companies out there today, they did release a few stinkers maybe 10-12 years ago (Smartpower, iirc). They were not built by Seasonic, and used inferior capacitors, that failed. Back then when I was building PCs I wouldn't touch an Antec PSU; now it is one of my preferred choices. I haven't used a VP-450 yet, but have put numerous EA-380D's out there, with no failures yet.
    This is what Corsair is doing now, with their CX (and I believe GS) lines; CWT builds them with Samxon capacitors that can't take heat. If you're interested, you can read more about these over on the badcaps.org forum.
  • -1 Hide
    dirtyferret , September 24, 2014 6:31 AM
    in what future is the athlon II x4 more future proof? AMD land..... every year people post this crap and every year games demand cores that can move as much info as quickly as possible rather then a bushel of slow cores.

    P.S. I have a Phenom II x4 in one of CPUs and have built with more AMD CPUs then intel but that doesn't mean I spew this AMD "future proof" jargon line
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