Last quarter’s high-end machine focused on financially smarter choices that might provide similar overall performance to its predecessor, but at two-thirds the price. Even overclocked, though, it struggled to reach the baseline performance of the even earlier $2400 build. Naturally, we have high hopes for this quarter's effort.
| Test Hardware Configurations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 $1600 Performance PC | Q2 $1600 Performance PC | Q1 $2400 Performance PC | |
| Processor (Overclock) | Intel Core i7-4790K: 4 - 4.4 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.6 GHz, 1.25 V | Intel Core i7-4770K: 3.5 - 3.9 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.2 GHz, 1.29 V | Intel Core i7-4770K: 3.5 - 3.9 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.50 GHz, 1.25 V |
| Graphics (Overclock) | PowerColor Radeon R9 290X: 1050 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5400 O/C to 1082 MHz, GDDR5-5600 | PowerColor Radeon R9 290X: 1050 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5400 O/C to 1100 MHz, GDDR5-6200 | 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 780: 902 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008 O/C to 1059 MHz, GDDR5-6720 |
| Memory (Overclock) | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1866 CAS 8-9-9-24, O/C to DDR3-2400 CL 10-12-12-28, 1.60 V | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1866 CAS 8-9-9-24, O/C to DDR3-2133 CL 9-10-10-27, 1.60 V | 16 GB G.Skill DDR3-1866 CAS 9-10-9-28, O/C to DDR3-2133 CL 9-10-11-10, 1.585 V |
| Motherboard (Overclock) | MSI Z97 Gaming 5: LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express Stock 100 MHz BCLK | Asus Z97-A: LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express Stock 100 MHz BCLK | ASRock Z87 Extreme4: LGA 1150, Intel Z87 Express Stock 100 MHz BCLK |
| Case | Enermax Ostrog GT | CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced | NZXT Phantom 410 |
| CPU Cooler | Phanteks PH-TC14PE 140 mm | Thermaltake NiC L32 | Thermaltake CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme |
| Storage | Plextor M6S PX-256M6S 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Samsung MZ-7TE250BW 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | SanDisk SDSSDHP-256G-G2 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
| Power | EVGA SuperNova 750 B2: 750 W, 80 PLUS Bronze | Rosewill HIVE-750: 750 W Semi-Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze | Corsair HX750: 750 W Semi-Modular, 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | |||
| OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 |
| Graphics | AMD Catalyst 14.4 | AMD Catalyst 14.4 | Nvidia GeForce 335.23 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.4.0.1026 | Intel INF 9.4.0.1026 | Intel INF 9.4.0.1026 |
More evidence that last quarter’s CPU was a dud comes from this quarter’s CPU. The stock clock didn’t leave much room for an O/C, but the stock clock was higher than the previous machine’s overclock.
This month’s overclocking dud was the graphics card. Fortunately, its factory overclock provides fairly high performance.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Battlefield 4 | Version 1.0.0.1, DirectX 11, 100-Sec. Fraps "Tashgar" Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA, 4x AF, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, HBAO |
| Grid 2 | Steam Version, In-Game Test Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA |
| Metro: Last Light | Steam version, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene Test Set 1: DX11, Med Quality, 4x AF, Low Blur, No SSAA, No Tesselation, No PhysX Test Set 2: DX11, High Quality, 16x AF, Normal Blur, SSAA, Tesselation Normal, No PhysX |
| Far Cry 3 | V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC., SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO |
| Adobe Creative Suite | |
| Adobe After Effects CC | Version 12.0.0.404: Create Video that includes three streams, 210 frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | Version 14.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Version 7.0.0 (342), 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
| LAME MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.99: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 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, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Productivity | |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Adobe Acrobat 11 | Version 11.0.0.379: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 | Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| Blender | Version: 2.68A, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1 |
| Visual Studio 2010 | Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted |
| File Compression | |
| WinZip | Version 18.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 5.0: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.30 alpha (64-bit): THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark Professional | Version: 1.2.250.0 (64-bit), Fire Strike Benchmark |
| PCMark 8 | Version: 1.0.0 x64, Full Test |
| SiSoftware Sandra | Version 2014.02.20.10, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia / Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks |
Previous
Next
Summary
- Can We Build An Even Higher-End $1600 PC?
- CPU, Graphics And Memory
- Motherboard, Case And Cooling
- Power Supply And Storage
- Hardware Installation
- Overclocking
- How We Tested
- Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Results: Battlefield 4
- Results: Grid 2
- Results: Arma 3
- Results: Far Cry 3
- Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Results: Adobe Creative Cloud
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Power, Heat And Efficiency
- Is There Such Thing As A Perfect $1600 PC?
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These quarterly builds usually only show miniscule improvements unless something disruptive happens to the market like a tick or tock. These articles could as well be bi-annual. Good though that the price point that you're at shifts from time to time.
290x -> SLI 770 = +$100
Same budget, theoretically a 10-15% performance boost, and new topic of discussion as part of the article.
These SBM builds have taken very few risks in the last few quarters...
290x -> SLI 770 = +$100
Same budget, theoretically a 10-15% performance boost, and new topic of discussion as part of the article.
These SBM builds have taken very few risks in the last few quarters...
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($143.79 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($115.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 850W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1461.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-25 18:14 EDT-0400
What about this? Might be cheating, given the price drops from the GTX 900 series release. Also add $10 from a promo on the PSU.
With that said, I do find these SBM articles most interesting of all.
For the record, I'm not building it for myself, but somebody who wants a flashy case. I would pick the muted design of a fractal personally, but potato potah-toe
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($143.79 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($115.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 850W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1461.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-25 18:14 EDT-0400
What about this? Might be cheating, given the price drops from the GTX 900 series release. Also add $10 from a promo on the PSU.
I went with the big cooler this time so I wouldn't have to hear about it if the CPU sucked, like it did last time. I could have met my goals on the cooler you chose, since the CPU I got this time was a great sample.
Hopefully I win this one. I need a new folding machine.
On a personal note :
I wouldn't buy an R9 290x if it was $200 BNIB.
I've seen first hand the problems that are seemingly inherent with that item.
Between the defect ratio and the variable performance , I would rather own a GTX 780, or heck even a pair of R9-280's for the same price than that lemon of a GpU.
Well, logically, those cards weren't available in large enough numbers to use on these machines.