The following tables include the stock and overclocked settings for this quarter's mainstream enthusiast system, followed by the configuration we put together earlier this year, which serves as our comparison point.
At the very bottom, you’ll find the programs and games used for benchmarking.
| Q3 2014 Enthusiast PC Test Settings: $1006 of Performance Hardware | ||
|---|---|---|
| Default Configuration | Overclocked | |
| Motherboard | ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer, LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express | Unchanged |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4690K (Haswell): 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz max. Turbo Boost), 6 MB Shared L3 Cache | 4.6 GHz (46 * 100 MHz), 1.335 V (Load) |
| Memory | 8 GB G.Skill Trident (2 x 4 GB) F3-2400C10D-8GTD, 1600 MT/s, CAS 11-11-11-28 1T | 2400 MT/s, 10-12-12-31 2T, 1.65 V |
| Graphics | Zotac AMP! Superclocked GeForce GTX 770 2 GB, 1150/1202 MHz base/typical GPU Boost, GDDR5-7200 | +30 MHz GPU, GDDR5-7800 |
| System Drive | Adata Premier Pro SP920 128 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Unchanged |
| Storage Drive | WD Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 64 MB Cache, SATA 6Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | Asus DRW-24B1ST OEM DVD Burner | Unchanged |
| Case | Cooler Master HAF XM Computer Case | Unchanged |
| Power | In Win GreenMe 650 W 80 PLUS Bronze PSU | Unchanged |
| Q2 2014 Enthusiast PC Test Settings: $986 of Performance Hardware | ||
|---|---|---|
| Default Configuration | Overclocked | |
| Motherboard | ASRock Z97 Pro3 LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express | Unchanged |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-4670K (Haswell): 3.4 GHz (3.8 GHz max. Turbo Boost), 6 MB Shared L3 Cache | 4.3 GHz (43 * 100 MHz), 1.285 V (Load) |
| Memory | 8 GB Team Group Vulcan (2 x 4 GB) TLYD38G1600HC9DC01, 1333 MT/s, CAS 9-9-9-24-1T | 1600 MT/s, 9-9-9-24-2T, 1.5 V |
| Graphics | PowerColor TurboDuo Radeon R9 290 4 GB, 975 MHz max. core clock rate, GDDR5-5000 | 1100 MHz max. core clock rate, GDDR5-5600 |
| HardDrive | WD Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 64 MB Cache, SATA 6Gb/s | Unchanged |
| Optical | LG GH24NSB0: DVD Burner | Unchanged |
| Case | Apevia X-Hermes Computer Case | Unchanged |
| Power | Corsair CX750 750 W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Bronze-Certified PSU | Unchanged |
And here are the benchmark details:
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Arma 3 | V. 1.20 Current PC, V.1.08 Q1 PC 30-sec. Fraps "Infantry Showcase" Test Set 1: Standard Preset, No AA, Standard AF Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x FSAA, Ultra AF |
| Battlefield 4 | Version 1.0.0.1, DirectX 11, 100-sec. Fraps "Tashgar" Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No AA, 4x AF, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, HBAO |
| Far Cry 3 | V. 1.05, 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 AMD/ HBAO NVidia |
| Grid 2 | Version 1.0.85.8679, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.99, 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) |
| 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) |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677, MPEG2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-channel, 16-bit, 224 Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Adobe Creative Suite | |
| Adobe After Effects CC | Version 12.0.0.404: Create Video, 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously |
| Adobe Photoshop CC | Version 14 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 | Version 6.0.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
| Adobe Acrobat XI | Version 11.0.0: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encyption |
| Productivity | |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| 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 | Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted |
| Compression | |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.30 alpha, LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 (1.3 GB) |
| WinRAR | Version 5.0, RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 (1.3 GB) |
| WinZip | Version 18.0 Pro, Syntax "-a -ez -p -r" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 (1.3 GB) |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark Professional | Version: 1.2.250.0, Fire Strike Standard and Extreme |
| PCMark 8 | Version: 1.0.0 x64 Full Test |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2014 | Version: 2014.02.20.10, Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks |
Previous
Next
Summary
- Changing Focus For A Look At Processor Performance
- CPU, Motherboard And Cooler
- Graphics Card, Power Supply And Case
- Memory, Hard Drives And Optical Storage
- Building And Overclocking
- How We Tested
- Results: Synthetics
- Results: Media Transcoding
- Results: Rendering And Productivity
- Results: Adobe Creative Cloud
- Results: Compression Tools
- Results: Battlefield 4 And Arma 3
- Results: Grid 2 And Far Cry 3
- Power And Temperature
- Q3 2014 Mainstream Enthusiast PC Under $1300 Verdict
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[EDIT by cleeve]
They are not reversed. Check out the accompanying writeup to help make sense of it.
[/EDIT]
While I'd agree on the cheaper case, the 970 wasn't an option since they hadn't been released when they were buying parts for this quarter's SBM.
From Page 3 of the article: "The GeForce GTX 970 launched last week wasn't available (or even public information) back when we ordered the pieces for this build. So, I needed something cheaper than the Radeon R9 290 that wouldn't sacrifice gaming performance. Under $300, the best option was Nvidia's GeForce GTX 770."
Obviously, today the 970 would be a much better choice, but that option didn't exist when this build was purchased.
Good job. There is always that guy who does not read the article when it explains why the brand new card was not used, because it was not an option at the time of the review.
So congrats on being that guy this time. It only took 3 posts to get there.
on the last page:
may be you meant the Q2 enthusiast system. imo, yea, the q3 build doesn't seem as attractive as the q2 one. i think that one could add the ssd from this build and still be the better pc.
i wonder if you guys would build an fx8350/8320 pc as an alternative build at this price range for the ongoing overclocking theme.
I'd like to know more about the thickness / flexibility of the ASRock mobo. Otherwise, I don't think I have any niggles over performance-related parts.
I've never had any problems with Asrock and I'm on my second Asrock board.
Can I haz your 3GB 770 plz ?
Don't think the Q2 rig was properly setup if you are losing to the 770 in every test...
in page 5, GTX 770 overclocking used AMD OverDrive utility?
is there some kind of mistake or what?