System Builder Marathon, May 2009: 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!
- Day 1: The $2,500 Performance PC
- Day 2: The $1,300 Enthusiast PC
- Day 3: The $600 Gaming PC
- Day 4: Performance and Value Dissected
The SBM contest is live! Enter to win one of our three systems right here.
Introduction
In coming up with components for this month’s $1,300 enthusiast Micro-ATX system, we had a hard time deciding on which platform to choose, as the Core 2 Duo, Phenom II, and Core i7 CPUs were all viable choices and brought their own strengths and weaknesses to the table.
We asked our forum users for their opinions and got a lot of constructive dialogue in return. The consensus was that while AMD's Phenom II was very compelling and had a lot of support, the $1,300 price bracket allowed us to stretch our legs into Core i7 territory.
With the CPU decided upon, everything else started falling into place. Here’s our component list:
| $1,300 Enthusiast Micro-ATX PC Parts Prices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | DFI LANParty Jr X58-T3H6 Micro-ATX | $220 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-920 | $289 |
| Memory | G.Skill 10666CL7T 6GBPK | $90 |
| Graphics | 2 x BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC in SLI | $340 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Black | $75 |
| Optical | Lite-On iHAS422 DVD±R | $28 |
| Case | SilverStone TJ08-B Micro-ATX Mini-Tower | $99 |
| Power | PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 Quad S75QB, ATX12V 2.2, 80-Plus Certified | $120 |
| CPU Cooler | Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283 | $40 |
| Total Cost | $1,296 |
- Component List
- CPU: Intel Core i7 920
- Motherboard, CPU Cooler, And Memory
- Hard Drive And Case
- Power Supply, Optical Drive, And Video Cards
- Assembly
- Overclocking
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Media Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Crysis
- Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2
- Benchmark Results: World in Conflict
- Benchmark Results: Stalker: Clear Sky
- Power And Noise Benchmarks
- Conclusion
I wonder how exactly does the selection of components go. I mean it seems that there's some attention given to the forums to be politically correct, but that's kind of it. For $1300 a Phenom 2 + micro AM3 board + 2x4890 in crossfire is a much better solution so .. why not choose the better option?
[img=http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/594/systemg.th.jpg]
That's not a better solution it's just an AMD ATI themed solution
Although i guess it would be stronger in the fps in games it wouldn't be nearly as rounded system i rather have i7 because i do cpu heavy tasks just my view;)
I mean if they just wanted max fps they could have gone LGA775 with E8500 and shove 2 4890's in there i'm sure that would produce the highest fps.
Btw i\m getting tired of people picking up I7 and saying "because i do heavy CPU tasks" (not necessarily IzzyCraft ) and in fact all they need is a browser,OpenOffice and WoW minimized in the taskbar.
The article is well done no doubts but try using other brands also. It\s starting to sound biased.
I priced up the parts in this system and it comes out at £1098.00 on 26th May 2009 that means it comes out at $1740 a big difference
Motherboard
DFI LANParty Jr X58-T3H6 Micro-ATX
Intel X58/ICH10R, LGA1366
$220 uk £189.99
Processor
Intel Core i7-920
Four Cores, 2.66 GHz, 8 MB Cache
$289 UK £225
Memory
G.Skill 10666CL7T 6GBPK
Triple-channel memory kit 3 x 2 GB
$90 UK £80.73
Graphics
2 x BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC in SLI
896 MB GDDR3-1998 Per Card
590 MHz GPU, 1,296 MHz Shader
$340 UK £343
Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black
640GD, 640 GB, 32 MB cache
$75 UK £51.60
Optical
Lite-On iHAS422 DVD±R
DVD Burner SATA
$28 UK £22
Case
SilverStone TJ08-B Micro-ATX Mini-Tower
$99 UK £59
Power
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750 Quad S75QB, ATX12V 2.2, 80-Plus Certified
$120 UK £88
CPU Cooler
Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283
$40 UK £38
The system builder marathon was always, in my mind at least, a competition between value and performance and they tended to pick the latest technologies. Sure even now for $1300 or even $2500 you can go with a Q600 or a q9650 .. it would be cheaper and the performance is similar to that of a i7 but without the bragging rights. And so paying $500+ just for a motherboard that doesn't do much since it's not used to overclock in a extreme fashion, and a processor that's 10% maybe 20% faster then it's previous Quad generations isn't going to cut it for me. That's why i was expecting a different quad core of another flavour, just to spice things up. And of course to top things off some new 4890. All in all it would have been a more balanced system that caters to the wishes of the enthusiast.
With all that said i can hardly wait for tomorrows $600 system, i wonder what GPU, RAM, PSU and HDD got picked to go with the ... i7+X58 combo
Also higher overclock of this system vs $2500 PC seems silly if you actually intend to compare them and calculate price/performance ratio.
If u had cut holes in the bottom near the fan for the graphics cards wouldn't it help?
I would have cut a hole big enough to fit a fan put a net over the fan, that would seriously cut those temperatures (I think)...
Maybe one of the top-down Scythes would have been better.
The 650W draw was a bit of a surprise. Good thing it's a PC P&C.
Good choice of CPU cooler although I might have gone with a the Titan Fenrir instead. However as ifko_pifko points out why did the more expensive $2500 system use a stock cooler yet you had the budget in the cheaper system for 3rd party cooling, very odd.
If it were 'portable lan-party-sized', it wouldn't contain two dual-slot graphics cards on a micro-atx case, because of improper cooling. The choice of CPU heatsink it's also bad, and it may pose problems when the system is moved if handled improperly.