
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K
Based primarily on reader requests not to use another six-core CPU, last quarter’s high-end build still featured Intel’s revered Core i7-4770K overclocked to 4.50 GHz.
It was the fastest unlocked CPU in Intel’s LGA 1150 arsenal back when we placed our orders for this quarter, and nothing less than the best would approach that machine's compelling performance. Of course, in the time between then and now, Intel introduced the Core i7-4790K. But it's only supposed to hit availability today.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i7-4770K CPU
For now, we make do with the -4770K. Hyper-Threading will help in a few of our tests, and top-end processors tend to enjoy the best binning. But the conspiracy theorist in me is suspicious that maybe Intel was setting aside its best quad-core Haswell dies for Devil's Canyon way back when this Core i7 was manufactured (Ed.: Are you trying to foreshadow something, Thomas?).
Graphics Card: PowerColor PCS+ AXR9 290X 4GBD5-PPDHE
Last quarter, I struggled and failed to fit two GeForce GTX 780 Tis into my budget, settling instead for two vanilla 780s.
This quarter’s budget is a lot tighter. I don't even have the money for one 780 Ti, let alone two slightly cheaper 780s.

Read Customer Reviews of PowerColor PCS+ AXR9 290X 4GBD5-PPDHE Graphics Card
Given a choice between a single GeForce GTX 780 or a single Radeon R9 290X, most of us are going to go the AMD route. Selling for about $30 more than the noisy reference design on the day we placed our order, PowerColor’s PCS+ comes with a big quiet cooler and a small factory overclock. That kind of value is good enough to earn it an award.
Since we made our purchase, the cheapest Radeon R9 290X cards dropped by $20 while the PCS+ went up by $90 and back down to $570 with the 250 GB Samsung 840 EVO. According to PowerColor, this sale will end in days. So, we're using the original and eventual $530 price point for our calculations.
Memory: 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1866 CAS 8
At least one of our benchmarks speeds up dramatically when we add more than 8 GB of RAM, but the price of a 16 GB kit would have a detrimental impact on value. Limited to a pair of 4 GB modules, we at least needed a good set.

Read Customer Reviews of G.Skill's 8 GB DDR3-1866 CAS 8 RAM
I’ve reviewed enough DRAM to notice that G.Skill uses the same ICs at various frequencies and latencies under a variety of part numbers. Maybe the company bins these differently? While searching for a set that I know would contain the “good stuff” (DDR3-1600 C8, DDR3-1866 C9, DDR3-2133 C10), I found a great deal on a kit that might have been binned a little higher: G.Skill's Ripjaws X F3-14900CL8D-8GBXM DDR3-1866 CAS 8.
- Can A $1600 PC Really Be High-End?
- CPU, Graphics, And Memory
- Motherboard And CPU Cooling
- Power Supply, Case, And SSD
- Mass Storage, OS, And Optical Drive
- Installing Thermaltake's NiC-L32 CPU Cooler
- Completing Hardware Installation
- Overclocking
- How We Tested Our $1600 High-End PC
- 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 Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Less Money, Lower Performance, Better Value?
was multicore enhancement enabled for both the q1 $1600(asrock z87 pro3) and this quarter's high end pc(asus z97-a)? did it affect the heat output? asus keeps m.c.e. enabled by default. i can't see any other factors atm.
all 3 builds look very well-performing this quarter. looking forward to the perf-value analysis.
I would go with 16 GB of memory for $85 more, since that’s only $85/$1600=5% more cost. I’d also go ahead and get the Asus 780 for $520. (Side note: I disagree that most would go AMD in a 780 vs 290x, but I know better than to open that can of worms). SLI was mentioned but not used, and I also would not get SLI unless I KNEW it worked with the game I was most interested in. The posts on various forums about SLI causing problems in most games, along with SLI “issues” dating back to 3dFX Voodoo2 cards, keeps me away from SLI.
I also would stay away from “generally stable, but usually not stable in the games I want to play most” (not quoting the author here) overclocking of the system/video card. It’s nice to see it in the charts, but I read about way too many problems in games caused by overclocking for me to rely on it to get my ‘value’.
Lastly, I think the pendulum has swung too far towards “value” for the high end build. I suggest tweaking that a little for future high end builds (eg..780Ti, 16 GB memory, 500GB SSD, but continue to stay away from $1000 CPU, $1200 SLI, etc).
The big lesson here though, is that people should NOT rely on the silicon lottery to meet their performance needs. Overclocking is NOT a sure thing. I seem to recall this happening before in the SBM; it's a lesson that needs to stick.
I might have made some different choices, but I'm not going to fault the ones that were made here (the head-scratching is left over from Don's choices yesterday of an Apevia case and a Corsair "CX"). I might be curious about the single-card choice, but I don't think I have grounds for criticism of the build in general.
If the Q2 builds are compared against each other on day 4, then the price categories should be comparable. Please compare the way WB 1T is placed in "Enthusiast" build vs "High-End" build. Different categories, if I understand correctly. And the high-end build DOES include the SSD in the Platform cost. Anyway, the price categories are named differently , so I cannot compare the builds directly.
I dont know if I made myself clear... The prices are divided in these sections Platform-TotalHardware-CompleteSystem, but Enthusiast build is divided differently.
The big lesson here though, is that people should NOT rely on the silicon lottery to meet their performance needs. Overclocking is NOT a sure thing.
+1.
And these giveaways might not be allowed to be global due to United States laws. They don't just ignore international viewers
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815039
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146114