The following tables include the stock and overclocked settings for this quarter's enthusiast-class gaming build, 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.
| Test Hardware Configurations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 $1600 Performance PC | Q1 $2400 Performance PC | Q1 $1600 Enthusiast PC | |
| Processor (Overclock) | Intel Core i7-4770K: 3.5 to 3.90 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.20 GHz, 1.29 V | Intel Core i7-4770K: 3.5 to 3.90 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.50 GHz, 1.25 V | Intel Core i7-4770K: 3.5 to 3.90 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.40 GHz, 1.20 V |
| Graphics (Overclock) | Radeon R9 290X: 1050 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5400 O/C to 1100 MHz, GDDR5-6200 | 2x GeForce GTX 780: 902 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008 O/C to 1059 MHz, GDDR5-6720 | GeForce GTX 780: 928 MHz GPU, GDDR5-7000 O/C to 1128 MHz, GDDR5-7300 |
| Memory (Overclock) | 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 | 8 GB Corsair DDR3-1866 CAS 9-10-9-27, No O/C |
| Motherboard (Overclock) | Asus Z97-A: LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express, Stock 100 MHz BCLK | ASRock Z87 Extreme4: LGA 1150, Intel Z87 Express, Stock 100 MHz BCLK | ASRock Z87 Pro3: LGA 1150, Intel Z87 Express, Stock 100 MHz BCLK |
| Case | CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced | NZXT Phantom 410 | NZXT Phantom 410 |
| CPU Cooler | Thermaltake NiC L32 | Thermaltake CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO |
| Hard Drive | Samsung MZ-7TE250BW 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | SanDisk SDSSDHP-256G-G2 256 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Samsung MZ-7TE120BW 120 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
| Power | Rosewill HIVE-750: 750 W Semi-Modular, 80 PLUS Bronze | Corsair HX750: 750 W Semi-Modular, 80 PLUS Gold | Corsair TX650: 650 W, 80 PLUS Bronze |
| Software | |||
| OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 |
| Graphics | AMD Catalyst 14.4 | Nvidia GeForce 335.23 | Nvidia GeForce 334.89 |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.4.0.1026 | Intel INF 9.4.0.1026 | Intel INF 9.4.0.1026 |
Hope for any level of competitive performance between today’s $1600 build and the $2400 machine it replaces is dashed by a CPU overclock that doesn’t even approach mediocrity. Even the previous $1600 machine outclasses it in that arena, though the new build at least has some memory overclocking to push it through a few benchmarks.
| 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
- 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?
Ask a Category Expert
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