| Test Hardware Configurations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Performance Mini PC | System Builder Marathon $2000 PC | |
| Motherboard (Overclock) | Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z LGA 1155, Intel Z68 Express 101.1 MHz BCLK | Gigbyte Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155, Intel Z68 Express 102 MHz BCLK |
| Processor (Overclock) | Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to to 4.75 GHz, 1.38 V | Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to to 4.48 GHz, 1.36 V |
| Memory (Overclock) | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-2200 CAS 9-11-9-28, O/C at 1.65 V to DDR3-2158 CL 10-10-10-30 | 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1866 CAS 9-10-9-28, O/C at 1.60 V to DDR3-1901 CL 9-10-9-16 |
| Graphics (Overclock) | 2 x PNY GeForce GTX 580: 857 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4212 O/C to 950 MHz GDDR5-4300 | 2 x EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR: 772 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4008 No O/C |
| Case | Fractal Design Arc Mini | Antec Three Hundred Illusion |
| CPU Cooler | PNY XLR8 Integrated Liquid Cooling | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus |
| Hard Drive | Crucial m4 256 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Adata S511 120 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
| Power | Seasonic SS-850HT: 850 W, ATX12V v2.31, 80 PLUS Silver | |
| Software | ||
| OS | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 | |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 280.26 | |
| Chipset | Intel INF 9.2.0.1030 | |
We compared today’s microATX build to our previous ATX build to see how much more performance its higher clock speeds would provide.
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Crysis | Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Quality, 8x AA |
| F1 2010 | V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA |
| Just Cause 2 | Version 1.0.0.2, Built-In Benchmark "Concrete Jungle" Test Set 1: Medium Details, No AA, 8x AF Test Set 2: Highest Details, 8x AA, 16x AF |
| Metro 2033 | Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene Test Set 1: DX11, High, AAA, 4x AF, No PhysX, No DoF Test Set 2: DX11, Very High, 4x AA, 16x AF, No PhysX, DoF On |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| iTunes | Version 9.0.3.15 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 0.94: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
| MainConcept Reference | Version: 2.0.0.1555: 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 | |
| Adobe Photoshop CS5 | Version 12.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 | Version 12.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| WinZip | Version 14.0 Pro: THG-Workload (464 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
| WinRAR | Version 4.0 Beta 4: THG-Workload (464 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.2: THG-Workload (464 MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.1.0, Benchmark Only |
| PCMark 7 | Version: 1.0.4 x64, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2011 | Version 2011.1.17.15, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
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Summary
- Maximum Performance From MicroATX
- The Impetus: PNY’s Liquid-Cooled GeForce GTX 580 Graphics In SLI
- The Smaller Footprint: Fractal Design’s Arc Mini
- Overcoming Overclocking Ordeals: Asus’ Maximus IV Gene-Z
- Lightening The Load With Crucial And Seagate
- Busting The Remaining Barriers
- Hardware Installation
- Overclocking
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Benchmark Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Benchmark Results: Crysis And F1 2010
- Benchmark Results: Just Cause 2 And Metro 2033
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Getting More Performance From A Smaller PC
Ask a Category Expert
I didn't find any mention about it.
At least, at what speed fans are running while the gaming test is being done?
I was a huge proponent of uATX cases until I needed space for an Asus Essence STX and a Killer Networks 2100 NIC. I found a compromise with the Lian Li PC A05NB -- it's one of the smallest ATX cases around, not much larger than the uATX enclosure I was using prevously. The diminutive Gene-Z is perfection for uATX boards, and wouldn't be out of place in larger cases -- but it's nice that you were able to cram so much into such a modest enclosure.
I was a huge proponent of uATX cases until I needed space for an Asus Essence STX and a Killer Networks 2100 NIC. I found a compromise with the Lian Li PC A05NB -- it's one of the smallest ATX cases around, not much larger than the uATX enclosure I was using prevously. The diminutive Gene-Z is perfection for uATX boards, and wouldn't be out of place in larger cases -- but it's nice that you were able to cram so much into such a modest enclosure.
Anyways. Love these kind of articles. Helps other users get more of what they assume. Keep it up Tom's.
it doesnt have a BAD voltage regulator, it just doesn't deliver enough stable power for overclocking much, nor do the VRM's have good cooling on them in that gigabtyte board. This was the assumption for the poor overclcking perfromance in the SBM.
How does one avoid this?
Eight threads Prime95 small FFTs for max CPU.
On the Gigabyte board you could probably see that half of the voltage regulator had no heat sink, but some crap boards have sinks so it's only a little helpful. Otherwise you have to pick a board you like, then use your search engine to find out what other people are getting from their overclocks.
In the case of that board, it was stable at 1.35V, fluctuated quite a bit at 1.36V, and dropped all the way down to 1.36V when it was set to 1.38V.
sry, i retract what i was saying
loved the whole build despite the micro atx form factor
really love the heatsinks being built and used from the board to the memory to the water coolers.
if some one could come up with a sli/crossfire dual card set up that flipped one cards gpu's so both cards could share 1 gpu pump and sink mount sandwiched between them i do not think there could be any improvement in this build at all.
(it could be argued that a dual burner drive could add some small benefit depending on how many back up movie discs you make every week.)
BTW, I was eyeing the exact same Fractal Design case for my home server, because it was small, cheap and well-ventilated. Besides, I really dig its sober design; I had enough with frills, bells & whistles. If it copes with this setup, then I guess it must be safe with my required ~35 W server power footprint XD
I didn't find any mention about it.
At least, at what speed fans are running while the gaming test is being done?
Btw, I'm with gti88, I would really like to know about noise.