Motherboard: MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3)
Overclocking is the biggest performance upgrade any builder can add to a PC, even though it comes at some risk. Our previous $2000 machine used a motherboard that had been awarded for its low-cost overclocking capability, yet our retail sample overheated when it was pushed past 1.35 V. In the famous words of a not-so-famous politician, “Oops.”

Read Customer Reviews of MSI's Z68A-GD55 (G3)
We were hoping to come back with the runner up from one of our previous motherboard round-ups to see if it would out-overclock the former winner in a real-world test. While MSI’s Z68A-GD55 was no longer available in its original form, the G3 version was priced only $10 higher.
Both versions include heat sinks on all CPU voltage regulator phases, and the extra $10 gets buyers a set of third-generation PCIe switches to keep their next-generation processors and graphics cards working at peak performance. That last part assumes that, between now and launch day, Intel won’t make its Ivy Bridge-based processors incompatible with existing platforms.
Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K
We ordered our System Builder Marathon machines prior to Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E launch, secure in the knowledge that at least the flagship would cost more than our $2400 budget could bear. Chris Angelini’s recent Core i7-3930K review did little to change that opinion, since such a small upgrade to our desktop-oriented benchmarks would have taken hundreds of dollars away from other components.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i7-2600K
That left Intel’s Core i7-2600K and Core i5-2500K as the only choices for top performance (Ed.: assuming the -2700K wasn't worth the increase either, right?). We’re counting on this processor’s legendary overclocking capability to push its value, even though the added benefit Hyper-Threading alone is somewhat questionable.
RAM: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8R
Also known as Vengeance DDR3-1600 CAS 8, this is the same memory that won our recent 8 GB value-oriented round-up.

Read Customer Reviews of Corsair's CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8R Memory Kit
Differences between AMD and Intel memory controllers mean that we won’t see the exact results from that round-up, but we’re still certain this memory will give us excellent timings at low cost.
- A Bigger Budget For A Better PC
- Motherboard, CPU, And RAM
- Graphics, Case, And Power
- SSD, Hard Drive, And Optical Drive
- The Build
- 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
- Are Liquid-Cooled Graphics Cards Worth The Extra Expense?
Also, as much as I understand the frustration with sacrifices, IMHO that's where the best lessons are.
Fun to read, yes, but just not practical. Hmmm, I guess that means the downvoting is about to begin...
Also, as much as I understand the frustration with sacrifices, IMHO that's where the best lessons are.
Fun to read, yes, but just not practical. Hmmm, I guess that means the downvoting is about to begin...
So, I wait until tomorrow to enter?
No, you're good today. It should start with today's story. I'll see if I can get that changed.
Its also half the price.
Toms needs more current benchmarks, some of these games were talking are ages old. And need i say we need a RTS game in this mixture. I am a bit disappointed that the 3930k wasn't in this build along with a nice X79 board. Not that a 2600k processor isn't fast enough but you never know. I would rather pick up my six core but thats just me, and most likely it could be a waste. But like i said you never know, i remember SupCom came out and that required some CPU multi core power. Not sure how many cores were needed but a Quad was definitely better then a Dual core.
Considering the price of the 2 gtx580s, 3 hd6950s might offer better value - as long as the game allows multi-gpus.
You can compare the two by using another article by Thomas Soderstrom that also utilizes the i7-2600k but is looking at SLI/Crossfire scaling.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crossfire-sli-3-way-scaling,2865.html
In the 3 games that the two systems both had shared benchmarks, the 3x 6950 was the clear winner.
Toms, can we get some reviews on how the computers from each bracket compare year over year as a general summary to end the year out? I would love to see what $2000 gets you in 2010 vs 2011, and even 2009. My bet is that there would be some decent changes over the last 2 years as everything has droped in price with the exception of those peskey hard drives.