System Builder Marathon, June 2010: 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.
To enter the giveaway, please check out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!
Day 1: The $2,000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1,000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $550 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Introduction
Our past System Builder Marathons (SBMs) have used various budgets for high-priced machines, culminating in a March $3,000 PC that we think hit the performance sweet spot, while leaving almost $100 in the budget for optional upgrades, such as redundant storage. However, our less-expensive systems did an even better job of proving value, and we’re always left to question whether we could have generated similar performance for a lower price.
The two technologies that had the biggest effect on our $3,000 machine’s prices were liquid cooling and solid-state drive (SSD) storage. While the liquid cooler itself wasn’t very expensive, added components, such as a special case (to hold the radiator internally) and a liquid-cooled graphics card, pushed the total expense for this upgrade beyond $500. Yet, the VGA cooler at least allowed us to overclock a reputedly ultra-hot pair of graphics processors, while the SSD drives had a negligible impact on the real-world benchmarks we use in the final value analysis. Our chosen $380 SSD configuration certainly sped up boot times, but superb performance that only occurs outside those benchmarks will always undermine the machine’s value score.
The biggest problem with those potential excesses could be that many high-end buyers are feeling the pinch of an unstable economy. As many begin to seriously consider paying off small debts and beefing up emergency funds, it appears almost frivolous to spend significant money on anything that doesn’t provide equally-significant improvements in performance or quality.

A well-built, mid-priced case is just the beginning of a carefully planned value assault on our previous project’s performance profile. Other cost-conscious changes include a switch from the previous system’s expensive X58A-UD7 motherboard to its award-winning -UD3R sibling. The switch to air cooling saves even more money, though the CPU heat sink we chose requires the additional expense of a separate fan.
| $2,000 Performance PC Component Prices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Chipset: Intel X58 Express | $210 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-930 2.80 GHz Four Cores, 8MB L3 Cache | $289 |
| Memory | Crucial 6GB DDR3-1333 Triple-Channel Kit 3 x 2GB (6GB Total), CAS 9-9-9-28 | $168 |
| Graphics | 2 x Gigabyte GV-N470D5-13I-B in SLI 2 x 1.28GB GDDR5-3482 2 x GeForce GTX 470 GPU at 607 MHz | $700 |
| Hard Drive | Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB, 7,200 RPM, 32MB Cache, SATA 3 Gb/s | $80 |
| Optical | Lite-On Blu-ray Disc Combo Model iHES208-08 8X BD-ROM, 12X DVD-ROM DL, 16X DVD±R | $108 |
| Case | Antec Three Hundred Illusion | $70 |
| Power | SilverStone DA750 750W Modular ATX12V 2.2, EPS12V 2.91, 80-Plus Silver | $110 |
| CPU Cooler | Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B | $62 |
| CPU Fan | Scythe Slip Stream SY1225SL12LM-P | $11 |
| Total Current Cost | $1,808 | |
As with our previous month’s $3,000 machine, the builder took this month’s $2,000 budget as an absolute limit, and picked what he thought might be the best performance-value combination to approach that price threshold. Intended to address the higher expectations of high-end buyers, a Blu-ray combo drive is the only component in today’s build to add functionality without improving performance or reliability.
- Enhancing High-End Value
- Motherboard And Graphics
- CPU And Cooler
- Case And Power
- Memory And Storage
- Hardware Installation
- Overclocking
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Conclusion
Oh, and are those temps right? Nearly 93 C CPU temp when overclocked? I'd scale that back a bit...
Games or no games, pirates or no pirates, there is nothing like custom building your own PC.
1.) The air temperature in the case was excellent. Tom's has tested enough cases to know that smaller models that fit tightly around the CPU cooler do an excellent job of cooling the CPU area, so long as the rear fan is fast enough.
2.) Tom's tested the 212+, and it's only fair (not great). This months build was expected to reach high overclocks.
3.) Tom's has also done an i7-860 build around six months ago, that CPU was one of the worst-overclocking i7's Tom's has ever used. Subtract around 4-8% in game performance for using x8 slots, and the value evaporates.
4.) Would you build a $1000 machine that can't run DVD's? Then why would you build a $2000 machine that can't play BRD's? BRD's are close enough to mainstream that not having the capability should be the thing that "sticks out" IMO, but you do make a decent argument since this pick was based on an opinion.
5.) Yeh, you saw how dual 470's smashed the performance of dual 5870's? Oh, that was a 5970...well there you go. 470's take the big win.
So a4mula, points 1-3 and 5 are purely factual and based on testing. You might be able to win the opinion-based argument on #4, but whoever gave you the thumbs-up was also wrong so don't let popularity mislead you.
It still has a room for a SSD -> OCZ Vertex 2/ Agility 2 50GB or Vertex/ Agility 60GB...these both retail under $200...
But, a good rig!for someone who is just about to build his new PC with that much budget!
Oh, and are those temps right? Nearly 93 C CPU temp when overclocked? I'd scale that back a bit...
Great build though, might have put a bit more money towards the case if I was building it
I still fail to see the love of 1366 in these builds where there is no intention of upgrading to hexacore. Save the $100 and do a p55 i7-860 build. You're going to get performance that rivals the 930 on every benchmark including those that take x8/x8 into consideration. You'll surpass the 930 in a few.
700 for dual 470s when you can get dual 5850s for 560.
PSU that is being heavily overtaxed. You're risking the entire 2k machine by running 100w over the psus rated value. The only thing keeping this machine running is the fact that Silverstone makes high quality parts and you have a single rail. Had this of been a multi-rail you would have been pulling out a gpu, scaling back your overclocks, or buying a new psu. At some point you have to wonder if this is a safety hazard.
Sorry Thomas, just not feeling this build at all. I see about $400 of budget that could have easily have been trimmed and would have been within a few percentage points of the current build. This could have gone towards anything from your much wanted redundant storage to SSD drives.
And no, I've never had problems with dust. And I own a dog. Go figure.
1.) The air temperature in the case was excellent. Tom's has tested enough cases to know that smaller models that fit tightly around the CPU cooler do an excellent job of cooling the CPU area, so long as the rear fan is fast enough.
2.) Tom's tested the 212+, and it's only fair (not great). This months build was expected to reach high overclocks.
3.) Tom's has also done an i7-860 build around six months ago, that CPU was one of the worst-overclocking i7's Tom's has ever used. Subtract around 4-8% in game performance for using x8 slots, and the value evaporates.
4.) Would you build a $1000 machine that can't run DVD's? Then why would you build a $2000 machine that can't play BRD's? BRD's are close enough to mainstream that not having the capability should be the thing that "sticks out" IMO, but you do make a decent argument since this pick was based on an opinion.
5.) Yeh, you saw how dual 470's smashed the performance of dual 5870's? Oh, that was a 5970...well there you go. 470's take the big win.
So a4mula, points 1-3 and 5 are purely factual and based on testing. You might be able to win the opinion-based argument on #4, but whoever gave you the thumbs-up was also wrong so don't let popularity mislead you.
1.) The air temperature in the case was excellent. Tom's has tested enough cases to know that smaller models that fit tightly around the CPU cooler do an excellent job of cooling the CPU area, so long as the rear fan is fast enough.
2.) Tom's tested the 212+, and it's only fair (not great). This months build was expected to reach high overclocks.
3.) Tom's has also done an i7-860 build around six months ago, that CPU was one of the worst-overclocking i7's Tom's has ever used. Subtract around 5-8% in game performance for using x8 slots, and the value evaporates.
4.) Would you build a $1000 machine that can't run DVD's? Then why would you build a $2000 machine that can't play BRD's? BRD's are close enough to mainstream that not having the capability should be the thing that "sticks out" IMO, but you do make a decent argument since this pick was based on an opinion.
5.) Yeh, you saw how dual 470's smashed the performance of dual 5870's? Oh, that was a 5970...well there you go. 470's take the big win.
So a4mula, points 1-3 and 5 are purely factual and based on testing. You might be able to win the opinion-based argument on #4, but whoever gave you the thumbs-up was also wrong so don't let popularity mislead you.
1) 21.6, 69.5!, 43.6, 69.9! Above Ambient? These are Excellent case temperatures? What are you used to using as a case, hell?
2) 212+ Has been tested by multiple sources and it's consistently scored high across the board, matching and exceeding the TRUE in many comparisons.
3) Lol, I find that humorous as the 860 is almost a consistently higher overclocker than the D0 920/930 and destroys the older C0. You may have been unfortunate with a bad binning, but any amount of time looking into the 860 and the p55 with it's lack of northbridge shows how strongly these chips perform. As far as your 5-8pct numbers for x8/x8 you're grossly misrepresenting the results. It came out to an average of 3pct.
5) Sorry 5970 doesn't equal dual 5780's, nor does it equal dual 5850s even though it's clocked as such. Perhaps you haven't heard but crossfireX has a pretty major issue with memory management, and thus with scalability.
I could care less about popularity. You put together a ragtag rig that I wouldn't trust to my worst enemy let alone to a follower of Tom's. You lacked focus, foresight, and worst of all you did it with no apologies.
1. Temps are too high for 24/7 use. Maybe clocking the CPU down a notch should help. I dont understand why no review site mentions IOH temps for X58 but whenever i see a build there is always a fan attached to it even with high end boards like Classified and Rampage series.
2. 470 do scale very well in SLI but the amount of heat, power and noise are too uncomfortable. Better use 2 5850s, they do not perform as well but i dont think would render any game unplayable.
3. The PSU used is already overtaxed and should be upgraded to 900-1000W unit (if using 470 SLI). Forget room for expandability, i doubt it would last a couple of months of rigorous use. This PSU should do well with 2 5850s though.
4. A SSD for boot is definetly required with 50 GB Vertex 2 available for $200 and Intel 80GB for $220, i think its a must have for a system like this.
5. A better case is also needed like Antec 902 or CM 690 II
I mean... How many times have you not choosen the well known brand over the one with the strange or unknown name only because of just that - The name? I know I do...
Thank you for some interesting reading... As allways =)
You want someone to blame? Blame Pirates. They killed PC gaming.
It was said in the article that the cards have some extra ventilation holes on top of the card especially meant for SLI, besides temps were kept in check even after ocing and noise was not tested in this article so this really isn't an issue.
Antec 300 isn't a hot case my friend, far from that. In terms of airflow it beats most other cases hands down which sometimes cost much more.
-Great PSU. That thing ranks similarly to Corsairs modular HX series and Antec's new TruePower series in my book.
-The HD103SJ Samsung Harddrive. This can actually be purchased for a lot cheaper than ~$80 in many instances, making it a decently performing, high storage/cost ratio hard drive.
Things I disliked:
-SLI 470s. I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed with the ultra-sized dice Nvidia decided to use for their project. While I understand the price-performance ratio was being the primary concern here, I still don't agree with the what you've sacrificed to accomplish that. BUT I'm an ATI fanboy, take this with a gallon of salt.
-Antec Three Hundred Illusion. Really? Take a look at the CM 690 II Advanced for just a couple dozen bucks more... that might have solved much of your case-related problems. *cough* temperatures *cough*
-SSD. I know, I know, it has little effect on gaming performance, but anyone who has used a decent SSD in any configuration knows what difference it makes. Shave off enough seconds in loading times here and there, you're saving quite yourself quite a bit of time (and frustration).