Motherboard And Graphics
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3
Have you ever wished you could go to a computer store, buy everything on the shelf, and then decide for yourself which parts to keep? Review editors are privileged to have actually tested much of the hardware they use in system builds, and there’s nothing better than a value award to explain why this editor picked Gigabyte’s upper-mainstream model.
Intel’s Z68 Express chipset supports Quick Sync video transcode acceleration, plus discrete graphics via Lucid Virtu software, which is a feature we value (even though it’s not supported by our SBM benchmark set).
Read Customer Reviews of Gigabyte's Z68XP-UD3
Gigabyte chooses the least-expensive way to add SLI support to its Z68XP-UD3, switching from a single x16 slot to two x8 slots when both cards are installed. That’s not a problem for us however, since Nvidia graphics aren’t particularly bandwidth hungry even when configured in SLI mode. A greater concern to us is whether a motherboard with no sink on half of its voltage regulator will provide the stability for our overclocking attempts, even though it worked well at voltage levels only slightly below today’s target.
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1.5 GB in SLI
Only the cheapest GeForce GTX 580 graphics card would allow us to upgrade from our previous build’s Radeon HD 6970s, and we were surprised to find EVGA’s lifetime-warranty-bearing -AR model among them.
Read Customer Reviews of EVGA's 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580
What isn’t there to love about EVGA’s 015-P3-1580-AR? Really, there's only the possibility that these particular cards will resist our overclocking efforts, since EVGA is known for binning its cards to sell the more scalable GPUs at a higher price. As a result, samples most likely to overclock the highest will have likely already been set aside for more premium cards. Still, we value the lifetime warranty on this reference frequency-based model.
Great article. I am wondering, if instead you had gone with the EVGA 3GB GTX 570 SLI, maybe OC would have been possible? 2000$ is quite a bit of money. I wonder how these babies would hold out for Nvidia's 3D experience? Personally I am not a big 3D fan in theatres(headache and stuff), but gaming has to have a chance. You had an article on projectors gaming experience? Do it with 3d performance\eyefinity with the system marathon builds? That would be really cool.
I'm actually surprised that after the recent micro-stutter article you didn't opt for 3x 570's/6950's/6970's instead of 2x 580's. the First two should be cheaper than 2x 580's, while the third would cost very similarly.
All three should have provided at least equal performance, and been better on intangible benefits to micro stuttering.
... a bit of stagnation in performance department... no big difference in Q2 and Q3 models... gonna wait til bulldozer...
Poor case decision. Inadequate PSU (did you seriously expect good overclocking results?). Nice graphics, but severely limited by the other components. Hence, "nice graphics" doesn't matter. It's like putting a V10 inside a Dodge Neon. Just... why? I make a point of using good cases even in less-expensive builds. Compromising on PSU and the case are two things I've learned are no-nos. We can see how this hurt the outcome, When any OC whatsoever results in instability, you've made a mistake (or several).
Really looking forward to $1k and $500 builds in the coming days!
Now I know we'll see the usual "well this is meant to be a learning experience, learn from our errors and improve for next time" comments, but these are not mistakes I expect to see Tom's writers making. Even non-uber-enthusiast readers can probably see that some of the imbalances here. No result is horrible, but I'd have expected Tom's to look at that Newegg shopping cart and immediately think "nope guys, this isn't right. This gfx setup... in an Antec 300?" etc.
Always love these articles guys, keep them up! Even if I do disagree with some of the choices obviously
Poor case decision. Inadequate PSU (did you seriously expect good overclocking results?).
No, this case cools better than many (most?) cases more expensive than it. 2x 120mm intake is more than adequate for SLI cards with room for air to flow between them. Did you even look at the power consumption numbers? The system when overclocked only consumed 697w at load from the wall (actual consumption is less), while the PSU is rated at 850w.
Where the heck did they get that SSD for $170????? It's $205 on Newegg, and that's after a $35 price drop. What a steal....
These SBM keep becoming cheaper. At first was 5k, then 2.5k and now is 2k for the enthusiast one. The recession is beating hard.
All I can say is...WOW you guys have bad luck with overclocking.
maybe one of the 120mm fans should have been placed on the side panel? just wondering...
all i have to say is, ditch the crappy Gigabyte motherboard and get sonething better, and for the price difference get the i5 2500k, its no real loss to the i7.
and also, there is no crysis 2 benchmark? why not? get some newer games to use for benching toms please.
I have my i7 2600k @ 4,2 GHZ. But @ 4,4 my PC will shut down in Intel Burn test extreme setting. Try that aswell
, without disabling the CPU protection in BIOS.
Personally, I would have gone with a 1.5 TB storage drive and used the extra cash on a motherboard with more overclocking potential. Still, it's good to see a GPU upgrade.
Thanks for the builds!
Where the heck did they get that SSD for $170????? It's $205 on Newegg, and that's after a $35 price drop. What a steal....
It was purchased on Newegg about a month ago in preparation for this series, actually =)
I'm actually surprised that after the recent micro-stutter article you didn't opt for 3x 570's/6950's/6970's instead of 2x 580's. the First two should be cheaper than 2x 580's, while the third would cost very similarly.All three should have provided at least equal performance, and been better on intangible benefits to micro stuttering.
As you saw in that piece, micro-stutter was most apparent on more mainstream cards. Something like the GTX 580 isn't going to demonstrate the issues seen there, whereas a GTX 560/HD 6850 might.
and also, there is no crysis 2 benchmark? why not? get some newer games to use for benching toms please.
Check out Scott Wasson's excellent story about Crysis 2 on The Tech Report. Tons of artificial geometry to favor Nvidia's tessellation-emphasizing architecture. Not sure that's something we want to fold into our benchmark suite. We are looking at new games, but bear in mind that as soon as we ditch these, we kill the comparison points from the previous quarter. That's why you don't see the SBMs shift benchmark suites as often!
Very educational. Thank you for the insight on what panned out and what didn't. (Tower CPU coolers like to feel ducted?)
Now I know we'll see the usual "well this is meant to be a learning experience, learn from our errors and improve for next time" comments, but these are not mistakes I expect to see Tom's writers making.
No, because the only serious issue with the build was the motherboard VRM not outputting enough current to go to 1.38V. Everything else was great, which means everything else you commented on was wrong. You only need to look at the power and heat page to see how wrong. The big question is, what we should sacrifice to get the extra $100...in order to achieve an extra 5% O/C with another motherboard.
A question I have is why none of the system builder marathon PCs at any price level spend $15-20 on additional fans? More airflow usually equals a cooler system.