A broad focus across our entire benchmark suite has caused many of my previous machines to look like workstations with gaming graphics cards. At least, that's what the feedback indicates. Occasionally, they end up behaving like gaming boxes with professional-class CPUs. A number of you asked for a change, and so today's effort was designed to facilitate a fresh perspective.

Slowed by Intel's enterprise-oriented storage driver, the previous build still managed to provide similar overall value to the game-centric replacement I pieced together today. Removing that stumbling block as I overclocked, the previous build’s less aggressive overclock manages to convey super value anyway.
But I still wouldn’t recommend the Q4 2013 setup today after what happened in the graphics market. Prices on Radeon R9 290s have shot up, and then dipped down a bit. But I'd only stand behind my choices if you could still find the Hawaii-based card for its original $400.

Comparing the prices of components today puts last quarter's top-end build at a huge disadvantage. If I were to choose my own multi-purpose performance-focused PC today, I’d need to figure out a combination of Ivy Bridge-E processor and Nvidia graphics cards that fit within a $2400 budget.

Gamers like gaming, and there are professionals who mix work and play. Although the previous build didn't please everyone, I can at least say that the new one caters to a crowd not dependent on business-class applications for making money. I don't even need consider price spikes on AMD's cards to see the current Intel/Nvidia-based build's gaming leadership.

Volatile pricing sounds the swan’s song for the previous PC’s Radeon R9 290 CrossFire configuration. I’m unlikely to revisit any AMD-based configuration until those cards can be purchased at October 2013 levels. Regardless of the reasons, your feedback driving my choices results in a better value this quarter.
- Our High-End Build Evolves
- Graphics, CPU, And Memory
- Motherboard, Case, And Power
- CPU And Motherboard Cooling
- An Alphabet Soup Of Storage: SSD, HDD, And ODD
- Hardware Installation
- Overclocking
- Test Hardware And Benchmark Settings
- Results: 3DMark And PCMark
- Results: SiSoftware Sandra
- Results: Battlefield 4 And Far Cry 3
- Results: Grid 2 And Arma 3
- Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Results: Adobe Creative Suite
- Results: Productivity
- Results: File Compression
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- A Gaming Build That Works Hard
1.) Start the system, wait for all processes to load, take a measurement (Active, but idle)
2.) Load the CPU using eight thread of AVX-optimized Prime95, take a reading (CPU Load).
3.) Load GPUs with 3DMark 11 Test 1 in loop, take max reading as it heats up (GPU Load).
4.) Load both applications (CPU+GPU Load).
The "math problem" is that any program used to fully load the GPU also partly loads the CPU. So when test 4 is Prime95+3DMark, Prime95 can only use whatever CPU resources are left with 3DMark running.
So the most accurate system power reading is with "CPU+GPU Load" applied. The system measurement for "CPU Load" still includes the power of an idle GPU. And the system power measurement for "GPU Load" still includes the amount of CPU energy it takes to run the GPU's test application.
Power supplies of greater capacity and similar reliability at this price tend to be lower-efficiency units. And we like efficiency too.
1.) Start the system, wait for all processes to load, take a measurement (Active, but idle)
2.) Load the CPU using eight thread of AVX-optimized Prime95, take a reading (CPU Load).
3.) Load GPUs with 3DMark 11 Test 1 in loop, take max reading as it heats up (GPU Load).
4.) Load both applications (CPU+GPU Load).
The "math problem" is that any program used to fully load the GPU also partly loads the CPU. So when test 4 is Prime95+3DMark, Prime95 can only use whatever CPU resources are left with 3DMark running.
So the most accurate system power reading is with "CPU+GPU Load" applied. The system measurement for "CPU Load" still includes the power of an idle GPU. And the system power measurement for "GPU Load" still includes the amount of CPU energy it takes to run the GPU's test application.
The "math problem" is that any program used to fully load the GPU also partly loads the CPU. So when test 3 is Prime95+3DMark, Prime95 can only use whatever CPU resources are left with 3DMark running.
So the most accurate system power reading is with "CPU+GPU Load" applied. The system measurement for "CPU Load" still includes the reading of an idle GPU. And the system power measurement for "GPU Load" still includes the amount of CPU power it takes to run the GPU.
Very much appreciated and satisfying answer.
Thanks Crashman
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3fuGw
Wondering how much of a difference would non-reference cards make. Obviously, CPU cooler and RAM could be different, BR drive optional, storage drive as well.
Shouldn't that be DDR3-1866?
my fix is get a 700gb ssd, 780ti no sli problems, and a i5 4670, this is a much better gaming pc, and can go quiet build.