Average Performance And Efficiency
Looking back at our recent System Builder Marathon, one reader asked if the $1300 PC might have performed better with a GeForce GTX 760 and Core i7-4770K than it did with the GeForce GTX 770 and Core i5-4670K. As seen from my M8 build, the answer is yes.
In fact, if I use the $1300 PC as a baseline, I measure the alternative hardware used in the M8 12.4% faster, overall, giving it an efficiency victory of 34.8% in spite of its thermal issues.
Those same thermal issues forced me to cap core voltage at 1.06 V when overclocking, which is slightly less than the processor’s default maximum. As a result, overclocking pushed efficiency up by another 3.9%.