System Builder Marathon, June 2011: $1000 Enthusiast PC
Deals
By
Don Woligroski
published
Benchmark Results: Synthetics
Starting with 3DMark 11, the Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFire take a big lead over AMD's Radeon HD 6950, even when it’s overclocked and unlocked to nearly match a Radeon HD 6970's specifications. It will be interesting to see if actual games demonstrate the same advantage.
PCMark Vantage clearly benefits from our faster hard drive, and Western Digital's Caviar Black drive helps the new system achieve a lead in the productivity test.
The Sandra scores show a close race, but the previous system has better memory bandwidth due to lower latencies.
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69 Comments
Comment from the forums
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whysobluepandabear What? 6850 x 2 = $340? Um, I could get TWO 6870's for $350~ EASY. Sure, they have mail in rebates, but who cares.Reply
Two 6870's would stomp the 6850's, and you would literally spend the same, if not a measly $10 more. -
quixilver1 Why change the cooler from the $200 pc. It is only $5 more and still within the budget.Reply -
whysobluepandabear seller417650W is enough power for this rig?Well, looking into my tarot cards and crystal ball, I see It peaks at 400W at full load. So yeah, I think 650W may be a bit of an overkill.Reply -
quixilver1 quixilver1Why change the cooler from the $200 pc. It is only $5 more and still within the budget.Should read $2000 pc.Reply -
iam2thecrowe whysobluepandabearWell, looking into my tarot cards and crystal ball, I see It peaks at 400W at full load. So yeah, I think 650W may be a bit of an overkill.Why would it be overkill? Its the kind of headroom you should have so your not straining the psu. Sure you could get away with less, but for a few dollars more than a 500w unit you can get a 650w. Its perfectly balanced and leaves room for upgrade. Its good to see what 2 6850's can do but i think if I were building this PC i would chose a faster single card and upgrade to dual cards later.Reply -
akorzan seller417650W is enough power for this rig?Yes. There is a misconception that rigs need over-sized power supplies. I have a Core i7 875k and a Radeon HD5850 running on a 400 Watt power-supply. Is it pushing it? Yes, if I clock it to 4.2 GHz and run Furmark and Prime95 none stop...Reply
No if I run Furmark and Prime95 at 3.33 GHz, and definitely no for any realistic workloads.
Why did I get a 400 watt power-supply? Because it is darn silent and was recommended on Silent PC Review for "budget" power-supplies. (Bare in mind that "normal" are gold SeaSonics) -
whysobluepandabear iam2thecroweWhy would it be overkill? Its the kind of headroom you should have so your not straining the psu. Sure you could get away with less, but for a few dollars more than a 500w unit you can get a 650w. Its perfectly balanced and leaves room for upgrade. Its good to see what 2 6850's can do but i think if I were building this PC i would chose a faster single card and upgrade to dual cards later.Reply
Because he was asking if 650W was enough, when all he had to do was look at the chart and clearly see the 399W max system (CPU+GPU) load.
So essentially, for that system, the 650W is more than enough, and ...effectively an "Overkill".