System Builder Marathon, December 2010: $1000 PC
Although we were afraid of the results, this time around we decided to try something new, forgoing the Core i5 in favor of a dual-core Core i3 CPU in our build. Can the higher clock rate compensate for the loss of two physical cores in our $1000 system?
Benchmark Results: Power And Temperature
As expected, this quarter's System Builder Marathon configuration allocates less power to the CPU and more to the pair of GeForce GTX 460 graphics cards. It's a trade-off that, overall, puts today's machine in slightly worse position than the previous build with CPU and GPU power use factored together. Fortunately, Corsair's power supply is more than capable of supporting these load levels.
The new PC’s CPU is running cool thanks to the Hyper 212 Plus. And while the dual-graphics card configuration doesn’t have a lot of room between boards to breathe, the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo Pro GPU coolers do a great job of keeping the GeForce GTX 460s cool, with temperatures in the same ballpark as the single GeForce GTX 470 from the previous SBM.
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AMW1011 I can't say I'm impressed this time. You should never have went with a clarksdale, they are simply bad. Getting a more reasonably priced motherboard, cutting another $20 from the HDD and PSU, and an i5 750, would have been much better.Reply
Still, we have more information than before so I can't complain. -
Poisoner That PSU only has 2 PCI-E hook ups. So you'll have to use adapters in this build. Pathetic.Reply -
ivan_chess The CPU choice was a little disappointing this time around. A Core i5 or even a comparably priced AMD processor would have done much better (especially in productivity because four cores are typically better than two).Reply -
adbat I think it would be good to include previous build in the test system page it would make comparison easier.Reply -
duk3 1 tb 7200.12 hard drive?Reply
GTX 570? (debatable)
Cheaper motherboard, maybe not supporting SLI if gtx 570 is taken over 460 sli?
$50 corsair ddr3 1600?
i5 760 with these savings? -
Core2uu I think we're missing the point of including the Core i3 in this month's build. The purpose was to explore the CPU bottle-necking that can be observed on today's common applications because threading implementation has managed to find itself actually put into effect. Throwing in an i5 760 would have been too predictable and too boring. This puts perspective on the fact that dual-cores matched with high clock speeds are no longer the performance kings as was true more than a year ago.Reply -
amirp like they said in the previous article even the 6000 series radeons weren't out when they made these articles,Reply
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