System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $1000 Enthusiast PC

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Core i5-3570K And GeForce GTX 670 Are Potent

Now, we'd like to combine all of the benchmark results into two categories: application performance and gaming performance at 1920x1080. How does today's build stand up to the $1000 machine we built just one month ago?

This is an amazing example of the difference just a few months can make in the technology industry. Despite throwing more money at parts that didn't necessarily help our performance numbers, like an SSD and more memory, today's configuration is significantly better than the one that came before. Its stock performance is even better than the prior machine's overclocked effort.

To be fair, last quarter we used a Core i5-2400. The most we could get out of it was an extra 500 MHz, yielding 3.6 GHz. That overclock was about as good as today's build, but with everything running at its default settings. Once we whip out the overclocking, performance simply screams out in front of the older machine. We can't help but be impressed by a $230 CPU able to jump up to 4.6 GHz with just a .1 V increase. 

We're so impressed, in fact, that we're very much curious to see how this machine sizes up to the performance of Thomas' $2000 build tomorrow and the value of Paul's $500 setup, which we covered yesterday. We'll need to wait two days until Thomas publishes his analysis of our performance and pricing data!

Don Woligroski
123 Comments Comment from the forums
  • alchemy69
    Bring on the usual motley crew of those who could have done it so much better.
    Reply
  • lighter17
    What's going on with the processor price. The i5-3570k is $230 not $300. Then there's no mention of the CPU cooler in the price list.

    And you're pairing an Ivy Bridge CPU with a P67 motherboard to save a few dollars?

    Does anybody proofread these articles?
    Reply
  • lunyone
    ^^^ Just noticed and was starting to type that same mistake too :)
    +1 for the p67 and not a maybe a B75 based mobo like:

    or

    Z77 based mobo for ~$95 shipped??


    Just a though on the mobo situation....

    Reply
  • lunyone
    ^^^ Links didn't work, trying again below:

    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    i love how much difference a few months had on the performance.

    Just want to mention : i dont see the use of including an optical drive in 2012. i cant remember the last time i used an optical drive. And with digital sales outselling physical discs, i dont see why it is included.
    Its not about saving $15. Its about buying a part that you will be using less than a couple of times in an year.probably lesser.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    lighter17What's going on with the processor price. The i5-3570k is $230 not $300. Then there's no mention of the CPU cooler in the price list. And you're pairing an Ivy Bridge CPU with a P67 motherboard to save a few dollars?Does anybody proofread these articles?Good catch. Not sure what was up with Don's pricing, but his CPU was way off, and he forgot to include the cooler in his price list. I've updated it, and it's only $7 bucks off his original quote, so we're still in good shape. Appreciate the sharp eye, guys!
    Chris
    Reply
  • wildkitten
    mayankleoboy1i love how much difference a few months had on the performance.Just want to mention : i dont see the use of including an optical drive in 2012. i cant remember the last time i used an optical drive. And with digital sales outselling physical discs, i dont see why it is included. Its not about saving $15. Its about buying a part that you will be using less than a couple of times in an year.probably lesser.I think there is still a place for optical drives. I just finished a new tower build myself, an i5 3570k myself with the same video card on an Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe. I put in a Blur Ray burner that was only $90. With almost all new phones doing 1080p video, I can burn discs for friends and family of personal videos. People also still have CD players in cars and honestly, on a price per GB bases, it's still the best form of backup.
    Reply
  • 60 gb SSD? why bother?
    Reply
  • blackball3242
    The asrock professional series is shown whereas the actual motherboard being used is the performance series.

    I almost thought the motherboard had 3 pcie slots for only $100- that would have been a steal!
    Reply
  • nathcarter
    Any particular reason for P67 over Z77? Is it purely cost-based, or are there significant performance benefits?
    Reply