System Builder Marathon, March 2012: $650 Gaming PC

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Test System Configuration And Benchmarks

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Current $650 PC System Test Configuration
Component Base Settings Overclock Setting
CPU Intel Core i3-2120 (Sandy Bridge), 3.3 GHz, LGA 1155, 3 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading Enabled, power savings enabled Unchanged
CPU Cooler Intel retail boxed heatsink & fan Unchanged
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V Intel H61, BIOS F3 (02-16-2012) Unchanged
RAM 4 GB Team Elite DDR3-1333 kit 2 x 2 GB, CL 9-9-9-24 1T at 1.5 V DDR3-1333, CL 7-8-7-22 1T at 1.6 V
Graphics XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1 GB 800 MHz GPU, 1250 MHz (5000 MT/s) Memory 840 MHz GPU, 1300 MHz (5200 MT/s) GDDR5 Memory
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache Unchanged
Sound Integrated Eight-Channel HD Audio Unchanged
Network Integrated Gigabit Networking Unchanged
Power Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630 W Unchanged
Optical LG 22x DVD Burner SATA Model GH22NS90B-OEM Unchanged
Software and Drivers
Operating System Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 Unchanged
Graphics Driver AMD Catalyst 12.1 Unchanged
Platform Driver Intel 6-series Inf v. 9.2.0.1030 Unchanged
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December $600 Gaming PC System Test Configuration
Component Base Settings Overclock Setting
CPU Intel Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge), 3.1 GHz, 3.4 GHz Turbo Boost, LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, power savings enabled Unchanged
CPU Cooler Intel retail boxed heatsink & fan Unchanged
Motherboard MSI PH61A-P35 Intel H61, BIOS E7732IMS V1.3 (05-27-11) Unchanged
RAM 4 GB Wintec DDR3-1333 kit 2 x 2 GB, CL 9-9-9-24 1T at 1.5 V DDR3-1333, CL 7-7-7-20 1T at 1.65 V
Graphics Sapphire 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1 GB 900 MHz GPU, 1050 MHz (4200 MT/s) Memory 990 MHz GPU, 1180 MHz (4720 MT/s) GDDR5 Memory
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache Unchanged
Sound Integrated Eight-Channel HD Audio Unchanged
Network Integrated Gigabit Networking Unchanged
Power Antec EarthWatts Green 430 W  Unchanged
Optical Samsung 22x DVD Burner SATA Model SH-222AB Unchanged
Software and Drivers
Operating System Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 Unchanged
Graphics Driver AMD Catalyst 11.11 Unchanged
Platform Driver Intel 6-series Inf v. 9.2.0.1030 Unchanged
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Battlefield 3 Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 11, 90-sec. Fraps "Going Hunting" Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No AA, 4X AF, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset,  4X MSAA, 16X AF, HBAO
DiRT 3 Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x AA
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Version 1.4.27.0.4, December PC: v.1.3.10.0, 25-Sec. Fraps Test Set 1: High Preset, No AA, 8x AF, FXAA Enabled Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA Enabled
StarCraft II Version 1.4.3.21029, Tom's Hardware Map, 60-sec. Fraps Test Set 1: High, DX11, AAA, 4x AF, No DoF, No PhysX Test Set 2: Very High, DX11, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, DoF, No PhysX
Crysis Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Very High Quality, No AA
F1 2010 V.1.01, Direct X 11, -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x AA
Just Cause 2 Steam Version, Built-in Benchmark "Concrete Jungle" Test Set 1: Custom Medium Details, No AA, 8x AF Test Set 2: Highest Settings, 8x AA, 16x AF
Metro 2033 Steam Version, Built-In Benchmark Test Set 1: High, DX11, AAA, 4x AF, No DoF, No PhysX Test Set 2: Very High, DX11, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, DoF, No PhysX
Audio/Video Encoding
HandBrake CLI Version 0.95: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Min., Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
iTunes Version 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format
Lame MP3 Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
MainConcept Reference Version: 2.2.0.5440: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReader Version 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Version 12.1 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
7-Zip Version 9.22: THG-Workload (650 MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
WinRAR Version 4.01: THG-Workload (650 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
WinZip Version 15.5 Pro: THG-Workload (650 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
Sythetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11 Version: 1.0.1, Entry, Performance, Extreme Suite
PCMark 7 Version: 1.0.4, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks
SiSoftware Sandra 2011 Version 2011 17.80, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
87 Comments Comment from the forums
  • yukijin
    so now that all the 6950's are deactivated or $289+, is this build invalid? because a 7850 is looking really good right now...
    Reply
  • tristan_b
    What yukijin said.
    Reply
  • whysobluepandabear
    I appreciate what they're doing, but at some points, I can't help but feel like a cheap bitch.

    Making decisions overly measly amounts of money ($10) is just dumb. Work an extra day and just get the hardware you want. Or, don't go to the movies or out to eat for a few weeks.

    To me, there's a certain area, at which being cheap, just rips you off - you'd be better off spending a little more, and getting a much better item.
    Reply
  • How do I win this????
    Reply
  • mortsmi7
    Let me get this straight... you raised the budget $150 "as a result of steep price hikes on mechanical storage", then only spent $85 on a HDD. You really just wanted a more expensive graphics card. You could have taken the $70 processor savings and the $65 under-budget HDD savings and nearly have had a $500 build.
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    very good read.
    nice to see where core i3's limits lie.
    i wonder if you guys will consider amd's new fx 6200 or fx 8120 for the $1200 build, with 78xx series in cfx.
    Reply
  • serhat359
    if I had $600 for a PC, I would go with i3-21xx, 6870, a better mobo and a better case.
    it is probably the best thing to do
    Reply
  • SpadeM
    whysobluepandabearI appreciate what they're doing, but at some points, I can't help but feel like a cheap bitch. Making decisions overly measly amounts of money ($10) is just dumb. Work an extra day and just get the hardware you want. Or, don't go to the movies or out to eat for a few weeks. To me, there's a certain area, at which being cheap, just rips you off - you'd be better off spending a little more, and getting a much better item.It's not an issues of whether they had the money or not, it's a matter of principle, you set your budget and goals at a certain point and then you make choices. Sure, not everyone will be happy with what they chose but that's what forums are for.

    Anyways, anything a bit over 60fps (on a 60hz monitor) really isn't that bad, i mean you might lack the bragging rights but at the end of the day, it's about gaming and feeling satisfied that you shot enough monsters. To further empathize that having 70 fps constant is not total shit because another GPU can serve you 130 (as if you're going to notice without watching the fps counter) my one suggestion for this SBM would be to introduce a different style of graphs. Below 30fps all the colors of the bars to be grey and over 60 the same thing. This to focus the attention on most relevant (to my opinion) segment. I've seen a lot of ppl chase those fps numbers, buying expensive GPUs only to have them sit in a bad enclosure, sub par motherboard or weak CPU.
    Even in gaming, i believe balance is key.
    Reply
  • confish21
    Great Job! These builds keep me at Tomshardware!

    Only thing 1 thing, you said an I3 was used instead of an I5 on this page...
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-gaming-pc-overclock,3159-8.html
    You can check the 600 dec build here...
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-overclock-performance-gaming,3097.html
    Pretty sure an I5-2400 was used.
    Reply
  • jerreddredd
    I'm glad they used a i3 2120 for the CPU, but I wish they would have used some of the newer cards like the HD 7950 or the GTX 560 Ti 448. these are roughly the same price. Spending and extra $20 on a PSU was a waste. the EA430D and 380W are the core of the budget build. I would like to see some testing of a few of the less expensive PSU ($50 or less) to see which are junk and which aren't bad.
    Reply