System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: $1,300 Enthusiast PC
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Page 1:System Builder Marathon: $1,300 Enthusiast System
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Page 2:CPU, Motherboard, And Case
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Page 3:Video Cards And Power Supply
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Page 4:Memory, Hard Drive, And Optical Drive
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Page 5:Assembly And Overclocking
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Page 6:Test System And Benchmarks
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Page 7:Synthetic Benchmarks
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Page 8:Application Benchmarks: Media Encoding
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Page 9:Application Benchmarks: 2D And 3D Graphics
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Page 10:Application Benchmarks: Productivity
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Page 11:Game Benchmarks: First-Person Shooters
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Page 12:Game Benchmarks: Real-Time Strategy And Flight Sim
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Page 13:Game Benchmarks: Role-Playing Game
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Page 14:Power And Temperature Benchmarks
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Page 15:Conclusion
Video Cards And Power Supply
The Radeon HD 5850 outperforms the GeForce GTX 285 at a lower cost, and we were looking forward to putting two of these cards in a CrossFire configuration to give our $1,300 system some hard-hitting graphics prowess.
Radeon HD 5850 cards were somewhat hard to come by in the weeks following their introduction, but it finally looks like there is a steady enough supply now. Unfortunately, organizing a System Builder Marathon (SBM) takes weeks to prepare and Radeon HD 5850s were still scarce when we ordered the parts.
While we wanted the cards that offered the best price/performance ratio--some Radeon HD 5850s can be bought for as low as $310--these low-priced specimens were not available when we ordered, so we were forced to take what we could get. We got our hands on two XFX HD-585A-ZNBC Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition cards (thanks, XFX!), which are factory overclocked models that cost about $50 more than a garden-variety Radeon HD 5850. The good news for whoever win's this month's $1,300 system is that you'll get a couple of super-charged graphics cards.
With Radeon HD 5850s now available for purchase at $310, here's what we've done: we've budgeted for the cheaper version of Radeon HD 5850s and underclocked our Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition cards to reference 725 MHz core/1,000 MHz memory speeds for our stock results. For our overclocked results, we pushed the cards to the maximum allowed in the BIOS, which happens to be 10 MHz core speed faster than the factory clock of the Radeon HD 5850 Black Edition at 765 MHz core/1,250 MHz memory. The overclocked results will give a clear indication of what the XFX card can do out of the box.
I will point out that it was very late in the game when we learned that the new 1.4 version of MSI's Afterburner overclocking utility has the ability to bypass the graphics card's imposed overclocking limits simply by selecting "Enable Unofficial Overclocking value to 1" option in the program's MSIAfterburner.cfg file. Overclocking results can likely be pushed much higher with voltage increases, so this is something to keep in mind for you overclockers out there. These cards will have a lot more potential for higher clocks than we achieved here if voltages are pushed and the BIOS limit is breached.
Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX
On sale for $110 with an additional $20 rebate, the Corsair CMPSU-750TX is a no-brainer for high performance and value. A single mammoth 60 amp rail will supply all the graphics power we'll ever need without complaint, and the 80 PLUS efficiency rating is very much appreciated.
- System Builder Marathon: $1,300 Enthusiast System
- CPU, Motherboard, And Case
- Video Cards And Power Supply
- Memory, Hard Drive, And Optical Drive
- Assembly And Overclocking
- Test System And Benchmarks
- Synthetic Benchmarks
- Application Benchmarks: Media Encoding
- Application Benchmarks: 2D And 3D Graphics
- Application Benchmarks: Productivity
- Game Benchmarks: First-Person Shooters
- Game Benchmarks: Real-Time Strategy And Flight Sim
- Game Benchmarks: Role-Playing Game
- Power And Temperature Benchmarks
- Conclusion
Not all cpus are the same, this one compared to the $2500 build definatly shows it. Takes a bit of luck sometimes or bad luck.
Pair that up with OCZ 1333 platinum 7-7-7-24 memory, that can easily be overclocked to 1600 7-7-7-24 and you'll have a powerful system with 36 PCI-e lanes and loads of CPU overclocking room thanks to asrock's great motherboard.
Since you are willing to experiment with different setups, and since we see the problem with the Phenom in the application suite, why not try something more exotic like pairing a nvidia based card with the crossfire cards to act like a PPU / video transcoding accelerator (TMPEng supports CUDA at least to act as a filter). I don't know if this makes sense in a marathon build, but I'd like to see something like this benchmarked.
With an aftermarket cooler this build will be flawless.
Power Draw,Performance all were nice.
The case looks nice too.
Just think how boring these would be if every quarter we did a Core i7-920-based machine at $2,500, a Core i5-750 machine at $1,500, and a Phenom II-based box at $700! =)
Otherwise, great build.
Actually availability was still a guess when these were ordered. They were ordered a week before the 5970 launched, and it was guessed that the 5970 wouldn't be available for several weeks after launch based on availability of 5870's.
What I'd love to see is a comparison of "every possible" 58xx/59xx configuration
The only thing I didn't like is the cable management. I'm a cable management freak and to see Tom's just shove the cables in there like that disappoints me.
ARGGGH!!! Chris! Don't put those thoughts in my head!!
This was cool to see what that Intel CPU could do. I am kinda jealous now...kinda. Of course, I got a PII 550BE to go 3.7GHz@1.375 on air for $99. So, I can't be too sad...except...C3 stepping came out 3 weeks later. lol
Another great read and something to consider down the line in building my next rig. I actually am seeing value for the buck now in a line of Intel CPUs. I just wish that i7-920 had been $50 cheaper. I might have gone with them.
Thanks for another good article, guys.