System Builder Marathon: Performance And Value Compared

Benchmark And Overclock Settings

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Test Hardware Configurations
Row 0 - Cell 0 $650 Gaming PC$1300 Enthusiast PC$2550 Performance PC
Processor (Overclock)AMD FX-6300 3.5 GHz, Six Physical Cores O/C to 4.0 GHz, 1.26 VIntel Core i7-4670K 3.0 GHz, Four Physical CoresO/C to 4.30 GHz, 1.25 VIntel Core i7-3930K 3.0 GHz, Six Physical CoresO/C to 4.2 GHz, 1.25 V
Graphics (Overclock)EVGA GTX 760: 980-1033 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008 O/C to 1254 MHz GDDR5-7204Gigabyte GTX 770: 1037-1089 MHz GPU,  GDDR5-7000O/C to 1239 MHz GDDR5-75003 x EVGA GTX-760: 980-1033 MHz GPU,  GDDR5-6008 O/C to 1130 MHz GDDR5-6680
Memory (Overclock)8 GB  Kingston DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-27, O/C to DDR3-1866 9-10-10-28, 1.65 V8 GB Corsair DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-24, O/C to DDR3-1800 CL 9-11-11-28, 1.535 V16 GB Mushkin DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-24, Not Overclockable
Motherboard (Overclock)MSI 970A-G43: Socket AM3+, AMD 970 / SB950Stock 200 MHz BCLKGigabyte Z87X-OC: LGA 1150, Intel Z87 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLKASRock X79 Extreme6: LGA 2011, Intel X79 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK
OpticalSamsung SH-224: 24x DVD±RSamsung SH-224: 24x DVD±RPioneer BDR-2208: 15x BD-R
CaseNZXT Tempest 210Antec GX 700Lian Li PC-9NA
CPU CoolerAMD Boxed CoolerCorsair H50Noctua NH-D14 SE2011
Hard DriveWD WD10EZEX 1 TB, SATA 6Gb/s HDDSamsung 840 MZ-7TD120BW 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSDMushkin Chronos Deluxe DX 240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD
PowerAntec VP-450: 450 W, ATX12V v2.3CORSAIR 650TX: 650 W Modular, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS BronzeCorsair HX850: 850 W Modular, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS Gold
Software
OSMicrosoft Windows 8 Pro x64
GraphicsNvidia GeForce 320.49 WHQLNvidia GeForce 326.80 BetaNvidia GeForce 326.80 Beta
ChipsetRow 13 - Cell 1 Intel INF 9.4.0.1017Intel INF 9.3.0.1026

Formerly adverse to memory tweaking, Don flipped the script in this review by soundly defeating my overclocking efforts. Not only was he able to push his CPU to 4.3 GHz and DRAM to DDR3-1800, but I ran into CPU thermal barriers at 4.2 GHz and wasn’t able to bump up my memory at all.

Paul’s $650 PC pushed an astounding graphics overclock, but so did my $2550 machine before it got hot. It turns out that three-way SLI has a negative effect on graphics cooling. Who would have thought, right?

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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Battlefield 3Campaign Mode, "Going Hunting" 90-Seconds Fraps Test Set 1: Medium Quality Defaults (No AA, 4x AF) Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Defaults (4x AA, 16x AF)
F1 2012Steam Version, In-Game Test Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA
Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimUpdate 1.5.26, Celedon Aethirborn Level 6, 25 Seconds Fraps Test Set 1: DX11, High Details No AA, 8x AF, FXAA enabled Test Set 2: DX11, Ultra Details, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA enabled
Far Cry 3V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC., SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe After Effects CS6Version 11.0.0.378 x64: Create Video which includes 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly
Adobe Photoshop CS6Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Adobe Premeire Pro CS6Version 6.0.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunesVersion 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format
Lame MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.99: Video from Canon Eos 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
TotalCode Studio 2.5Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Acrobat XVersion 11.0.0.379: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption
Autodesk 3ds Max 2013Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
BlenderVersion: 2.67b, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1
Visual Studio 2010Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted
File Compression
WinZipVersion 17.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRARVersion 4.2: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-ZipVersion 9.28: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11Version: 1.0.3, Benchmark Only
PCMark 8Version: 1.0.0 x64, Full Test
SiSoftware Sandra 2013Version 2013.10.19.50, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Cryptography, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.