System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2011: System Value Compared

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Test Settings

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Test Hardware Configurations
Row 0 - Cell 0  $2400 Perfomance PC   $1200 Enthusiast PC   $600 Gaming PC 
Motherboard (Overclock) MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3) LGA 1155, Intel Z68 ExpressO/C at 102 MHz BCLK Biostar TA990FXE Socket AM3+, AMD 990FXO/C at 207 MHz RCLK MSI PH61A-P35 LGA-1155, Intel H61 ExpressNo O/C
Processor (Overclock) Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40 GHz, Four Physical CoresO/C to 4.60 GHz, 1.37 V AMD FX-6100 3.3 - 3.9 GHz, Six CoresO/C to 4.45 GHz at 1.476 V Intel Core i5-2400 3.1 GHz, Four CoresNo O/C
Memory (Overclock) 8 GB Corsair DDR3-1600 CAS 8-8-8-24, O/C at 1.60 V to DDR3-1636 CL 7-8-7-12 4 GB Mushkin DDR3-1600 CAS 7-8-7-24, O/C at 1.50 V to DDR3-1380 CL 7-8-8-24 4 GB Wintec DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, O/C at 1.65 V to DDR3-1333 CL 7-7-7-20
Graphics (Overclock) 2 x PNY GeForce GTX 580: 857 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4212 O/C to 951 MHz GDDR5-4312 2 x Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950: 870 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5000 O/C to 880 MHz GDDR5-5040 Sapphire Radeon HD 6870: 900MHz GPU, GDDR5-4200 O/C to 990 MHz, GDDR5-4720
Optical LG WH12LS38 BD-RE 12x BD-R, 16x DVD±R Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD±R/W 24x DVD±R, 48x CD-R Samsung SH-222AB DVD±R/W 22x DVD±R, 48x CD-R
Case Fractal Design Arc Midi Rosewill Challenger-U3 Xigmatek Asgard II
CPU Cooler PNY XLR8 Integrated Liquid Cooling Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Hard Drive Crucial M4 128 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD OCZ OCZSSD2-1VTXPL60G 60 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD Seagate ST3500413AS 500 GB, 7200 RPM HDD
Power Mushkin Joule MKNPSJL10001000 W, 80 PLUS Gold Corsair CMPSU-650TXV2 650 W, 80 PLUS Bronze Antec EarthWatts EA430D 430 W, 80 PLUS Bronze
Software
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Graphics Nvidia GeForce 285.62 AMD Catalyst Graphics 11.11
Chipset Intel INF 9.2.0.1030 AMD Catalyst Platform 8.71 Intel INF 9.2.0.1030
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
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, 8x AA
F1 2010 V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA
Just Cause 2 Version 1.0.0.2, Built-In Benchmark "Concrete Jungle" Test Set 1: Medium Details, No AA, 8x AF Test Set 2: Highest Details, 8x AA, 16x AF
Metro 2033 Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene Test Set 1: DX11, High, AAA, 4x AF, No PhysX, No DoF Test Set 2: DX11, Very High, 4x AA, 16x AF, No PhysX, DoF On
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunes Version 9.0.3.15 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)
HandBrake CLI Version 0.94: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
MainConcept Reference Version: 2.0.0.1555: 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
Adobe Photoshop CS5 Version 12.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 Version 12.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
WinZip Version 14.0 Pro: THG-Workload (464 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRAR Version 4.0 Beta 4: THG-Workload (464 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-Zip Version 9.2: THG-Workload (464 MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
ABBYY FineReader Version 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11 Version: 1.0.1.0, Benchmark Only
PCMark 7 Version: 1.0.4 x64, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks
SiSoftware Sandra 2011 Version 2011.1.17.15, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
56 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Darkerson
    I dont even know what to say about how screwed up the Bulldozer build is. The fact that a build that cost half as much can spank it in most regards is just sad. I hope AMD is able to save some face when the revised Bulldozers come out, but sadly, it will be too late for me.

    Edit: Fixed typo. Oops :p
    Reply
  • theuniquegamer
    The 1200$ pc doesn't perform well in comparison to the 600$ pc
    Reply
  • Dacatak
    DarkersonI dont even know what to say about how screwed up the Bulldozer build is. The fact that a build that cost half as much cant spank it in most regards is just sad. I hope AMD is able to save some face when the revised Bulldozers come out, but sadly, it will be too late for me.
    I'm guessing you meant "can" spank.

    And spank it does.
    Reply
  • hmp_goose
    So the "oopsie" build this quarter with be replacing the $1200 with a i5-2500k?
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    9524931 said:
    I'm guessing you meant "can" spank.

    And spank it does.
    Yeah, thats what i meant.
    Reply
  • zloginet
    Just curious how 2x 6950s loose to a 580.... My AMD 1100t @ 4.2 with a MSI R6970 Twin FrozrIII isn't much behind a 580... This is a joke.
    Reply
  • zloginet
    zloginetJust curious how 2x 6950s loose to a 580.... My AMD 1100t @ 4.2 with a MSI R6970 Twin FrozrIII isn't much behind a 580... This is a joke.
    NM, the original part of the thread I thought I read 1x 580, now I see 2x...
    Reply
  • zloginet
    zloginetNM, the original part of the thread I thought I read 1x 580, now I see 2x...
    I need to reply once more... 2x 6950s and a extremely overclocking BD 6100 with only a 650watt ps? These fuggen builds suck
    Reply
  • slicedtoad
    9524937 said:
    I need to reply once more... 2x 6950s and a extremely overclocking BD 6100 with only a 650watt ps? These fuggen builds suck
    whats the matter with 650W?

    gaming tdp of 6950s = max 160 * 2 = 320
    bd 6100 95W officially.

    320 + 160 = 480
    overclocking won't need more than an extra 100W max.

    nothing else uses much power. These are budget builds, they're not made for upgradeability.

    EDIT: LOL, I just looked at your profile. Your system has a 1200W PSU for one 6970.
    I'm laughing, yet cringing at the waste of money.
    Reply
  • silverblue
    There is something horribly wrong with putting multiple GPUs on Bulldozer. I've seen time and time again that a single GPU is generally the faster option. Probably would've made more sense to have the FX6100 build as the $600 one and elevated the $600 build to a dual-GPU config as the CPU can actually cope.

    I think we need a single/multiple GPU article to find out if there's anything that can be rescued from this. Throw in a couple of different motherboards, that sort of thing. Does memory speed make a big difference? Would Windows 8 Beta help in any way?
    Reply