System Builder Marathon, June 2012: System Value Compared

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Test Settings And Benchmarks

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Test Hardware Configurations
Row 0 - Cell 0 $500 Gaming PC $1000 Enthusiast PC $2000 Performance PC
Processor (Overclock) Intel Celeron G530: 2.4 GHz, Two Physical Cores, No O/C Intel Core i5-2400: 3.1 GHz, Four Physical Cores, O/C to 3.8 GHz, +0.1 V Intel Core i7-3770K: 3.50 GHz, Four Physical Cores, O/C to 4.60 GHz, 1.25 V
Graphics (Overclock) ECS NGT560TI-1GPI-F1: 823 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4008, O/C to 891 MHz GDDR5-4410 Sapphire 11197-01-40G: 925 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5500, O/C to 1125 MHz GDDR5-6400 Asus GTX680-DC2T-2GD5: 1201 MHz GPU,  GDDR5-6008, O/C to 1262 MHz GDDR5-7204
Memory (Overclock) 4 GB Pareema DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24, O/C at 1.60V to DDR3-1066 CL 6-6-6-14 4 GB Patriot DDR3-1600 CL 8-9-8-24, No O/C 8 GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 CAS 8-8-8-24, O/C at 1.60 V to DDR3-2000 CL 8-10-9-16
Motherboard (Overclock) Gigabyte GA-H61MA-D3V: LGA 1155, Intel H61 Express, Stock BCLK Gigabyte P67X-UD3-B3: LGA 1155, Intel P67 Express, Stock BCLK ASRock Z77 Extreme6: LGA 1155, Intel Z77 Express, Stock BCLK
Optical LG GH22NS90B 22x DVD±R LG GH22NS90B 22x DVD±R Lite-On iHAS124-04 24x DVD±R
Case Rosewill R101-P-BK Logisys Optimus II Antec Nine Hundred
CPU Cooler Intel Boxed Cooler Intel Boxed Cooler Zalman CNPS12X
Hard Drive Western Digital WD3200AAKX: 320 GB, 7200 RPM HDD Seagate Barracuda ST3750525AS: 750 GB, 7200 RPM HDD Mushkin Chronos Deluxe MX: 120 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD
Power Antec VP-450: 450 W, ATX V2.3 Corsair CX600 V2: 600 W, ATX12V V2.3, 80 PLUS-Certified SeaSonic SS-750KM: 750 W, ATX12V, 80 PLUS Gold
Software
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Graphics Nvidia GeForce 296.10 AMD Catalyst 12.4 Nvidia GeForce 301.42
Chipset Intel INF 9.2.3.1020

The inability to overclock his processor didn’t completely stop our $500 PC builder in his search for optimizing performance. He chose tighter memory timings and GPU overclocking to slightly boost his scores. Similarly, the $1000 machine builder, Don Woligroski, used his motherboard’s ability to increase his semi-locked CPU's Turbo Boost multipliers by 4x across the board, while also achieving a respectable graphics overclock.

The value competition will still be tough, however, as the 4.60 GHz CPU clock and incredible 1262 MHz GPU / GDDR5-7204 graphics clocks of the sub-$2000 machine is ready to take all comers on the performance side of the price-versus-performance equation.

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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Battlefield 3 Campaign 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)
DiRT 3 V1.01, Run with -benchmark example_benchmark.xml Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Update 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
StarCraft II Custom map "Tom's Hardware Guide V2", 60 seconds Fraps Test Set 1: High Details, High Quality Test Set 2: Ultra Details, Extreme Quality
Audio/Video Encoding
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)
HandBrake CLI Version 0.95: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
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, 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 12.1 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
WinZip Version 15.5 Pro: THG-Workload (650 MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRAR Version 4.1: THG-Workload (650 MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-Zip Version 9.22: THG-Workload (650 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 2011.10.17.80, 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.
58 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mayankleoboy1
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    toms, y u no include Quicksync benchies?
    Reply
  • Crashman
    mayankleoboy1toms, y u no include Quicksync benchies?Because it would be mean to the lower-cost PC builders? The truth is that the two applications that use it didn't appear all that popular with our readers.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    the only reason i see to buy a IB over a SB is better quicksync. Rest, they are same.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    mayankleoboy1the only reason i see to buy a IB over a SB is better quicksync. Rest, they are same.
    Replace the paste under the IHS on Ivy Bridge and those 3570Ks and 3770Ks overclock better than their Sandy counterparts. The IGP is also good for more than Quick-Sync.
    Reply
  • weedeater
    I would enjoy gaming with a $1100 Enthusiast PC.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    blazorthonReplace the paste under the IHS on Ivy Bridge and those 3570Ks and 3770Ks overclock better than their Sandy counterparts. The IGP is also good for more than Quick-Sync.And even with the stock IHS implementation, the power savings of Ivy at 1.25V looks good compared to Sandy at 1.35V (assuming both voltage levels get you to 4.6 GHz, which is approximately true).
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    CrashmanAnd even with the stock IHS implementation, the power savings of Ivy at 1.25V looks good compared to Sandy at 1.35V (assuming both voltage levels get you to 4.6 GHz, which is approximately true).
    Yes, thanks. I forgot to mention the improved power efficiency from the new process node.
    Reply
  • jestersage
    As I indicated in the Gaming PC comments, I'm good with Paul's $500 experiment. But an Enthusiast PC at $1100? I figure you'll want to alter all those parts that got Don those un-edifying comments, then yeah! Bring it on!

    Aside from the 2500k, stick a GTX 670 in that thing I'll bet we'll have a real winner (depends on Tom's rules, I guess, since that part wasn't available at the time the SBM purchases were originally made).

    Or step down to a 7870 and stick an SSD in it - for all those clamoring that a $1000 PC should have an SSD.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    jestersageAs I indicated in the Gaming PC comments, I'm good with Paul's $500 experiment. But an Enthusiast PC at $1100? I figure you'll want to alter all those parts that got Don those un-edifying comments, then yeah! Bring it on! Aside from the 2500k, stick a GTX 670 in that thing I'll bet we'll have a real winner (depends on Tom's rules, I guess, since that part wasn't available at the time the SBM purchases were originally made). Or step down to a 7870 and stick an SSD in it - for all those clamoring that a $1000 PC should have an SSD.
    670 or 7970... Not much of a difference there. The two are effectively on-par with each other, trading blows depending on the game, resolution, and settings. Why not step down to a 7950, get a cheap SandForce SSD, and then up the CPU to the 2500K, all without even sacrificing graphics performance when overclocked? 7950s and 7970s that share a PCB and cooler have pretty much identical overclocking performance with the 7970s having an in-perceptively small advantage at the same frequency and the 7950 able to hit slightly higher frequencies.
    Reply