System Builder Marathon: $1,250 Mid-Range PC
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Page 1:Meet This Month's Components
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Page 2:CPU: Intel Core i7 920
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Page 3:Motherboard, Cooler, And Memory
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Page 4:Hard Drive And Case
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Page 5:Power Supply, Optical Drive, And Video Card
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Page 6:Assembly And Overclocking
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Page 7:Test System And Benchmarks
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Page 8:Synthetic Benchmarks
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Page 9:Application Benchmarks: Media Encoding
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Page 10:Application Benchmarks: 2D And 3D Image Rendering
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Page 11:Application Benchmarks: Productivity
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Page 12:Game Benchmarks: First-Person Shooters
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Page 13:Game Benchmarks: Real-Time Strategy
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Page 14:Power-Usage Benchmarks
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Page 15:Conclusion
System Builder Marathon, December 2008: The Articles
Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published).
- Day 1: The $650 Gaming PC
- Day 2: The $1,250 Mid-Range PC
- Day 3: The $2,500 Enthusiast PC
- Day 4: Performance and Value Dissected
Introduction
Intel's Core i7 (Nehalem) has arrived, but is it really a cost-effective CPU? Most new technology is overpriced on release, but the i7 920 processor looks like it might have a lot of stock and overclocked performance potential. Is the extra expense worth the performance gain?
This is where we’ll find out. In last month’s system builder marathon (SBM), we built a $1,250 enthusiast PC based on the X38 platform using an E8500 CPU and we paired it with AMD’s flagship Radeon 4870 X2 card. For about the same amount of money, we’re going to compare it to an X58 platform using the Core i7 920 CPU paired to a Radeon 4850 X2.
Staying in the same price range wasn’t the easiest thing to do when upgrading to the relatively expensive X58 platform and Core i7 CPU, so how did we do it? Well, the first major compromise was settling for the Radeon HD 4850 X2 instead of the 4870 X2. Other than that, we had to employ the stock-bundled cooler that came with the i7 920 instead of a nice aftermarket job like the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 that we used in last month’s enthusiast PC.
Will these cooling and video card compromises reduce the system’s performance enough so that the X38/E8500/4870 X2 package remains an attractive option? Or will the X58/i7 combo best the older technology and overclock well despite the stock cooler? We’re as interested as you are to find out, but first, let’s look at our chosen components in detail:
| Component | Model | Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7 920 | $300 |
| CPU Cooler | Bundled retail CPU cooler | 0 |
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE GA-EX58-DS4 | $245 |
| RAM | Crucial PC3-8500 CT3KIT12864BA1067 triple-channel memory kit | $79 |
| Graphics | Sapphire Radeon 4850 X2 2 GB | $330 |
| Hard Drives | Western Digital Caviar black 640GD 32 MB cache | $85 |
| Sound | Integrated | 0 |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking | 0 |
| Case | Cooler Master Centurion 534 | $50 |
| Power | Corsair 650TX | $100 |
| Optical | LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GH20NS15 | $23 |
| Total Price | $1,212 |
Note that updated pricing has now put us below the cost of last month's Core 2 Duo system. If we would have known prices would have fallen so quickly, we would have definitely gotten an aftermarket cooler for the Core i7. On the plus side, this review will give us an opportunity to see how far we can go with the stock cooler.
- Meet This Month's Components
- CPU: Intel Core i7 920
- Motherboard, Cooler, And Memory
- Hard Drive And Case
- Power Supply, Optical Drive, And Video Card
- Assembly And Overclocking
- Test System And Benchmarks
- Synthetic Benchmarks
- Application Benchmarks: Media Encoding
- Application Benchmarks: 2D And 3D Image Rendering
- Application Benchmarks: Productivity
- Game Benchmarks: First-Person Shooters
- Game Benchmarks: Real-Time Strategy
- Power-Usage Benchmarks
- Conclusion
I don't think a i7 920 /w 3 gigs RAM will work as quickly as a q9550 @ 4.0Ghz with a 470mhz fsb and 4+ gigs RAM -even with quad-core supported apps.
Anyway, I think the outcome will be hard to predict.
The Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance benchmark was surprising out of all the games you tested I expected that game to be the one which showed off what quad cores can do for games. Perhaps you could add in GTA IV into your future benchmarks as that games seems to love quad cores?
The temps were a little worrying but the Intel Stock cooler isn’t designed with overclocking in mind and you can pretty much guarantee a decent 3rd party cooler will slash those temps by a third.
One last thing it might be an idea to compare your very first mid range build to your current mid range build, it would give the readers an idea as to how much more bang for buck we get now days.
The current prices in an average shop in Spain:
Intel Core i7 920 : 293 EUR = 413 USD
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-DS4 : 219 EUR = 308 USD
Sapphire Radeon 4850 X2 2 GB : 349 EUR = 492 USD
6 GB Patriot DDR3-1333 CL7 Kit : 259 EUR = 365 USD
What I would really like to see is the new i7s on the CPU charts.
You've upgraded the processor, but downgraded the video cards from last month.
"Not really. The i7/4850 X2 still performs at about 80% of the level that the E8500/4870 X2 is managing to achieve."
Of course this new system performs less than the November one.
You have a total of 3.5 gigs of memory to play with in vista 32. Since you only put in a graphic card with 2gigs of video memory that leaves 1.5 gigs of memory for normal applications and the OS. Anybody that reads these system builder marathons are going to put vista 64 on their computer if they are going to use vista.