System Builder Marathon: $2,500 Enthusiast PC
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Page 1:Upgrading To First Class…On The Cheap
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Page 2:CPU, CPU Cooler, And RAM
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Page 3:Motherboard, Graphics, And Hard Drives
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Page 4:Case, Power, And Optical Drive
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Page 5:Accessories And Assembly
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Page 6:Overclocking
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Page 7:Test Settings
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Page 8:Benchmark Results: First-Person Shooters
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Page 9:Benchmark Results: Real-Time Strategy
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Page 10:Benchmark Results: Audio/Video Encoding
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Page 11:Benchmark Results: Productivity
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Page 12:Benchmark Results: Synthetics
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Page 13:Power Consumption
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Page 14:Conclusion
Benchmark Results: First-Person Shooters
Without a November high-cost configuration against which to compare our current build, we had to reach back to our October $4,500 PC, with its dual Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards in CrossFireX and heavily-overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9650, to gauge any performance improvements in this month’s build.
Crysis is marketed as an Nvidia-optimized game with The Way It's Meant To Be Played (TWIMTBP), so we’d expect some fairly impressive gains from our 3-way SLI configuration. Let’s begin there.
Previous tests have shown the new system’s Core i7 architecture has a minimal performance advantage in most games, so we really have to credit our three GTX 260 graphics cards, with their updated Core 216 architecture, for the big Crysis win at low to medium resolutions. However, notice that the performance lead of our 3-way SLI configuration fell off completely when we exceeded 1920x1200 pixels.
Anti-aliasing (AA) results look similar to those noted in Crysis without AA, except that the 3-way SLI went from slow to naught at 2560x1600. Starting the test at our highest resolution resulted in a black screen.
Unreal Tournament 3 is another game from Nvidia’s TWIMTBP list, but its game engine has always appeared to be favorable to CPU speed and memory bandwidth. Our new system doesn’t have a CPU frequency advantage over the old one, but its on-die triple-channel memory controller is certain to provide a boost.
- Upgrading To First Class…On The Cheap
- CPU, CPU Cooler, And RAM
- Motherboard, Graphics, And Hard Drives
- Case, Power, And Optical Drive
- Accessories And Assembly
- Overclocking
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: First-Person Shooters
- Benchmark Results: Real-Time Strategy
- Benchmark Results: Audio/Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Power Consumption
- Conclusion
Why do people type this crap. Do you not actually read what you type when you type it. "i tHINK tHIS iS rEALLY cOOL". WTF really. Do us a huge favor and don't type like a retard, infact just don't post anymore.
Follow your own recommendations, guys. Get an ATI 4870 x2, put the money into better RAM and cooling, then use what's left to get a pair of Raptor hard drives as workhorses and a 1 or 1.5 TB hard drive for media storage if you want to use all your $2500.
LG GGC-H20LK 6X Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM, 16X DVD±RW for $23??? you mean 223?
I'm not big in hardware, but this is just, WOW...
There's 3SLI GTX260, 3 x 1TB, Bluray WRITER!, but it doesn't even have 6gb ram!!?
That's just lame. Imo maybe get raptors / SSD instead? Also, Instead of 3SLI, just get a 4870x2. You will maybe get 2-3FPS less, but instead get 6gb ram and i7 940, and I'm pretty sure that will also boost your fps.
Again, I'm not a hardware pro, but I'm pretty sure my thing would be way better.
+1
Signed:PHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.
Signed:PHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.
I saw where u said that you reached limits at 75F/23.9C room temps. However, what was the CPU temp after running full load with your air cooling solution?
I am curious, because I think I put too much thermal paste on my AMD Phenom 9850 install cause it runs up around 60C when i go 100% load. I hate going anything over that, so i haven't OCed it.
Would love to hear what you guys at Tom's consider "acceptable" full load max temp for the CPU, and how you base that temp level. Manufacturer specs? Personal experience? A little of both?
Thanks in advance
The December $1250 system performs very close within 2-3 seconds for Audio/Video editing and Applications and in several cases performs better. For non-gamers the December $1250 is a better value.
I built a $1250 system based on the November E8500 chip and now wished I had waited for the i7 as it performs 100-150% better for Audio/Video editing and Applications....
Guide for thermal paste is to to use a razor's edge at a nearly flat angle to very thinly, evenly, and smoothly cover the entire CPU heat sink. Too much paste can have an adverse effect as you noted.
No, it's correct. They specifically mentioned that the price of the components went down nearly 10% since they purchased the system.
Ph0X said: "There's 3SLI GTX260, 3 x 1TB, Bluray WRITER!, but it doesn't even have 6gb ram!!?"
6GB of RAM is unusable in a 32-bit operating system, and it is not a Blu-Ray writer, it's a READER with DVD/CD writing capabilities. Your comment was probably voted down for these reasons.
dieseldre2k wrote: "appreciate the article but i would drop the third HD (keep the other 2 in RAID) and use the extra money to get 6 gigs of ram instead."
Again, 6 Gigs of RAM would have been a complete waste of money in a 32-bit build. I for one am glad they are finally benching a RAID 5 in here because I have been weighing getting a RAID 5 build for some time but have been dissuaded because of the lack of testing/interest by other gamers. I don't want to pay $2500 for a system that dies withen weeks because I just happened to be in that 3% that get a hard drive that fails withen the first year. Honestly, I'll bet that RAID 0 vs. RAID 5 performance isn't a big deal and would really like to see a RAID 0 in the next build to compare this one with.
Why do people type this crap. Do you not actually read what you type when you type it. "i tHINK tHIS iS rEALLY cOOL". WTF really. Do us a huge favor and don't type like a retard, infact just don't post anymore.
Follow your own recommendations, guys. Get an ATI 4870 x2, put the money into better RAM and cooling, then use what's left to get a pair of Raptor hard drives as workhorses and a 1 or 1.5 TB hard drive for media storage if you want to use all your $2500.