System Builder Marathon: TH's $2000 Hand-Picked Build
Graphics And Memory
Graphics: 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 in CrossFire
Launched a few days after we ordered our original $2000 build, tests proved that AMD’s HD 6870 is a top contender in its price segment. This architecture showed specific strengths in the benchmarks used for our System Builder Marathon, though its better-value price was soon matched by Nvidia's GeForce GTX 470.
Read Customer Reviews of Gigabyte's Radeon HD 6870
Firm in our belief that a pair of HD 6870 graphics cards would give our alterative build a performance edge over the original $2000 PC, we only needed to pick a supplier. That wasn’t hard, since Gigabyte’s cards were the only ones in-stock on the day of our order.
Now that Newegg’s shelves are filled with an assortment of models, readers looking for even more value in a similar build can base their decision on price, cooling design, add-ins, and clock rate, rather than availability.
Memory: Kingston DDR3-1600 CAS 7
We got burned on the memory of our original $2000 build, buying what we thought would be Micron D9KPT-based modules and ending up with unbranded chips that wouldn’t overclock at all. This builder loves using under-rated parts when they’re similarly under-priced, but lacking that opportunity, chose the next-best value, Kingston’s KHX1600C7D3K3/6GX.
Read Customer Reviews of Kingston's DDR3-1600 6 GB Kit
Putting the disappointment of our previous build behind us, we selected these DDR3-1600 CAS 7 modules based on prior overclocking experience. Backed by one of the industry’s few “most trusted” brands, Kingston’s standard-height HyperX modules are significantly quicker than the firm’s extended-height DDR3-1600 T1 version.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
-
dogman_1234 Can't Wait untill Bulldozer and Sandy Brodge Editions come out. I know it sounds cliche but...Reply -
A price table for the new build would be nice too, so i can see how much would it cost when i remove the BD and Case.Reply
-
gti88 Tamz_mscThis is probably the best way of spending 2000$ for a PC.I don't think so, considering that cheaper and less power-hungry Sandy Bridge is coming.Reply -
scook9 gti88I don't think so, considering that cheaper and less power-hungry Sandy Bridge is coming.You forgot weaker ;)Reply -
scrumworks Decent review but it seems that in nvidia setups, even the same CPUs can somehow overclock better. And the speed of RAM has negligible or no effect on overall system performance so no point tuning that component.Reply -
Luay "Familiarity in overclocking and a third PCIe x16 graphics card slot that operates in x8 mode when occupied are two reasons why we chose the X58A-UD3R over the similarly-priced Asus Sabertooth X58."Reply
Ok, fine. Wouldn't hurt to familiarize anew with a better board and that 3rd slot wasn't used anyways. Megahalems over Noctua? Seasonic over Corsair AX? :(
Or was it last minute budget cuts to make it less than $2000? -
nerrawg scrumworksDecent review but it seems that in nvidia setups, even the same CPUs can somehow overclock better. And the speed of RAM has negligible or no effect on overall system performance so no point tuning that component.Reply
What do you mean, this was the same model processor but not the same one. They got a new one for this build - so how does that show that the graphics have anything to do with the overclock? If anything it says exactly what is stated in the article, that the overclockability of the i7 950 varies between each sample quite a margin.
NVidia or for that matter AMD graphics have no effect on the CPU overclock.
-
-Fran- How does a Core i5 @~4.3Ghz or a Phenom II X6 @~4Ghz stack up against the Core i7? Well, that's using the same other components, 'cept RAM and MoBo :PReply
I'd like to know that.
Cheers!