System Builder Marathon Bonus: Newegg Customer Choice PC

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The Honored List: Your Picks, Picked By Tom's

We don’t need to spend much time explaining our component choices because these parts are all picked by Newegg's customers, not our editors. Instead, we'll give you a one-page overview of the parts.

Intel’s Core i5-2500K continues providing tremendous value to performance seekers over a year after we gave it our Recommended Buy award, putting in top position on Newegg’s customer surveys on the day we placed our order.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i5-2500K

G.Skill’s 8 GB DDR3-1600 CAS 9 kit has shown up on our list of value-oriented heavyweights for over two years, its reputation placing it in second place behind a similar 4 GB kit in Newegg’s customer rankings.

Read Customer Reviews of G.Skill's F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 8 GB Kit

Second only to Crucial's 64 GB version on Newegg's consumer rankings, the company's 128 GB m4 SSD achieves ample performance in our review of the product to garner yet another award. So far, these choices are looking like a who's who of Tom's Hardware favorites.

Read Customer Reviews of Crucial's 128 GB m4 SSD

The newer 448-core GeForce GTX 560 Ti created so much excitement that many reviewers forgot about the original 384-core version. Newegg customers didn't forget, though, making it the second choice behind a weaker and more budget-friendly GeForce GTS 550 Ti.

As an added bonus, this better-performing card is a lifetime-warranty-equipped “AR” version from EVGA.

Read Customer Reviews of EVGA's 01G-P3-1561-AR GTX 560 Ti

Too much stuff and not enough space? We added 500 GB with Seagate’s ST500DM005, thanks to its top customer ranking at Newegg.

Read Customer Reviews of Seagate's ST500DM005

Newegg’s customer favorite, Cooler Master’s Hyper 212+, has found its way into many of our System Builder Marathon machines following its 2010 review.

Read Customer Reviews of Cooler Master's Hyper 212+

One of our old favorites, Corsair’s HX series is still popular-enough with Newegg customers to earn its 750 W unit the top spot in customer ratings.

Read Customer Reviews of 's CMPSU-750HX

While we normally use parts we’ve reviewed in these guides, Intel’s DZ68BC slipped under our radar. Fortunately for Intel, Newegg’s customers think it’s the best available part, and we're going with those opinions today.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's DZ68BC Motherboard

Asus’ DRW-24B1ST is 24x-fast, it's cheap, it includes software, and it comes from a company renowned for reliability. Though we’ve never reviewed it, Newegg customers make it their top choice.

Read Customer Reviews of Asus' DRW-24B1ST DVD Writer

Antec’s Nine Hundred has been in our arsenal since 2006, making numerous appearances in System Builder Marathon machines as well. This updated model adds USB 3.0 with the all-important internal cable connector, which helps to explain why it’s still the favorite of Newegg customers.

Read Customer Reviews of 's Nine Hundred

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.
75 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mikenygmail
    Nice, but would have been better with 2 x 6970 2 GB or 2 x 6950 2 GB unlocked to 6970.
    Reply
  • Pezcore27
    Is it sad I liked this build the best out of them all?
    Reply
  • a4mula
    Interesting, still not surprising given recent results in group dynamic studies. Groups will often make better choices than individuals, that's not to say a group can replace or perform on par with an expert individual, just better than the average.
    Reply
  • aznshinobi
    Just saying, Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 Z68 would save some and not bad rated. Could go for something like the OCZ ZT 750w which also is solidly rated, both saving money and offering similar if not better performance. For the GPUs, probably would've been better just to go with 2x7850 just to see how it does after all I haven't seen a whole bunch of those benchmarks.

    Understood that this is best on best rated components, just saying it would've been nice to see the ones I mentioned for a value build.
    Reply
  • mikenygmailNice, but would have been better with 2 x 6970 2 GB or 2 x 6950 2 GB unlocked to 6970.
    Yeah that was what I was thinking, if you have a 2560x1600 monitor then the 2 6950s wont see that performance hit at that res like the 560ti's do. And would outperform the 7970 as a result while still costing enough less to move up to that 2500k.

    When I can drop $1300 for a Dell U3011 or HP ZR30w I doubt I would be pairing it with a $1300 PC, so I wonder if its even necessary for a mid range build as how often are you really going to find that pairing. Though hopefully soon Apple is going to push the LCD makers kicking and screaming into the 4k and 8k display era!


    Reply
  • hmp_goose
    Wow: And here I was thinkin' "maybe the SBM should work like the monthly Best X articals, where it's not anchored to a price point".

    Drunk Min's t'ink alac, and all that.
    Reply
  • ammaross
    "...with none of the compromises that plagued Don't maligned build"

    Last page. Should be "Don's" but "Don't" works good enough :P

    Definitely would have loved to see a pair of 2GB cards duke it out though. The base system called for it (nearly). Take the price from the hide of the mobo.
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    Not a bad system at all. Im just waiting for people to start whining about 680s like in the other builds.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    mikenygmailNice, but would have been better with 2 x 6970 2 GB or 2 x 6950 2 GB unlocked to 6970.Better choices outside of "consumer choice" are irrelevant to a "consumer choice" selection.a4mulaInteresting, still not surprising given recent results in group dynamic studies. Groups will often make better choices than individuals, that's not to say a group can replace or perform on par with an expert individual, just better than the average.Yes, the motherboard could have been better AND cheaper if not for the fact that it was picked by the group rather than an expert individual, but the complete unit was still acceptable.aznshinobiJust saying, Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 Z68 would save some and not bad rated. Could go for something like the OCZ ZT 750w which also is solidly rated, both saving money and offering similar if not better performance. For the GPUs, probably would've been better just to go with 2x7850 just to see how it does after all I haven't seen a whole bunch of those benchmarks.Understood that this is best on best rated components, just saying it would've been nice to see the ones I mentioned for a value build.Right, part choices were limited to the top two rated parts, based on which of the top two customer rated parts most closely matched the rest of the system.DarkersonNot a bad system at all. Im just waiting for people to start whining about 680s like in the other builds.LOL, I'm waiting for a stream of "Why didn't YOU pick THIS" when Newegg Customers were the pickers and the "THIS" they're screaming about doesn't even have a customer rating :)
    Reply
  • Darkerson
    Im sure it will be inevitable. ;)


    Stupid TomsHardware, Y U NO PICK MY PARTS! :P

    Edit: Obvious sarcasm is obvious. Ah well, Ill take this as all the non article reading 680 noobs being offended. I dont care.
    Reply