How We Tested
Test System Components
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Q3 $800 Prosumer PC | Q2 $1600 Performance PC | Q2 $1600 Gaming PC | |
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Processor (Overclock) | Intel Core i5-6600K: 3.50 GHz - 3.90 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.4GHz, 1.30V | Intel Core i7-5820K: 3.30 GHz - 3.60 GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.0-4.3GHz, 1.22V | Intel Core i5-4690K: 3.5GHz, Four Physical Cores O/C to 4.2-4.4GHz, 1.24V |
Graphics (Overclock) | Asus GTX 750 Ti: <1150 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5400 O/C to <1300 MHz, GDDR5-6000 | PNY GTX 970: <1178 MHz GPU, GDDR5-7012 O/C to <1328 MHz, GDDR5-7412 | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980: 1178MHz GPU, GDDR5-7010 O/C to 1335MHz, GDDR5-8000 |
Memory (Overclock) | 8GB Crucial DDR4-2133 CAS 15-15-15-38, O/C to DDR4-2133 CL 14-14-14-28, 1.24V | 16GB G.Skill DDR4-2666 CAS 15-15-15-35, O/C to DDR4-3200 CL 16-18-18-36, 1.30V | 16GB Team Extreme DDR3-2400 CAS 10-12-12-31, Applied XMP Profile |
Motherboard (Overclock) | Gigabyte Z170-HD3: LGA 1151, Intel Z170 Stock 100 MHz BCLK | MSI X99 SLI Plus: LGA 2011-v3, Intel X99 Stock 100 MHz BCLK | ASRock Z97 Extreme6: LGA 1150, Intel Z97 Express Stock 100MHz BCLK |
Case | DIYPC FM08-Blue | ZALMAN Z11 Neo | DIYPC Adventurer-9601G |
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper T4 | Cooler Master Hyper 612 Ver.2 | Zalman CNPS10X Optima |
Hard Drive | WD WD10EZEX SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM HDD | Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | SanDisk Extreme Pro 240GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
Power | SeaSonic SS-400ET: 400W, 80 PLUS Bronze | SeaSonic SSR-650RM: 650W, 80 PLUS Gold | Corsair CSM Series CS750M: 750W, 80 PLUS Gold |
Software | |||
OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 |
Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 355.60 | Nvidia GeForce 352.86 | Nvidia GeForce 353.06 |
Chipset | Intel INF 10.1.1 | Intel INF 9.4.2.1019 | Intel INF 9.4.0.1017 |
This quarter’s $800 “Working” PC will attempt to beat both of its full-sized Q2 rivals in value. The higher CPU overclock might be useful.
Benchmark Suite
Gaming | |
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Battlefield 4 | Version 1.0.0.1, DirectX 11, 100-sec. Fraps "Tashgar" Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No AA, 4X AF, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 4X MSAA, 16X AF, HBAO |
Grid 2 | Version 1.0.85.8679, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA |
Arma 3 | Version 1.08.113494, 30-Sec. Fraps "Infantry Showcase" Test Set 1: Standard Preset, No AA, Standard AF Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x FSAA, Ultra AF |
Far Cry 3 | V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO |
Adobe Creative Suite | |
Adobe After Effects CC | Version 12.0.0.404: Create Video which includes 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly |
Adobe Photoshop CC | Version 14.0 x64: Filter 15.7MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
Adobe Premeire Pro CC | Version 7.0.0 (342), 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
Audio/Video Encoding | |
iTunes | Version 11.0.4.4 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: 0.99: Video from Canon Eos 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48000 Hz, 2-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
TotalCodeStudio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
Productivity | |
ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
Adobe Acrobat 11 | Version 11.0.0.379: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 | Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
Blender | Version: 2.68A, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1 |
File Compression | |
WinZip | Version 18.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
WinRAR | Version 5.0: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
7-Zip | Version 9.30 alpha (64-bit): THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
Synthetics | |
3DMark Professional | Version: 1.2.250.0 (64-bit), Fire Strike Benchmark |
PCMark 8 | Version: 1.0.0 x64, Full Test |
SiSoftware Sandra | Version 2014.02.20.10, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia / Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks |
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