System Builder Marathon, June 2010: $2,000 Performance PC

By Thomas Soderstrom
published

CPU And Cooler

Processor: Intel Core i7-930

We picked the lowest-cost processor for Intel’s high-end platform with overclocking in mind. The Core i7-930 features the same die as the i7-920 used to reach 4.30 GHz in our previous System Builder Marathon.

Read Customer Reviews of Intel's Core i7-930

Though it may not be as powerful or as overclockable as Intel’s six-core Core i7-980X, the higher-performance processor comes at a 350% price premium that would have pushed this month’s total system cost skyward by nearly 50%. Most applications still struggle to use more than two cores, so putting a quad-core model in today’s machine is no great sacrifice.

A higher base speed of 2.80 GHz (compared to the i7-920’s 2.66 GHz) is still no guarantee for better overclocking results, but we’re going to put a full effort into achieving ridiculously high frequencies. The only really good thing we can say about the switch to a newer model is that its higher base speed comes at no additional cost.

CPU Heat Sink: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B

The dirty little secret of Core i7 overclocking is that a big air cooler can often do the job just as well as a large liquid cooler can. Part of that is due to how Core i7 processors are extremely heat-tolerant. When a big air cooler is mandated, we can’t think of a more highly-recommended part than Prolimatech’s Megahalems Rev.B.

Read Customer Reviews of Prolimatech's Megahalems Heat Sink

The Megahalems Rev.B is likely to provide even lower temperatures than our previous liquid-cooling system, simply because that system was crippled by a restrictive GPU water block. Yet, achieving good temperatures with this heat sink requires us to purchase at least a medium-capacity cooling fan, since no fans are included in the package.

Cooling Fan: Scythe Slip Stream SY1225SL12LM-P

We wanted a pulse-width modulation (PWM) fan for its superior speed control, but were bummed to find that Newegg carried nothing in our preferred 2,000-2,500 RPM range. Fans faster than that are often inefficient at low RPMs, and we wanted a system that would remain quiet, except when placed under extreme loads. After careful consideration, we settled for a Scythe SY1225SL12LM-P.

Read Customer Reviews of Scythe's SY1225SL12LM-P Fan

Model familiarity came from our previous 10-cooler roundup where Scythe’s Mugen 2 Revision B cooler took second place using the same part.

We also wanted to try a 38 mm-thick fan, but Newegg doesn’t sell the Prolimatech 12038 clips required for conversion. Since the sink does include a second set of 25 mm clips, we modified these so that we could retest the system using Delta’s ultra-powerful AFC1212DE-PWM

Anyone considering a similar conversion needs to know that this 3,900 RPM oversized fan is incredibly noisy at full speed and that Gigabyte’s default fan speed control doesn’t make a large enough speed difference to suit most users. Tuning the fan’s ramping speed can be accomplished through Gigabyte EasyTune6 software.

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.
141 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gkay09
    ^ Very good selection of parts IMO...
    It still has a room for a SSD -> OCZ Vertex 2/ Agility 2 50GB or Vertex/ Agility 60GB...these both retail under $200...
    Reply
  • Aatish
    That's just sad! in 3 months your 2000$-3000$ investments depreciated at awful rate! and usually when an average customer builds a PC he at-least don't expect to repeat the process with-in few months.

    But, a good rig!for someone who is just about to build his new PC with that much budget!
    Reply
  • frye
    Maybe you guys should give away a $10,000 PC in September ;)

    Oh, and are those temps right? Nearly 93 C CPU temp when overclocked? I'd scale that back a bit...
    Reply
  • TomD_1
    I wanted to enter the competition... but I live on the other side of the world :(

    Great build though, might have put a bit more money towards the case if I was building it
    Reply
  • Flamango
    I love SBMs, and the fact that I haven't built my p55 setup yet, and I'm sure the Megahalems will look great in my new case. Can't wait for the cheaper builds!
    Reply
  • Relayer
    Need a bigger PSU. Why are you using the one you did? You have the funds to buy one that will drive this system properly.
    Reply
  • a4mula
    Can't say I agree with much here. You pick up a budget case that's going to restrict airflow due to lack of wire management, and then drop 75 on a cooler. Megahalems are spectacular, I own one myself but you've defeated any gain by placing it in a subpar enclosure. Should have just went with a 902 and a CM 212+. Would have been cheaper and less restrictive.

    I still fail to see the love of 1366 in these builds where there is no intention of upgrading to hexacore. Save the $100 and do a p55 i7-860 build. You're going to get performance that rivals the 930 on every benchmark including those that take x8/x8 into consideration. You'll surpass the 930 in a few.

    700 for dual 470s when you can get dual 5850s for 560.

    PSU that is being heavily overtaxed. You're risking the entire 2k machine by running 100w over the psus rated value. The only thing keeping this machine running is the fact that Silverstone makes high quality parts and you have a single rail. Had this of been a multi-rail you would have been pulling out a gpu, scaling back your overclocks, or buying a new psu. At some point you have to wonder if this is a safety hazard.

    Sorry Thomas, just not feeling this build at all. I see about $400 of budget that could have easily have been trimmed and would have been within a few percentage points of the current build. This could have gone towards anything from your much wanted redundant storage to SSD drives.
    Reply
  • madass
    $50 cases with side opened>hiogh end case with side closed.
    And no, I've never had problems with dust. And I own a dog. Go figure.
    Reply
  • madass
    IMO they should have taken an i5 750 (USD80 saved) and 4GB of CL7 1066-no game out there uses more than 2GB, more than 4GB is a waste(at least another USD40 saved). P55 mobo with 2x x8= USD 120. 80 saved. Total: USD200. Dual 5870's anyone? Don't forget- the 5970 has a lot of problems with CFire scaling- even a pair of 5850's can beat it in most cases, especially at 2560-blame crappy ATI drivers.......
    Reply
  • Crashman
    RelayerNeed a bigger PSU. Why are you using the one you did? You have the funds to buy one that will drive this system properly.Nobody thought it would draw more than 750W peak load. Even so, the article has been revised to show that the actual power output was only 660W to 680W, well below the unit's limits.
    a4mulaCan't say I agree with much here. You pick up a budget case that's going to restrict airflow due to lack of wire management, and then drop 75 on a cooler. Megahalems are spectacular, I own one myself but you've defeated any gain by placing it in a subpar enclosure. Should have just went with a 902 and a CM 212+. Would have been cheaper and less restrictive.I still fail to see the love of 1366 in these builds where there is no intention of upgrading to hexacore. Save the $100 and do a p55 i7-860 build. You're going to get performance that rivals the 930 on every benchmark including those that take x8/x8 into consideration. You'll surpass the 930 in a few.I'm not seeing the point of the Blueray drive. If this was a bare bones value to performance build it sticks out like a sore thumb. 700 for dual 470s when you can get dual 5850s for 560. Sorry Thomas, just not feeling this build at all. I see about $400 of budget that could have easily have been trimmed and would have been within a few percentage points of the current build. This could have gone towards anything from your much wanted redundant storage to SSD drives.It's OK a4mula, but you're completely wrong.
    1.) The air temperature in the case was excellent. Tom's has tested enough cases to know that smaller models that fit tightly around the CPU cooler do an excellent job of cooling the CPU area, so long as the rear fan is fast enough.
    2.) Tom's tested the 212+, and it's only fair (not great). This months build was expected to reach high overclocks.
    3.) Tom's has also done an i7-860 build around six months ago, that CPU was one of the worst-overclocking i7's Tom's has ever used. Subtract around 4-8% in game performance for using x8 slots, and the value evaporates.
    4.) Would you build a $1000 machine that can't run DVD's? Then why would you build a $2000 machine that can't play BRD's? BRD's are close enough to mainstream that not having the capability should be the thing that "sticks out" IMO, but you do make a decent argument since this pick was based on an opinion.
    5.) Yeh, you saw how dual 470's smashed the performance of dual 5870's? Oh, that was a 5970...well there you go. 470's take the big win.
    So a4mula, points 1-3 and 5 are purely factual and based on testing. You might be able to win the opinion-based argument on #4, but whoever gave you the thumbs-up was also wrong so don't let popularity mislead you.
    Reply