System Builder Marathon, June 2010: $1,000 Enthusiast PC

By Don Woligroski
published

Benchmark Results: Crysis And CoD: Modern Warfare 2

At first glance, the $1,500 Core i7-920 system is dominating the $1,000 Phenom II X3 720 build. But at very high settings, the overclocked/core-unlocked Phenom II system manages very similar performance compared to the stock Core i7 system at resolutions up to 1920x1080.

This is surprising when you consider that the Core i7-920 system has the advantage of two Radeon HD 5850 cards in CrossFire, compared to the Phenom II X3 720's dual Radeon HD 5830 card configuration. Perhaps there is something of a CPU bottleneck here (Ed.: I'd call it an I/O bottleneck, given that drive).

Call of Duty demonstrates a Core i7-920 advantage, but with all of the results above 70 frames per second (FPS), this advantage is somewhat academic. Even so, the overclocked/core-unlocked Phenom II X3 720 build manages to perform on par with the stock Core i7-920 system.

Don Woligroski
95 Comments Comment from the forums
  • alikum
    When you say SBM: Enthusiast System, I am expecting this to be more than just another gaming rig. You may have your own reason for sticking to a Phenom II x3 720 and HD5830 crossfire but I believe a Phenom II x4 955 and HD5770 crossfire would make more sense or more well-balanced (instead of trying your luck by unlocking cores). In fact, we could also grab a HD5870 and downgrade our mobo a little and that would make a truly well balanced enthusiast system.
    Reply
  • scrumworks
    Nice CPU choice you morons. My grandma could build a more balanced system.
    Reply
  • manitoublack
    I'm with one-shot, 6core AMD for $200 can't be beat.
    Reply
  • one-shot
    It would have been nice to see the PII X6 1055T with a moderate downgrade in GPUs to afford the higher cost of CPU and motherboard. The i7 embarrasses the PII X3.
    Reply
  • adbat
    I find it surprising that you are always successful in unlocking the 4th core
    Reply
  • IzzyCraft
    not a fan of the 5830's or the 720 cpu choice is all.

    Would have rather seen a dual 5770's or a 5870 with a i5-750 or a 955

    games more and more are using cpu for doing things. I also tend to use a comp for other things more then games.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    Bad choice of components especially CPU and GPU
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    A phenom II 955 BE:160$+2 Xfx hd 5770sfor320$+GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H for 140$=620$ would certainly have been a better choice than your 670$ for CPU+GPU+mobo.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    Tamz_mscA phenom II 955 BE:160$+2 Xfx hd 5770s for 320$+GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H for 140$=620$ would certainly have been a better choice than your 670$ for CPU+GPU+mobo.
    Reply
  • The Lady Slayer
    A Thermaltake V3 instead of the Antec 300 would have saved you $15
    Reply