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System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $2000 Performance PC

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Benchmark Results: Battlefield 3 And DiRT 3

Battlefield 3’s Medium preset appears somewhat CPU-limited, and last quarter's more powerful GeForce GTX 680 gains ground as we push higher resolutions.

Performance differences spread out a little at the game’s Ultra quality preset, though this month's system starts getting a little choppy at 2560x1600.

The new machine establishes an average performance lead under DiRT 3’s High quality settings, even though its average is pulled down a little by mediocre 2560x1600 results. The game’s Ultra quality preset pushes this quarter's weaker graphics further down the chart.

124 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Darkerson 22 August 2012 11:45
    Interesting setup. I would have favored a way beefier single GPU or a nice dual GPU setup, but I mainly only game, and dont do a lot of encoding or whatnot.
    Reply
  • 22 August 2012 11:59
    The contest opens on August 20, 2012 9:00 PM PDT and closes on September 3, 2012 9:00 PM PDT.
    So... i notice now that it opens at August 20, not August 19 when the $500 SBM appeared. I submitted my entry at August 19 10:30 PM. So that means that i haven't entered into the sweepstakes, or did i? I am confused, cause only one entry can be accepted.
    Reply
  • 22 August 2012 12:14
    Nice quality build! Enough said!
    Reply
  • trumpeter1994 22 August 2012 12:47
    That has got to be one of the luckiest GTX 670s I've ever seen.
    Reply
  • sarinaide 22 August 2012 13:12
    i5-3570k/i7-3770k
    Gigabyte G1 Assassin Z77
    120GB SSD
    500GB HDD
    2xGTX 670
    2x4GB DDR3 1866

    And still probably cheaper with obviously better performance.
    Reply
  • Crashman 22 August 2012 13:16
    sarinaidei5-3570k/i7-3770kGigabyte G1 Assassin Z77120GB SSD500GB HDD2xGTX 6702x4GB DDR3 1866And still probably cheaper with obviously better performance.Probably not, unless you're only testing games. But we should probably test that anyway. Does anyone else want to see it?
    Reply
  • zander1983 22 August 2012 13:30
    Ditch the BR Writer, get a BR combo drive and save yourself $60
    Reply
  • Crashman 22 August 2012 13:40
    zander1983Ditch the BR Writer, get a BR combo drive and save yourself $60Sorry, I don't see any combo drives for $30 so the savings would be much less than $60. Plus, you'd lose BD-RE backup capability, which can be handy.
    Reply
  • sarinaide 22 August 2012 14:02
    CrashmanProbably not, unless you're only testing games. But we should probably test that anyway. Does anyone else want to see it?
    It would be very interesting, the IvyBridge chips in productivity numbers hold quite well with the SB-E chips that is the only area which should be a contest.
    Reply
  • crisan_tiberiu 22 August 2012 14:06
    16GB ram pointless imo. 2 TB 5400rpm hdd? ...i rather get a 1 TB 7200 rpm hdd. i7 3970k ... i rather get the i7 3770k. From theese i would squeeze in a gtx 680.
    Reply