System Builder Marathon, August 2012: $2000 Performance PC

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Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding

Apple's iTunes software favors the Core i7-3770K we used in our previous build. Because that workload is single-threaded, it sees no benefit from the Core i7-3930K's six cores. Meanwhile, its Sandy Bridge architecture is just a tad slower than what Ivy Bridge can do.

The same story applies to Lame, though the spread is a little tighter.

Finally, by the time we get to HandBrake, the benefit of Sandy Bridge-E's extra cores is made clear. This is the first real-world metric in today's suite to suggest our Core i7-3930K was a good choice, and MainConcept echos that sentiment.

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.
124 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Darkerson
    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
  • 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
  • Nice quality build! Enough said!
    Reply
  • trumpeter1994
    That has got to be one of the luckiest GTX 670s I've ever seen.
    Reply
  • sarinaide
    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
    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
    Ditch the BR Writer, get a BR combo drive and save yourself $60
    Reply
  • Crashman
    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
    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
    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