System Builder Marathon September: The Articles
Here are links to each each of the five articles in this month's System Builder Marathon (SBM).
Day 1: Low Cost PC compared to last SBM Low Cost PC
Day 2: Mid Cost PC compared to last SBM Mid Cost PC
Day 3: Higher Cost PC compared to last SBM Higher Cost PC
Day 4: All Three September SBM PCs Overclocked
Day 5: Summary - Price- Performance Winner
The Best Laid Schemes O' Mice An' Men
A greater truth is rarely spoken: In the world of system building, things often get ugly. Carefully planning helps one to avoid a few common pitfalls, but it often occurs that something doesn't fit, an order gets delayed, a vital component gets switched, or one part doesn't deliver the expected performance. We've proven that throwing money at the problem is not the solution, as our problems increased with the complexity of each build. System Builder Marathons are designed to deliver the same challenges to reviewers that independent builders would normally expect, so no cheating or shortcuts were allowed. Anyone wishing to revisit our ordeal is welcome to click on the links above for the full build details of each system.
This month's marathon presents a special treat for value-seeking overclockers, as our final analysis will compare three systems at three distinct price points, using both baseline and overclocked speeds. Will the lowest-cost system win yet again, and if it does, will there still be any justification for purchasing higher cost parts?
With four long days of tuning and testing behind us, it's finally time to measure each system's worth!
Test Setup
| System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processor 1 | Intel Core Duo e67502.67 GHz, 1333 FSB, 4 MB Cache |
| Processor 2 | Intel Core 2 Quad Q66002.40 GHz, 1066 FSB, 8 MB Cache |
| Processor 3 | Intel Core 2 Extreme QX68502.93 GHz, 1066 FSB, 8 MB Cache |
| Motherboard 1 | ASUS P5K, BIOS: 0507 |
| Motherboard 2 | MSI P6N SLI Platinum, BIOS 1.4 (07/31/2007) |
| Motherboard 3 | ASUS Striker Extreme, BIOS 1305 (08/27/07) |
| RAM 1 | Wintec AMPO PC2-64002x 1024 MB, CAS 5-5-5-16 |
| RAM 2 | Patriot eXtreme Performance PC2-64002x 1024 MB, CAS 5-5-5-15 |
| RAM 3 | Crucial Ballistix PC2-64002x 1024 MB, CAS 4.0-4-4-12 |
| Hard Drive 1 | Seagate Barracuda ST3320620AS320 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA 300 |
| Hard Drive 2 | Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5000YS500 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA300 |
| Hard Drive 3 | 2x Western Digital Caviar WD7500AAKS, RAID 0750 GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA 300 |
| Networking 1 | PCIe Gb LAN controller featuring AI NET2 |
| Networking 2 | NVIDIA nForce onboard Gigabit Ethernet NIC |
| Networking 3 | NVIDIA nForce onboard Gigabit Ethernet NIC |
| Graphics Card 1 | EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS, 320 MB RAM500 MHz GPU, 1600 MHz RAM Data Rate |
| Graphics Card 2 | EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX, 768 MB RAM576 MHz GPU, 1800 MHz RAM Data Rate |
| Graphics Card 3 | 2x Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GTX, 768 MB RAM (Per Card)575 MHz GPU, 1800 MHz RAM Data Rate |
| Power Supply 1 | Fortron Source AX450-PN, 450W |
| Power Supply 2 | Aero Cool Zerodba 620W Crossfire/SLI ready |
| Power Supply 3 | Ultra Products X3 1000W Modular Power Supply |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 |
| DirectX Version | 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| Platform Driver | Intel INF 8.3.0.1013NVidia nForce Version 9.53 |
| Graphics Driver | NVidia ForceWare 162.18 |
| Benchmarks and Settings | |
|---|---|
| 3D-Games | |
| F.E.A.R | Version: 1.0 RetailVideo Mode: 1024x768Computer: MaximumGraphics: Maximum-Custom-No SoftshadowsTest Path: Options/Performance/Test Settings |
| Doom 3 | Version: 1.3Video Mode: 1024x768Graphics: HighTest: Time Demo 1 |
| Oblivion | Version: 1.0 RetailVideo Mode: 1024x768Graphics: High, 4xAATest: Inside & Outside save files |
| Audio | |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.97 Beta 2 (12-22-2005)Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minwave to mp3160 kbps |
| OGG | Version 1.1.2 (Intel P4 MOD)Version 1.1.2 (Intel AMD MOD)Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minwave to oggQuality: 5 |
| Video | |
| TMPEG 3.0 Express | Version: 3.0.4.24 (no Audio)fist 5 Minutes DVD Terminator 2 SE (704x576) 16:9Multithreading by rendering |
| DivX 6.6 | Version: 6.6Profile: High Definition Profile1-pass, 3000 kbit/sEncoding mode: Insane QualityEnhanced multithreadingno Audio |
| XviD 1.1.3 | Version: 1.1.3Target qantizer: 1.00 |
| Applications | |
| Autodesk 3D Studio Max | Version: 8.0Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig"rendering HTDV 1920x1080 & 1280x720 |
| Synthetics | |
| SPECviewperf 9 | Version: 9.0.3 |
| PCMark05 Pro | Version: 1.1.0System, CPU and Memory TestsWindows Media Player 10.00.00.3646Windows Media Encoder 9.00.00.2980 |
| 3DMark05 | Version: 1.2System Test Only |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2005 | Version 2005.7.10.60CPU Test = Arithmetic, Multimedia BenchmarksMemory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
