System Builder Marathon: Mid-Cost System

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Game Benchmarks - First Person Shooters, Continued

Crysis proves to be a pretty hard nut for our mid-range system to crack. Very high detail with 4xAA isn't really a viable option at any resolution. Even high detail causes the system to struggle, although it does pretty well, and 1650x1080 is borderline playable.

In the low-cost PC article we mentioned that Crysis was playable at 1920x1200 at medium details with shader quality set to 'high'. The mid-range PC is a bit more powerful than that. It allows you to crank a few other settings, such as texture quality, to high, while still delivering very playable performance.

The unfortunate part is that here is where dual 8800 GT cards in SLI would have really shone as opposed to the single 8800 GTX in our mid-range system.

But enough sour grapes! It's time to move on to another tough title, Supreme Commander.

Don Woligroski
3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • crites
    Why wouldn't you put 1066MHz (PC2-8500) memory on this machine?
    Reply
  • OS43
    I assume they are using Cas 4 memory, which you are not going to find in this price range at PC2-8500.
    Reply
  • AngryClown
    This build is identical to my current rig, except I chose an 8800GT, and the Q6600 oc'd to 2.88. It plows through AVCHD editing, and Oblivion.

    I spent weeks researching the best price points. Good job guys.
    Reply