Introduction
Here's a list of the System Builder Marathon (SBM) articles in this five day series.
- Day 1: The Low-Cost PC
- Day 2: The Mid-Cost PC
- Day 3: The High-Cost PC
- Day 4: All Three SBM PCs Overclocked
- Day 5: Summary - The Price/Performance Winner
With all the testing behind us it's finally time to see how each of our high end systems stands up in terms of value. We already knew that doubling the price of a system wouldn't double its performance level, but meeting basic market demands was our primary objective. Was our sub $1,000 low-cost system adequate to fill all of our basic needs, including games? Would the sub $2,000 mid-priced system provide substantial improvements in all programs, including support for medium gaming resolutions? Did the sub-$4000 high-end system prove itself cost-effective in high-end applications?
We'll go on to make our final value analysis after comparing each system side-by-side in the following benchmarks:
Benchmarks and Settings | |
---|---|
3D-Games | |
Crysis | Version: 1.1Video Quality 1: High Details No Anti-AliasingVideo Quality 2: Very High Details, 4x Anti-AliasingBenchmark: Benchmark_CPU.bat |
Prey | Version: 1.3Video Quality 1: Default (No AA, 8x AF)Video Quality 2: High Quality, 4x AABenchmark: THG-Demo |
Supreme Commander | Version: 3.220Video Quality 1: DefaultVideo Quality 2: High Fidelity, High Shadow, 4x AABenchmark: Real 60 Game |
Unreal Tournament 3 | Version: RetailTexture Detail: 5World Detail: 5Field of View: 100Benchmark: Botmatch (WAR-Torlan, 12 bots, 1 Minute) |
Warhammer Mark of Chaos | Version: 1.6Video Quality:Default (Highest Settings)Demo: THG Timedemo (1 Minute) |
Audio | |
iTunes 7.2 | Version: 7.1.1.5Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minHigh Quality (160kb/s) |
Lame MP3 | Version: 3.98 Beta 3 (05-22-2007)Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minwave to MP3160kb/s |
Video | |
TMPEGEnc 4.0 Xpress | Version: 4.2.10.211Import File: Terminator 2 SE DVD (5 Minutes)Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-Channel, EnglishAdvanced Acoustic Engine MP3 Encoder (160kb/s) |
DivX 6.6 | Version: 6.6.1Profile: Home Theater Profile (720 x 576)1-pass, 780 kb/sEncoding mode: Insane QualityEnhanced multithreading |
XviD 1.1.2 | Version: 1.1.2Target quantizer: 1.00 (maximum quality) |
Applications | |
Adobe Photoshop CS3 | Version: 10.0x20070321Filtering 69 MB TIF PhotoBenchmark: Tom's Guide-Benchmark V1.0.0.4 |
Autodesk 3D Studio Max | Version: 9.0Rendering One Video FrameQuality: HTDV 1920x1080 & 1280x720 |
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus | Version: 7.5.467Virus Base: 269.6.1/776Benchmark: Scanning 3.82 GB Application Folder |
Maxon Cinema 4D | Version: 10.008Resolution: 1280 x 1024Benchmark: Rose Drop, 8-bits (50 Frames) |
Rarlab Winrar | Version 3.70 BETA 8Compression = BestDictionary = 4096 kBUncompressed Folder Size: 642 MB |
Synthetics | |
SPECviewperf 9 | Version: 9.0.3 |
PCMark05 Pro | Version: 1.1.0System, CPU and Memory TestsWindows Media Player 11.0.6000.6324Windows Media Encoder 9.00.00.2980 |
Futuremark 3DMark 2006 | Version 1.10System Test Only |
SiSoftware Sandra XII | Version 2007.5.11.40CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic, MultimediaMemory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
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