System Builder Marathon, Q1 2014: The $2400 People’s Choice PC
Results: 3DMark And PCMark
3DMark suggests that the previous machine’s $600 AMD Radeon R9 290s are faster than the current build’s $520 GeForce GTX 780s, and that makes sense on a price/performance basis.
When I chose them, however, the Radeons were only $400. Now you understand why so many folks considered AMD's Hawaii-based parts to be such a good deal. On the bright side, they've dropped from a high of over $600 to right around $500 more recently.
Most gamers blamed cryptocurrency miners for the shortage of Radeon R9 290 and 290X cards. Availability is improving now, though not before enthusiasts started noticing Nvidia's high-end cards could keep up in disciplines other than scrypt-based mining.
PCMark isn't my favorite benchmark because it doesn't properly reflect the optimizations for six-core CPUs that some of our real-world workloads more prominently show off. On the other hand, it’s a better indicator of performance for ordinary desktop applications, as well as the storage performance of those applications.
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Darkerson Interesting move, showing the nicest build 1st instead of last. Cant wait to see all the builds compared and see what you all come up with as the budget goes down.Reply -
captain_jonno Looks good. Surprised only went with a 750w PSU though. Considering 2x 780 ti's and overlockingReply -
Crashman
Yessir, two 780s and a bit of experience in part picking lead me to expect around 700W of required system power. And, it came out just a little less than 700W.12951919 said:Looks good. Surprised only went with a 750w PSU though. Considering 2x 780 ti's and overlocking
Power supplies of greater capacity and similar reliability at this price tend to be lower-efficiency units. And we like efficiency too.
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Crashman
It's not calculated power, it's measured power for the entire system (at the power plug). No addition or subtraction was used.12952008 said:I dont get the "W" usage?680+237 = 917w. Not 802w as meation above?
1.) Start the system, wait for all processes to load, take a measurement (Active, but idle)
2.) Load the CPU using eight thread of AVX-optimized Prime95, take a reading (CPU Load).
3.) Load GPUs with 3DMark 11 Test 1 in loop, take max reading as it heats up (GPU Load).
4.) Load both applications (CPU+GPU Load).
The "math problem" is that any program used to fully load the GPU also partly loads the CPU. So when test 4 is Prime95+3DMark, Prime95 can only use whatever CPU resources are left with 3DMark running.
So the most accurate system power reading is with "CPU+GPU Load" applied. The system measurement for "CPU Load" still includes the power of an idle GPU. And the system power measurement for "GPU Load" still includes the amount of CPU energy it takes to run the GPU's test application.
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YellowBee 12952046 said:
It's not a calculation, it's a reading for the entire system (at the power plug). Load the CPU using eight thread of AVX-optimized Prime95, take reading one. Load GPUs with 3DMark 11 Test 1 in loop, take max reading as it heats up.12952008 said:I dont get the "W" usage?680+237 = 917w. Not 802w as meation above?
The "math problem" is that any program used to fully load the GPU also partly loads the CPU. So when test 3 is Prime95+3DMark, Prime95 can only use whatever CPU resources are left with 3DMark running.
So the most accurate system power reading is with "CPU+GPU Load" applied. The system measurement for "CPU Load" still includes the reading of an idle GPU. And the system power measurement for "GPU Load" still includes the amount of CPU power it takes to run the GPU.
Very much appreciated and satisfying answer.
Thanks Crashman :) -
bemused_fred
Any chance of including these calculations in all future articles, so that we know exactly how the power graph is calculated? Ta.
It's not calculated power, it's measured power for the entire system (at the power plug). No addition or subtraction was used.1.) Start the system, wait for all processes to load, take a measurement (Active, but idle)2.) Load the CPU using eight thread of AVX-optimized Prime95, take a reading (CPU Load).3.) Load GPUs with 3DMark 11 Test 1 in loop, take max reading as it heats up (GPU Load).4.) Load both applications (CPU+GPU Load).The "math problem" is that any program used to fully load the GPU also partly loads the CPU. So when test 4 is Prime95+3DMark, Prime95 can only use whatever CPU resources are left with 3DMark running.So the most accurate system power reading is with "CPU+GPU Load" applied. The system measurement for "CPU Load" still includes the power of an idle GPU. And the system power measurement for "GPU Load" still includes the amount of CPU energy it takes to run the GPU's test application.12952008 said:I dont get the "W" usage?680+237 = 917w. Not 802w as meation above? -
Crashman
Which calculations?12952271 said:
Any chance of including these calculations in all future articles, so that we know exactly how the power graph is calculated? Ta.12952046 said:It's not calculated power, it's measured power for the entire system
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jabuscus wow. such performance. many ram. they should've put in 16gb of ram for real high-end specs. ;)Reply -
Versutia As I'm into quiet enclosures, I'd go along this route:Reply
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3fuGw
Wondering how much of a difference would non-reference cards make. Obviously, CPU cooler and RAM could be different, BR drive optional, storage drive as well.