System Builder Marathon: Performance And Value Compared
Benchmark And Overclock Settings
Test Hardware Configurations | |||
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Row 0 - Cell 0 | $650 Gaming PC | $1300 Enthusiast PC | $2550 Performance PC |
Processor (Overclock) | AMD FX-6300 3.5 GHz, Six Physical Cores O/C to 4.0 GHz, 1.26 V | Intel Core i7-4670K 3.0 GHz, Four Physical CoresO/C to 4.30 GHz, 1.25 V | Intel Core i7-3930K 3.0 GHz, Six Physical CoresO/C to 4.2 GHz, 1.25 V |
Graphics (Overclock) | EVGA GTX 760: 980-1033 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008 O/C to 1254 MHz GDDR5-7204 | Gigabyte GTX 770: 1037-1089 MHz GPU, GDDR5-7000O/C to 1239 MHz GDDR5-7500 | 3 x EVGA GTX-760: 980-1033 MHz GPU, GDDR5-6008 O/C to 1130 MHz GDDR5-6680 |
Memory (Overclock) | 8 GB Kingston DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-27, O/C to DDR3-1866 9-10-10-28, 1.65 V | 8 GB Corsair DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-24, O/C to DDR3-1800 CL 9-11-11-28, 1.535 V | 16 GB Mushkin DDR3-1600 CAS 9-9-9-24, Not Overclockable |
Motherboard (Overclock) | MSI 970A-G43: Socket AM3+, AMD 970 / SB950Stock 200 MHz BCLK | Gigabyte Z87X-OC: LGA 1150, Intel Z87 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK | ASRock X79 Extreme6: LGA 2011, Intel X79 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK |
Optical | Samsung SH-224: 24x DVD±R | Samsung SH-224: 24x DVD±R | Pioneer BDR-2208: 15x BD-R |
Case | NZXT Tempest 210 | Antec GX 700 | Lian Li PC-9NA |
CPU Cooler | AMD Boxed Cooler | Corsair H50 | Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 |
Hard Drive | WD WD10EZEX 1 TB, SATA 6Gb/s HDD | Samsung 840 MZ-7TD120BW 120 GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD | Mushkin Chronos Deluxe DX 240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
Power | Antec VP-450: 450 W, ATX12V v2.3 | CORSAIR 650TX: 650 W Modular, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS Bronze | Corsair HX850: 850 W Modular, ATX12V v2.3, 80 PLUS Gold |
Software | |||
OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Pro x64 | ||
Graphics | Nvidia GeForce 320.49 WHQL | Nvidia GeForce 326.80 Beta | Nvidia GeForce 326.80 Beta |
Chipset | Row 13 - Cell 1 | Intel INF 9.4.0.1017 | Intel INF 9.3.0.1026 |
Formerly adverse to memory tweaking, Don flipped the script in this review by soundly defeating my overclocking efforts. Not only was he able to push his CPU to 4.3 GHz and DRAM to DDR3-1800, but I ran into CPU thermal barriers at 4.2 GHz and wasn’t able to bump up my memory at all.
Paul’s $650 PC pushed an astounding graphics overclock, but so did my $2550 machine before it got hot. It turns out that three-way SLI has a negative effect on graphics cooling. Who would have thought, right?
Benchmark Configuration | |
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3D Games | |
Battlefield 3 | Campaign Mode, "Going Hunting" 90-Seconds Fraps Test Set 1: Medium Quality Defaults (No AA, 4x AF) Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Defaults (4x AA, 16x AF) |
F1 2012 | Steam Version, In-Game Test Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA |
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Update 1.5.26, Celedon Aethirborn Level 6, 25 Seconds Fraps Test Set 1: DX11, High Details No AA, 8x AF, FXAA enabled Test Set 2: DX11, Ultra Details, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA enabled |
Far Cry 3 | V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC., SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO |
Adobe Creative Suite | |
Adobe After Effects CS6 | Version 11.0.0.378 x64: Create Video which includes 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly |
Adobe Photoshop CS6 | Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
Adobe Premeire Pro CS6 | Version 6.0.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality |
Audio/Video Encoding | |
iTunes | Version 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.99: Video from Canon Eos 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
Productivity | |
ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
Adobe Acrobat X | Version 11.0.0.379: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption |
Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 | Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
Blender | Version: 2.67b, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1 |
Visual Studio 2010 | Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted |
File Compression | |
WinZip | Version 17.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
WinRAR | Version 4.2: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
7-Zip | Version 9.28: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.3, Benchmark Only |
PCMark 8 | Version: 1.0.0 x64, Full Test |
SiSoftware Sandra 2013 | Version 2013.10.19.50, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Cryptography, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |
Current page: Benchmark And Overclock Settings
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ryude Value is one thing, but when it comes to gaming you have to build for a minimum acceptable framerate and graphical fidelity. Once you factor those in you see that the $1300 build is indeed the value leader. The $650 build cannot play all games at 1080p60, high settings, and decent AA.Reply -
itzsnypah It always seems that to be the best value in SBM you need the cheapest case, psu and motherboard and spend as much as you can on graphics.Reply -
Martell1977 So at what price point does diminishing returns really kick in, approximately? Would spending a little more on the GPU for the $650 still be a solid value add?Reply
Basically, at what point between $650 and $1300 does the price/performance ratio seriously diminish? -
Crashman
That doesn't stop me from setting a minimum quality standard for the high-end build, that comes at a higher price than the minimum performance standard. And, it doesn't stop me from adding a secondary storage drive, because these are things that the owner of this system would expect to have. I go into this knowing that I'm "wasting" money on quality, features and convenience items, and it doesn't bother me at all :)11603306 said:It always seems that to be the best value in SBM you need the cheapest case, psu and motherboard and spend as much as you can on graphics.
One of our SBM's focused on that question. It's currently somewhere around $700.11603341 said:So at what price point does diminishing returns really kick in, approximately? Would spending a little more on the GPU for the $650 still be a solid value add?
Basically, at what point between $650 and $1300 does the price/performance ratio seriously diminish?
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ingtar33 11603258 said:Value is one thing, but when it comes to gaming you have to build for a minimum acceptable framerate and graphical fidelity. Once you factor those in you see that the $1300 build is indeed the value leader. The $650 build cannot play all games at 1080p60, high settings, and decent AA.
you didn't bother reading the benching at all apparently. The 650 build was way over 60fps in all titles on ultra settings at 1080p except for far cry (it was even over 60fps on skyrim, which really hates amd cpus). Far Cry 3 has always been a gpu melter in the category of crysis 3; so it shouldn't be surprising a 760gtx can't max fc3 on ultra at 1080p. It doesn't in any other bench anywhere either. And fc3 was clearly playable on ultra at 1080p (30-40fps). Personally if i built a $650 machine and it killed every game i threw at it at 1080p and 60fps i'd call it a day. there really isn't a reason to spend more on your hardware unless you're going to spend a fortune on better/multiple monitors with bigger resolutions...
Computer tech has come a long way, that we basically have a mainstream gaming platform at 1080p for $650 is a great thing. -
nerrawg 11603258 said:Value is one thing, but when it comes to gaming you have to build for a minimum acceptable framerate and graphical fidelity. Once you factor those in you see that the $1300 build is indeed the value leader. The $650 build cannot play all games at 1080p60, high settings, and decent AA.
Actually what you realise is that the CPU on the $650 build is probably good enough for a GTX 780/AMD7970 or 2 GTX 760's in SLI. With that added expenditure of only $150-300 you could play anything you want to at 1080p without the PC breaking a sweat. It goes to show that, while the AMD Piledrivers are far behind intel's quad core K series, they can still represent decent value for a gaming PC. Nice article. -
m32 ingtar33, I agree with you. In the coming months your $650 is going to get you more with AMD's 7000 series price dropping. More money is great if you got it. Get your Titans if you can! Average folks are going to be sticking to the sub $850 range.Reply -
icerider Great SBM guys. Would have preferred to see the $650 machine get this,Reply
GIGABYTE GV-R795WF3-3GD Radeon HD 7950 3GB for $224 ($199 after rebate)
and spent the additional money on a ,
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
which gives plenty of headroom to take a fx-6300 to an easy 4.5 ghz OC with low temps. Just built my first 2 FX-6300s this way with absolutely no problem.
With an extra Gig of graphics memory, comparable gpu oc ability and framerates and a solid OC on the cpu I think this system would be an easy walk away winner. -
bemused_fred OK, OK, OK. Could someone please explain why there are benchmarks in this at all? Does anyone ever expect the $650 PC to come near the $1300 and $2550 ones withs superior hardware? It's a complete waste of time to make those graphs, because a 5-year-old can probably tell you what the results will be: the more expensive stuff gets you better performance.Reply