System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: AMD System Value Compared
Table of contents
- 1. Going Green To Save Some Green?
- 2. Test Settings
- 3. Benchmark Results: Crysis
- 4. Benchmark Results: Fallout 3
- 5. Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2
- 6. Benchmark Results: H.A.W.X.
System Builder Marathon, September 2009: The Articles
Here are links to each of the four articles in this month’s System Builder Marathon (we’ll update them as each story is published). And remember, these systems are all being given away at the end of the marathon!
Day 1: The $2,500 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1,250 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $650 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance and Value Dissected
Introduction
We answered overwhelming requests to use AMD in our latest System Builder Marathon and found the excellent gaming, good prices, and mediocre overclocking our previous component reviews had lead us to expect. Value seekers should be especially pleased with our processor selection while criticizing a few of the “unnecessary expenses” in our highest-priced build. Yet supposedly-superfluous features aren’t the most surprising differences in today’s comparison: Let’s also reconsider a few of the performance-oriented component choices.
| September SBM PC Component Prices | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| $650-Limit Build | $1,250-Limit Build | $2,500-Limit Build | |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P | MSI 790FX-GD70 | MSI 790FX-GD70 |
| Processor | AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE 3.1 GHz Dual-Core | AMD Phenom II X4 945 3 GHz Quad-Core | AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 GHz Quad-Core |
| Memory | OCZ Gold OCZ2G10664GK 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-1066 | Patriot PVS34G1333LLKN 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 | 2 x Crucial CT2KIT25664BA1339 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 |
| Graphics | 2 x Sapphire 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB | 4 x Gigabyte GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB | 3 x MSI R4890-T2D1G OC Radeon HD 4890 1GB |
| OS/Program Drives | WD Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB, 7200 RPM | WD Black WD6401AALS 640GB, 7200 RPM | 2 x Intel X25-M 80GB Model SSDSA2MH080G1 (RAID 0) |
| Storage Hard Drives | 2 x WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM Model WD1001FALS (RAID 1) | ||
| Optical | Samsung SATA DVD±RW Model SH-S223B (22x) | Optiarc 24X SATA DVD±RW Model AD-7240S-0BDVD/CD | LG SATA BD-RE/HD-DVD Model GGW-H20L (6x BD-R) |
| Case | Rosewill Wind Ryder | NZXT Tempest | NZXT Panzerbox |
| Power | Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W | PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W | Corsair CMPSU-1000HX 1000W |
| CPU Cooler | AMD Boxed Heatsink | Xigmatek HDT-S1283 | Swiftech H20-220 |
| Component Cooling | Antec 0761345-75018-9 "SpotCool" LED Fan | ||
| SSD Tray | SNT SNT-SATA2221B Hot-Swappable Backplane | ||
| Bay Adapter | Vantec MRK-250FD | ||
| Total Cost | $647 | $1,265 | $2,490 |
The cheapest build in today’s lineup is a lean, mean gaming machine, fitting two Radeon HD 4850 graphics cards and a high-speed dual-core processor into a sub-$650 package. At the other end of the scale, the high-end build takes an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach, adding liquid cooling and SSD drives to fill reader demands, plus redundant traditional drives to fill the storage demands of high-end buyers. The $1,265 machine attempts to trump the highest-priced build with a total of four graphics cards, sacrificing storage redundancy to fit these within its budget.
But with only 512MB per graphics card, will the cheapest system be powerful enough to provide the best gaming value? Will the middle-priced system’s four mainstream-performance graphics cards really be able to overtake the triple-threat high-end cards of its expensive competitor? And for the high-end system, is there really any good reason for gamers to spend this much on drives and cooling? Let’s find out.
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- 26/09 – System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2011: System Value Compared
Yet another tomshardware.co.uk article that looked interesting but used foreign prices
REMEMBER, WE USE POUNDS IN THIS COUNTRY!
I'm using a 150GB Velociraptor as my system drive, maybe 2 in a RAID 0 if I'm feeling flush - that's all the loading speed I need. My impatience comes from waiting for encoding to finish, not the length of time Ravenholm takes to load, so it's core performance when doing something that matters to me.
SSD for my Adobe scratch disks are an entirely different matter, but these builds have gaming as their priority so such enhancements wouldn't be reflected on value here anyway.
god, could people whine more about the currency choice on a web page, how hard is it to go to xe.com and do a quick conversion. you could even do a basic conversion in your head. Wow...
although I agree seamusmac, the complaint really is the shit delivery of Toms content since Bestofmedia took over and their inability (or not bothering) to properly target content based on geographic location. It's not quite as easy as a simple xe.com conversion because we get stiffed on so much tax over here.
That being said, to call the US Dollar "foreign" and to capitalise "we use pounds" does kinda scream old english xenophobe...
well I am not using the US Dollar either, but really i don't feel the need to bitch about it. These are basic prices to get an idea of what you can get for around x amount. The breakdown on this sight would be a pain in the ass if they converted the cost for each of the geographical regions it covers. Also its a free service for people to use, if I was paying for this then maybe I would be more concerned.
i live in the uk. the page is originally american so they spent $650 on the rig. that's X pounds now. and Y pounds next week or maybe tomorrow, but the point is that it's changing!
Suprising how close the performance actually is..you get a lot of bang for your buck. I wouldn't mind seeing an Athlon II x4 thrown into the mix, either
Yet another tomshardware.co.uk article that looked interesting but used foreign pricesREMEMBER, WE USE POUNDS IN THIS COUNTRY!
I can get the CPU's and memory at really decent prices here in the UK, but the grafix cards..boy, do we get hammered. I saw an nVidia 9800 card in the states, and after the discount + mail-in rebate it was a fraction of what is charged here in the UK.
Looks like globalisation didn't stop at our station..or at least, it only applies to working longer for less, not actually paying less for the same products the American's get much cheaper. I don't resent them for it - good luck to them I say, just that it gets me sometimes especially with this kind of hardware..and games consoles..and fuel..and heating..and house ownership etc, etc..
The kind of cards people get in these tests would be out of many a price range here in the UK, even if the buyer shopped around. It pisses me off.
Why use the phenomII 550?Surely the sub £100 athlon X 4 620 OC'D makes for a fantastic budget price vs performance all rounder. I would only go for the 550 if i can gurentee a sucessful unlock and get a nice OC on top of that or im building for someone who is afraid to oc without bumping the multiplier.
I agree with people about the prices, As this is a uk site!
But I do understand that its a little work for someone to give GBP too.
Overall I was amzed how cheap you can build at now days
I agree with people about the prices, As this is a uk site!
But I do understand that its a little work for someone to give GBP too.
Overall I was amzed how cheap you can build at now days
Great article... was wondering if a similar laptop-related article is available?