System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: $2,500 Performance PC
Table of contents
- 1. Our Most Powerful Build Yet?
- 2. Graphics And Power
- 3. Motherboard, CPU, And RAM
- 4. CPU Cooling And Case
- 5. Storage
- 6. Hardware Installation
- 7. Overclocking
- 8. Test Settings
- 9. Benchmark Results: Crysis And Fallout 3
- 10. Benchmark Results: Far Cry 2 And H.A.W.X.
- 11. Benchmark Results: World In Conflict
- 12. Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- 13. Benchmark Results: Productivity
- 14. Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- 15. Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- 16. Uncompromising…Compromises?
System Builder Marathon, December 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.
To enter the giveaway, please check out this Google form, and be sure to read the complete rules before entering!
Day 1: The $2,500 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1,300 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $700 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Introduction
Constant advancements in technology mean that, at least every few months, we can say “it has never been a better time to build a PC,” and really mean it. Yet, the popular catch phrase means a little more today. That’s because we haven’t seen a graphics release as stunning as ATI’s Radeon HD 5800-series in a very long time. For gamers, this really is a phenomenal time to build a PC.
Past System Builder Marathons (SBMs) have reviewed awesome technologies such as 3-way SLI, CrossFireX, and Core i7 in systems costing up to $4,500, but because of ATI’s advancement, today’s $2,500 build likely overpowers them all. What’s true in game performance applies to average performance, simply because the expected improvements to our gaming suite are so large. Yet this big improvement comes at such a price that we were forced to select some components that definitely do not fall under the high-end category.
| $2,500 Performance PC Component Prices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Chipset: Intel P55 Express | $170 |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-860 2.80 GHz 4 Cores, 8.0MB L3 Cache | $280 |
| Memory | 2 x Crucial 4.0GB DDR3-1333 Dual Channel Kit 4 x 2.0GB (8.0GB Total), CAS 9-9-9-28 | $168 |
| Graphics | 2 x Diamond HD 5870 (CrossFireX) 1.0GB GDDR5-4800 Per Card Radeon HD 5870 GPU at 850 MHz | $860 |
| Hard Drives | 2 x WD Caviar Black WD2001FASS (RAID 1) 2.0TB, 7200 RPM, 64MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s | $600 |
| Optical | LG WH08LS20 BD-RE 8x BD-R, 2x BD-RE, 16x DVD±R | $190 |
| Case | Lian-Li LanCool PC-K7B | $90 |
| Power | Corsair CMPSU-850HX Modular 850W ATX12V 2.2, EPS12V 2.91, 80 PLUS Gold | $180 |
| CPU Cooler | Xigmatek HDT-S1284EE Cooler Plus Crossbow ACK-I5363 Bracket Kit | $47 |
| Total Current Cost | $2,585 | |
Regular readers can point to the loss of liquid cooling and SSD drives as huge steps backwards compared to our most recent $2,500 build, although the above list doesn’t represent the actual price paid. Increases in memory, graphics, and optical drive prices have pushed the build cost upward by $88 compared to the day when we ordered our parts. On a more positive note, the $10 discount reduction for our case was replaced by a $20 discount on our power supply.
Rather than get sidetracked by recent price shifts, let’s take a look at the machine that our $2,497 purchase produced.
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- 29/03 – System Builder Marathon, March 2012: System Value Compared
- 28/03 – System Builder Marathon, March 2012: $2600 Performance PC
- 27/03 – System Builder Marathon, March 2012: $1250 Enthusiast PC
- 26/03 – System Builder Marathon, March 2012: $650 Gaming PC
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Hello ionut19! You probably just did the same thing as me and, like me, got redirected to the .uk site where the comments section is currently empty?
Something strikes me as a little weird on that system. Don't know what it is. Dunno, for a budget of $2,500 I would've thought you could've gotten a bit more.
GPB equivalent from Overclockers UK: £1,709.85
Matching budget I did a X58 version for £1,703.87:
i7 920
Asus P6T SE
6GB Corsair XMS3 1600MHz CAS8
2x Sapphire 5870
2x SpinPoint F3 1TB
Cogage True Spirit
Corsair HX850
LG BH08LS20 BD-RE
Antec 902
which is pretty much the same system to be honest. £75 exchanged the SpinPoint RAID for 1 SpinPoint F3 and a Samsung PB22-J 64GB SSD. Dropping the Blu-Ray burner to the equivalent LG Blu-Ray ROM would bring the system back under budget.
Maybe it's because just because I personally favour X58 over P55.
Something strikes me as a little weird on that system. Don't know what it is. Dunno, for a budget of $2,500 I would've thought you could've gotten a bit more.GPB equivalent from Overclockers UK: £1,709.85Matching budget I did a X58 version for £1,703.87:i7 920Asus P6T SE6GB Corsair XMS3 1600MHz CAS82x Sapphire 58702x SpinPoint F3 1TBCogage True SpiritCorsair HX850LG BH08LS20 BD-REAntec 902which is pretty much the same system to be honest. £75 exchanged the SpinPoint RAID for 1 SpinPoint F3 and a Samsung PB22-J 64GB SSD. Dropping the Blu-Ray burner to the equivalent LG Blu-Ray ROM would bring the system back under budget.Maybe it's because just because I personally favour X58 over P55.
So did the builder, but the P55 was used anyway in hopes of a better overclock on the newer CPU. That didn't work out. But anyway...the RAM was good RAM, for a good price, and it ran at over 1600 CAS 8 anyway. Now if that same cost-savings eye would have been put into a few other places, perhaps X58 and a big enough liquid cooler to chase that big overclock could have been purchased.
big enough liquid cooler to chase that big overclock could have been purchased.
That Cogage will easily cool the i7 920 up to 4GHz on its own, past that you'd need a good chip to exceed 4.2GHz anyway. And a better motherboard too perhaps.
That Cogage will easily cool the i7 920 up to 4GHz on its own, past that you'd need a good chip to exceed 4.2GHz anyway. And a better motherboard too perhaps.
Well, the i7-860 in the review would go to around 4.4 GHz on a huge air cooler with super-fast fans, but those weren't included in the purchase and were only used in diagnosing the O/C problems. You can get a 920 to 4.20 on a 2x120mm radiator.
So I read the "uncompromising compromise" conclusion page ( http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/buil [...] 8-16.html# ) and it seems like a lot of the build changes.
Using the original build as a basis, and the improvements that were suggested on the compromises page, what should I fit? If I bumped my budget up to $2750, would that help?
Any advice would be appreciated!
This should be called the "more money than sense" system.
This should be called the "more money than sense" system.
Hardly. This is about standard for a high-end gaming system.
More money than sense would have 3 5870s, Core i7 975 OC'ed to 4.2GHz, 12GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000MHz, 3 Intel 64GB Extreme SSDs in RAID 0 for system and water cool the lot.