Cyberpower’s Gamer Dragon: Can AMD Bring The Game?
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Cyberpower Gamer Dragon
- 3. System And Test Setup
- 4. Synthetic Benchmarks
- 5. Media Encoding And Rendering Benchmarks
- 6. Productivity Benchmarks
In our last System Builder Marathon (SBM) series, we had about $1,300 to spend on components for the mid-range machine, and, after a long and hard deliberation, we went with a Core i7-920-based system coupled with a pair of GeForce GTX 260 cards. At the time, this seemed to be the best-performing system we could put together with our budget.
The system we almost built for about the same amount of money was AMD-based, consisting of a Phenom II quad-core processor coupled with a pair of Radeon HD 4890 cards in CrossFire. With the cheaper Phenom II processor and platform in the AM2+ arena, the budget allowed for a pair of more powerful Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards. It was close, but in the end we really felt that the Core i7-920 CPU was too good to give up in exchange for the better graphics system, especially considering that new game titles have demonstrated notable gains with the addition of better threading optimization. Our choice caused quite a bit of backlash, and if you read the article and paid attention to the forums, you’d have noticed that there were a lot of accusations of brand-preference on our part.
I was then delighted to hear that Cyberpower wanted to offer us its impressive AMD-based Gamer Dragon PC to put through the paces with a Phenom II X4 955, an impressive 3.6 GHz overclock, and two Radeon HD 4890 cards in CrossFire. The system also sports an AM3 motherboard with DDR3 support, so it might even represent the best-case scenario for the Phenom II.
With the next SBM a couple months away, is there a better way to find out if the Phenom II’s price advantage over the Core i7 will allow it to excel, thanks to that stronger graphics system? I can’t think of one, and by the end of this article, we’ll have found out if the stinging cries of bias were justified.
But for now, let’s take a closer look at the real star of the show: the Cyberpower Gamer Dragon.
Editor's Addendum
Having just run across this issue in a past iBuyPower review and vowing to keep a better eye on it, I have to call Cyberpower out on this particular configuration. Nowhere on the company's page was I able to find an option to order this Phenom II X4 955-based configuration overclocked to 3.6 GHz. In other words, you will actually pay $1,740-ish for a 3.2 GHz machine. And while I don't think it's a stretch to assume that most of the enthusiasts who read this site should be able to realize the overclock we received, it's worth noting that the company's warranty reads as follows:
"This warranty does not cover damage due to external causes, including accident, abuse, misuse, problems with electrical power, acts of third parties, servicing not authorized by CyberPower, usage not in accordance with instructions accompanying the product(s), or failure to perform required preventive maintenance..."
So, there's a good chance that the coverage you paid a premium to attain as part of buying a pre-configured PC will actually be invalidated as soon as you seek the performance levels reported here.
We let the overclock slide, having been told that this would be made an option by the time of publication. As of this writing, however, it does not appear to be available. Should we receive notification from Cyberpower that its options have been updated to reflect factory overclocking, we will update this space.
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- gamer ,
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Seems I remember a few pages of comments here...
You were probably on the US page...
Hopefully this will silence a few critical voices - Tom's leans towards the i7 because it's a better chip, not because of bias. The proof is there for all to see.
I7-10000xxx0000x0x000 fps PII-2fps. I'm logging out of this DAMN STUPID SITE FOR DAMN EVER!
I love the term 'viable'. So does that mean anything less than $1200 is not viable for gaming?
I know where you are coming from, its just a poor choice of phrase IMO.
It was cool if they do the test with coreI7 an ATI HD4890 to see another diference! some people say core i7 with ATI rules!!!
Me thinks someone is telling porkies. Compare results obtained in this review to ones obtained in a previous one (here: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/phen [...] 31562.html ) and the discrepancies are too big to justify easily
You were probably on the US page...
That's true...but now I'm curious how I ended up here...
Ah well.
Here's a list of the components in the two pc's:
Cyberpower Gamer Dragon
System Builder Marathon $1300 MicroATX
CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (3.2 GHz, FSB-200) 6 MB L3 Cache.
Factory OC at 3.6 GHz, FSB-225,
2,022 MHz HyperTransport link
Intel Core i7-920 2.66 GHz,
2.80 GHz Turbo, 133 MHz Bclk, 1.36 V (load)
Overclock: 3.44 GHz at 1.296 V (load),
172 MHz Bclk
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P,
BIOS F4a, AMD790X
DFI LANParty Jr X58-T3H6 Micro-ATX
Intel X58/ICH10R, LGA1366
Networking
Onboard Gigabit LAN controller
Onboard Gigabit LAN controller
Memory
Kingston HyperX 9905403-048.A00LF PC3-10700
2 x 2,048 MB, 1,498 MHz, CAS 9-9-9-24 2T
G.Skill 10666CL7T 6.0 GB DDR3-1064
3 x 2.0 GB, CAS 8-8-8-19, 1.56 V
Overclock: DDR3-1378 at 1.56 V, CAS 8-8-8-19
Graphics
2 x HIS Radeon HD 4890 in CrossFire
850 MHz GPU, 2200 MHz RAM, 1 GB Per Card
2 x BFG GeForce GTX 260 in SLI
896MB GDDR3-1998 Per Card
590 MHz GPU, 1,296 MHz shader
Overclock:600 MHz GPU,
1,300 MHz shader, GDDR3-2060
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda ST31500341AS
1.5 TB, 7200.1RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA 3.0 Gb/s
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
7,200 RPM, 32 MB Cache SATA 3.0 Gb/s
Power
Corsair CMPSU-650TX
650 W, ATX 12V 2.2
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad S75QB
750 W, ATX12V 2.2, 80-Plus Certified
Just with a quick glance, I can tell the first flaw in the logic of using these two systems to compare gaming performance between the two systems. The AMD system has only x8/x8 Crossfire while the Intel system is running a full bandwidth x16/x16 SLI. The L3 cache/cpu-northbridge is running at 2250mhz when most 955 can run in the 2800mhz range and see improvements from doing so.
this review is not objective!
the cost of dragon system could be cheaper!
it is too much pretension in all review!!!
this review is not objective!
the cost of dragon system could be cheaper!
it is too much pretension in all review!!!
Yes, yes, and yes.
Why does this review stink? The results seem to be waaaaay off the mark! Come on Toms, do you really think this is the only X4-955BE review ever? And its funny how your results are completely different to everyone else's!
I swear, its almost like one of the HD4890s had been taken out of CrossFire... Hang on a sec... why does the table read 2.2GHz for the GDDR5? That should be 3.9GHz! I think Toms have monkeyed around with the (cack) Cyberpower system! And we all know HD4890
Wow, does the site now have a Criticism Filter like the US site? Most of my post got cut off...
Wow, does the site now have a Criticism Filter like the US site? Most of my post got cut off...
Tom's are Intel's brand fanboy site. Face it. They will always favor Intel. Why are you even bothering to get justice from this site? it's pointless. Unless, of course, you get AMD to pay them more than Intel do so they can increase the results. Ban me, mod me do anything, I will say the truth.
nvidia + Intel = Tom's have full coffers. One of the largest sites (and most trusted among sheep (people) fakes result's in nvidia's favor. That is why AMD once had only 6% of market share!!! I hope that this site gets down very soon so we can restore honor and healthy competition to the market.
And by the way, did you notice that Tom's had the article that explains how to unlock AMD ONLY software called Fusion, an application that is really nice and usable. They EXPLAINED how to hack it. So, they are criminals. I hate you all. Really, I really, really, really do.
http://media.bestofmicro.com/9/R/2 [...] ry%202.png
LOL, I7 + 2xGTX280 SLI - TWICE AS FAST AS PII 955 + 2xHD4890!
I declare FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE
Lol it's like they had vsync turned on in FC2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People, don't read this bull c r x p, this is a site you can trust. It doesn't favor anyone, it just posts the results. And sorry for many posts, I get pissed off when I see this Tom bull c r x ping.
http://www.modreactor.com/english/ [...] rhead.html
http://media.bestofmicro.com/8/R/2 [...] age031.png
http://media.bestofmicro.com/9/R/2 [...] ry%202.png