System Builder Marathon, Sept. 2010: $2000 Performance PC
Table of contents
- 1. The Quest For Six-Core Value
- 2. CPU And Graphics
- 3. Motherboard, CPU Cooling, And RAM
- 4. Case And Power
- 5. Storage
- 6. Component Installation
- 7. Component Installation, Continued
- 8. Overclocking
- 9. Test Settings
- 10. Benchmark Results: Synthetic
- 11. Benchmark Results: CoD: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
- 12. Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat
- 13. Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- 14. Benchmark Results: Productivity
- 15. Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- 16. Conclusion
System Builder Marathon, September 2010: 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 $2,000 Performance PC
Day 2: The $1,000 Enthusiast PC
Day 3: The $400 Gaming PC
Day 4: Performance And Value, Dissected
Introduction
SSD drives and six-core processors are the two most frequently-requested items missing from our typical high-end builds. Up until now, we've made that an intentional decision. This is a competition between builders, after all, and most of our benchmarks gain little from either of these components.
At the same time, we aren’t completely inflexible, and careful deliberation led us to choose the six-core CPU as perhaps the more beneficial (benchmark-wise) of those two technologies. Of course, we're keenly aware of the experiential gains attributed to SSDs as well, and we might have been able to include solid state storage as well with a larger budget. But high prices without corresponding testable improvements would have lead to some loss in our System Builder Marathon Day 4 value comparison.
Another thing missing from our June 2010 $2000 build was a pretty case. The case we picked for today’s build was chosen for its superior ventilation (with little thought for aesthetics), sporting three enormous 180 mm intake fans. A quick look at our configuration reveals why so much ventilation was needed.
| $2000 Performance PC Component Prices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motherboard | MSI NF980-G65, Socket AM3 Chipset: Nvidia nForce 980a SLI | $160 |
| Processor | AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz Six Cores, 6 MB L3 Cache, Socket AM3 | $200 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws Series F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4 GB (8 GB Total), DDR3-1333 CAS 9-9-9-24 | $200 |
| Graphics | 2 x MSI N480GTX-M2D15-B in SLI 2x 1.5 GB GDDR5-3696 2 x GeForce GTX 480 GPU at 700 MHz | $920 |
| Hard Drive | Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache, SATA 3Gb/s | $75 |
| Optical | Lite-On DVD±R/W iHAS124-04 24X DVD±R, 8X DVD+RW, 12X DVD-RAM | $19 |
| Case | SilverStone Raven RV02-BW | $160 |
| Power | Cooler Master Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3-US 1000 W, ATX12V 2.3, EPS12V 2.92, 80 PLUS Bronze | $165 |
| CPU Cooler | Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B (SCMG-2100) | $35 |
| Total Cost | $1934 | |
Packing two GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards into a $2000 build required a few sacrifices, but we hoped that our planned overclock would address many of its inadequacies. The following pages explain how each component was selected, followed by an overview of component installation, overclocking, and evaluation.
Could this monster be the one that usurps our lower-cost value builds during our week-long competition?
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I think the conclusion of this piece says it all - the desire to cram 6 cores and top-end SLI into a system blinded the author to the viability of it all. Isn't it pretty common knowledge that top-end multi GPU setups are ALWAYS a waste running below crazy resolutions? Haven't there been enough benches to show that the 1055T isn't as great as we all hoped, especially compared to similarly-priced i7s?
Always nice to see system builds, but this one was a real shame in both the final results and also the mentality behind the component selection.
Should have used the 1090T instead, it's not that much more expensive.
Should have used the 1090T instead, it's not that much more expensive.
Arguably shouldn't have used a X6 at all - if you're dropping in SLI GTX 480s then you're building a gaming rig and the X6 doesn't give much more than the X4s.
Or if you're dropping in a 6-core then you're building a productivity unit so you don't need the SLI.
I know both sets of benches are included to show what performance is like, but you just can't really get a machine that does both for "only" 2 grand.
Maybe the builds should be more focused to one or other in the future - we get monthly gaming CPU and GPU analysis and nothing about media creators, so perhaps the system builds should focus on gaming too?
Just a thought.
We need more categories of builds, like bit-tech.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/b [...] ber-2010/1
I just wonder if the system is bottlenecking at all. I know 3x 480s with an i7 930 for example starts to bottleneck. But I've always wanted to see more indepth results with 2-3x GTX 480s and an X6.
Read Customer Reviews of G.Skill's Ripjaws DDR3-1333 Kit, you will see the good customer service from G Skill in the rating of someone.That makes you want to buy it.