System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2009: System Value Compared

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

This month’s System Builder Marathon was full of surprises, the biggest being that our stock-cooled $1,300 build overclocked far easier than its big-air $2,500 competitor. But overclocking capacity is never guaranteed, and our final results reflect real-world challenges that every builder must face.

In the face of recent memory price surges and a shortage of high-end graphics processors, it was hardly surprising that prices on many of our components went up almost immediately after clicking the “buy” button at Newegg. The day our order was placed, the $700 build was within 1% of its target price, while the $2,500 PC actually came in under budget. Yet, we’re forced to use current pricing (or most-recent pricing for deactivated parts) in today’s value comparison with hopes that recent price increases won’t completely dismantle the efforts put forth by each builder to achieve the greatest “bang for the buck.”

Unlike September’s gaming-system shootout, today’s machines are designed to provide as much performance as possible across a wide variety of uses, while staying within certain budget limits. We have, like most readers, broken the budget on rare occasions where a little extra money would yield significant gains. But like most readers, we're still faced with the realities that our money supply is far from endless. Here’s a quick run-down of the parts we chose several weeks ago and the final cost at most-recent prices:

Stuck with last-year’s mainstream technology, the $700 configuration looks almost like a lamb before wolves. Yet, all three builders managed to find graphics-boosting CrossFire technology within or near their budgets, so perhaps the least of these will still be fast enough to at least meet our gaming needs? As other questions, such as the potentially close performance of the two costlier system’s processors lay heavily on our minds, we’re ready to examine our performance comparison charts.