Origin PC Millennium: 3-Way SLI And A 4.6 GHz Core i5

[mattsafford]

After a long hiatus, Tom's Hardware returns to consumer desktop reviews with Origin PC's Millennium. Can three GeForce GTX 660 Ti cards and an overclocked Core i5 handle gaming at 5760x1080? We want to know if this elegant box is worth its $3,000+ price.

Origin PC Millennium: 3-Way SLI And A 4.6 GHz Core i5 : Read more

 

[DarkSable]

So... no mention of the fact that you're paying for a lot of things you don't need? In it's head-to-head against the DIY rig, I'm noticing a LOT of parts that I wouldn't even consider spending extra money on.

And they're getting those parts at a discount, so you're paying a lot of money for that tech line.

 

[EzioAs]

"This system’s starting price is a relatively modest $1,225. For that, you get a Core i3-2120 CPU, an AMD Radeon HD 7750 graphics card, and a 500 GB hard drive."

Wow, talk about rip off...

 

[DarkSable]

"This system’s starting price is a relatively modest $1,225. For that, you get a Core i3-2120 CPU, an AMD Radeon HD 7750 graphics card, and a 500 GB hard drive."

Wow, talk about rip off...

Haha, yeah. That's about what I spent for an i5-3570k and GTX 670. I'll stick with my hand-builts and NOT pay $700 for a tech support who reads from a script.

 

[mayankleoboy1]

For this much price, i would add another $100 and get the i7-3770k. Those extra 4 cores will come in handy in apps.
And probably get 2xHD7950. 2 card setups are easier to maintain than 3 card setups (drivers). And the compute capability of GCN is already legendry.

 

[amuffin]

2 680's would be a better choice.

 

[DjEaZy]

... origin haz the good sense to put windows 7 in it...

 

[danielmunhato]

we just need now is a review with 3 7970´s vs 3 gtx 680 in full hd and beyond.

 

[Caspase]

[citation][nom]mayankleoboy1[/nom]For this much price, i would add another $100 and get the i7-3770k. Those extra 4 cores will come in handy in apps.And probably get 2xHD7950. 2 card setups are easier to maintain than 3 card setups (drivers). And the compute capability of GCN is already legendry.[/citation]

Those extra 4 threads. And I bet at stock it would lose.
Why aren't temperatures shown? I was curious to see how an ivy @ 4.6 in a mid tower with 3 GPUs with modest cooling would fair...

 

[mayankleoboy1]

Yeah, why no temperature measurement ? AFAIK, 4.6 on 3570K can get very hot.

 

[Guest]

a 3000$ trash like a mac

 

[Soda-88]

i5, 3 way SLI... Overpriced imbalanced junk, how origin(al)...

 

[fudoka711]

[citation][nom]Soda-88[/nom]i5, 3 way SLI... Overpriced imbalanced junk, how origin(al)...[/citation]

This made me lol.

But you have a point. This thing is definitely way imbalanced. I have this funny feeling the i5 is totally holding back the tri-sli 660 ti's. You'd need something like an i7-3930k to balance that out. Correct me if I'm wrong though. Besides, I agree with others that 2 7970's or 2 680's would make more sense (but more microstuttering).

 

[rdc85]

I think there a reason for 3 way SLI/CFX used, the third card usually smooth/fix micro shuttering issue...

even there no performance benefit/scaling

 

[abbadon_34]

wow, wonder much of a Kickback Tom's gets, I hope this doesn't continues, the "Daily Deals" in the NEWS section is bad enough.

Does anyone here really buy overpriced pre-built systems? Especially this Tri-SLI gimmick

"After a long hiatus, Tom's Hardware returns to consumer desktop reviews" there is a good reason for that Hiatus. Put this review on some other site, I'm sure BestofMedia has plenty low level dummy sites to stuff

 

[Memnarchon]

Benchmark Results: Gaming
WOW: DX11 Ultra, 16x AF, 4x MSAA, 1920x1080: min 72 fps, avg: 120 fps
Battlefield 3: DX11 ultra, 16x AF, 4x MSAA, 1920x1080: min 139 fps, avg: 174 fps

Since when WOW is more demanding than Battlefield 3? :O

 

[Soda-88]

[citation][nom]Memnarchon[/nom]Benchmark Results: Gaming WOW: DX11 Ultra, 16x AF, 4x MSAA, 1920x1080: min 72 fps, avg: 120 fpsBattlefield 3: DX11 ultra, 16x AF, 4x MSAA, 1920x1080: min 139 fps, avg: 174 fpsSince when WOW is more demanding than Battlefield 3?[/citation]
WoW is CPU bound game and straining an i5 with 3 GPUs is not the best idea when playing games which need to process hundreds/thousands of players' inputs surrounding you.

 

[Formata]

Epic wooden crate ftw.

 

[Guest]

[citation][nom]mayankleoboy1[/nom]For this much price, i would add another $100 and get the i7-3770k. Those extra 4 cores will come in handy in apps.And probably get 2xHD7950. 2 card setups are easier to maintain than 3 card setups (drivers). And the compute capability of GCN is already legendry.[/citation]

They are 4 extra 'threads' not 'cores'. And there is next to no difference in maintaining 3 vs 2 vs 1 graphics card - they all us the same driver. I guess being an AMD fanboi you'd find it hard to get your head around such concepts.

 

[Cryio]

4th page, the HandBrake benchmark: Are you guys sure MORE minutes means better perfomance?

 

[Sakkura]

[citation][nom]abbadon_34[/nom]wow, wonder much of a Kickback Tom's gets, I hope this doesn't continues, the "Daily Deals" in the NEWS section is bad enough.Does anyone here really buy overpriced pre-built systems? Especially this Tri-SLI gimmick "After a long hiatus, Tom's Hardware returns to consumer desktop reviews" there is a good reason for that Hiatus. Put this review on some other site, I'm sure BestofMedia has plenty low level dummy sites to stuff[/citation]
Eh, did you miss the part where they pointed out that the parts were $730 cheaper than what Origin charges for the system?

I am surprised by one thing in this build, though: Pouring all those dollars into graphics cards and motherboard and whatnot, and then sticking to same ol' DDR3-1600. Not that the performance gain from switching to DDR3-1866 is big, but it would only cost you a handful of dollars. A drop in the ocean.

 

[army_ant7]

I was honestly expecting that that almost 4 times difference between the Origin and DigitalStorm in the (non-OpenCL) WinZip test would be noted in the text that followed. It's just very peculiar, the difference in performance from just an overclock, despite how substantial it may be.

 

[jaquith]

Nice idea but wrong cooling and GPU's not to mention a rip-off with a $3K price tag. Folks if you can't build (that) simple system DIY then it's time to go to Best Buy.

I wounder how much Origin is charging for the wood box?

 

[A Bad Day]

You don't like building computers? Then you're going to have to pay for it, big time.

Or get a friend who's familiar with computers to build it for you.

 

[Xenturion]

I feel like the window in which 'Millennium' was a relevant, interesting, and new-age thing to name something has been closed for a few years now. A $700 price premium over the parts purchased separately is nothing to scoff at either. While I'd imagine on cheaper systems the margin is lower, but I still didn't expect it to be more than $50 or $100 over the parts on their own.