System Builder Marathon: $2,500 Enthusiast PC

[Crashman]

We’ve seen how far a moderately priced Core i7 system can take us and now we’re ready to assess the performance advantages of better cooling and a stronger graphics configuration. Will our upgrades be worth the money?

System Builder Marathon: $2,500 Enthusiast PC : Read more

 

[tipmen]

First
LG GGC-H20LK 6X Blu-Ray/HD DVD-ROM, 16X DVD±RW for $23??? you mean 223?

 

[douglesso]

Thanks for the fantastic information and detailed analysis. I just ordered the same motherboard and video card last week for my new build. Glad to see that holding out for the i7 was a worthwhile wait.

 

[tipmen]

Sorry couldn't read my comment but nice blbuild by the way nice to see this. Hlaf the price and more performance.

 

[Ph0X]

This is... really.. Wow.
I'm not big in hardware, but this is just, WOW...

There's 3SLI GTX260, 3 x 1TB, Bluray WRITER!, but it doesn't even have 6gb ram!!?

That's just lame. Imo maybe get raptors / SSD instead? Also, Instead of 3SLI, just get a 4870x2. You will maybe get 2-3FPS less, but instead get 6gb ram and i7 940, and I'm pretty sure that will also boost your fps.

Again, I'm not a hardware pro, but I'm pretty sure my thing would be way better.

 

[Guest]

Total price is off. Should be something like 2,447 and not 2,247

 

[kelfen]

[citation][nom]Ph0X[/nom]This is... really.. Wow.I'm not big in hardware, but this is just, WOW...There's 3SLI GTX260, 3 x 1TB, Bluray WRITER!, but it doesn't even have 6gb ram!!?That's just lame. Imo maybe get raptors / SSD instead? Also, Instead of 3SLI, just get a 4870x2. You will maybe get 2-3FPS less, but instead get 6gb ram and i7 940, and I'm pretty sure that will also boost your fps.Again, I'm not a hardware pro, but I'm pretty sure my thing would be way better.[/citation]
+1

 

[kelfen]

except the cpu is fine because of oc

 

[kelfen]

antec twelve hundred

 

[dieseldre2k]

appreciate the article but i would drop the third HD (keep the other 2 in RAID) and use the extra money to get 6 gigs of ram instead. i'd also be wary of the scaling on 3 video cards but i dont know enough about that, plus i'm sure u guys were trying to use up all $2,500.

 

[thomasxstewart]

Lastly, GTX 295 in 3 way sli should hit 38,000 in 3D Vantage. Thats ALL Folks.


SignedHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.

 

[thomasxstewart]

fINAL lASLTY, yOU mENTION oCTOBERS 64 BIT TEST & recent PREVIOUS LOW COST & MID TESTS WHERE 32 BIT uLTIMATE, YET THIS TEST HAS NO MENTION OF O/S AT ALL. ITS XP RIGHT, TOM FOOLERY AGAIN, COMPARING ENTIRELY DIFFERNT SYSTEMS. BEST ULTIMATE WILL SCORE IS 13,000 VANTAGE HERE, YET ULTIMATE 64 HAS PRODUCED 38,000 3D VANTAGE BY REPUTABLE WEBSITE. SO GO FIGURE, BEFORE YOU WASTE $3,000.00

SignedHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.

 

[jcknouse]

I didn't see it right off. might have missed it.

I saw where u said that you reached limits at 75F/23.9C room temps. However, what was the CPU temp after running full load with your air cooling solution?

I am curious, because I think I put too much thermal paste on my AMD Phenom 9850 install cause it runs up around 60C when i go 100% load. I hate going anything over that, so i haven't OCed it.

Would love to hear what you guys at Tom's consider "acceptable" full load max temp for the CPU, and how you base that temp level. Manufacturer specs? Personal experience? A little of both?

Thanks in advance

 

[Sparky4688]

Great review.

The December $1250 system performs very close within 2-3 seconds for Audio/Video editing and Applications and in several cases performs better. For non-gamers the December $1250 is a better value.

I built a $1250 system based on the November E8500 chip and now wished I had waited for the i7 as it performs 100-150% better for Audio/Video editing and Applications....

 

[Sparky4688]

[citation][nom]jcknouse[/nom]I didn't see it right off. might have missed it.I saw where u said that you reached limits at 75F/23.9C room temps. However, what was the CPU temp after running full load with your air cooling solution?I am curious, because I think I put too much thermal paste on my AMD Phenom 9850 install cause it runs up around 60C when i go 100% load. I hate going anything over that, so i haven't OCed it.Would love to hear what you guys at Tom's consider "acceptable" full load max temp for the CPU, and how you base that temp level. Manufacturer specs? Personal experience? A little of both?Thanks in advance[/citation]


Guide for thermal paste is to to use a razor's edge at a nearly flat angle to very thinly, evenly, and smoothly cover the entire CPU heat sink. Too much paste can have an adverse effect as you noted.

 

[MJRSnyder]

Drop one of the hard drives and bluray drive and get 2 4870x2s and it would have destroyed

 

[bourgeoisdude]

TW2007 said: "Total price is off. Should be something like 2,447 and not 2,247"

No, it's correct. They specifically mentioned that the price of the components went down nearly 10% since they purchased the system.

Ph0X said: "There's 3SLI GTX260, 3 x 1TB, Bluray WRITER!, but it doesn't even have 6gb ram!!?"

6GB of RAM is unusable in a 32-bit operating system, and it is not a Blu-Ray writer, it's a READER with DVD/CD writing capabilities. Your comment was probably voted down for these reasons.

dieseldre2k wrote: "appreciate the article but i would drop the third HD (keep the other 2 in RAID) and use the extra money to get 6 gigs of ram instead."

Again, 6 Gigs of RAM would have been a complete waste of money in a 32-bit build. I for one am glad they are finally benching a RAID 5 in here because I have been weighing getting a RAID 5 build for some time but have been dissuaded because of the lack of testing/interest by other gamers. I don't want to pay $2500 for a system that dies withen weeks because I just happened to be in that 3% that get a hard drive that fails withen the first year. Honestly, I'll bet that RAID 0 vs. RAID 5 performance isn't a big deal and would really like to see a RAID 0 in the next build to compare this one with.

 

[cah027]

Oh Crap ! I just ordered the UD5 MB and one 260/216 with the intension of gradually adding additional 260's over time. Looks like I am limited to 2way SLI.. oh well.. Maybe I will just step up to a x2 card.... I mostly wanted the i7 for encoding and light gaming so I should be ok.. Glad to see the encoding benches look so good !

 

[gwellin]

[citation][nom]thomasxstewart[/nom]fINAL lASLTY, yOU mENTION oCTOBERS 64 BIT TEST & recent PREVIOUS LOW COST & MID TESTS WHERE 32 BIT uLTIMATE, YET THIS TEST HAS NO MENTION OF O/S AT ALL. ITS XP RIGHT, TOM FOOLERY AGAIN, COMPARING ENTIRELY DIFFERNT SYSTEMS. BEST ULTIMATE WILL SCORE IS 13,000 VANTAGE HERE, YET ULTIMATE 64 HAS PRODUCED 38,000 3D VANTAGE BY REPUTABLE WEBSITE. SO GO FIGURE, BEFORE YOU WASTE $3,000.00SignedHYSICIAN THOMAS STEWART von DRASHEK M.D.[/citation]

Why do people type this crap. Do you not actually read what you type when you type it. "i tHINK tHIS iS rEALLY cOOL". WTF really. Do us a huge favor and don't type like a retard, infact just don't post anymore.

 

[inveriti]

It seems like Tom's doesn't read their own reviews... In their own GPU chart, they never recommend a 3x SLi system, and not without reason. The last card only gives a third of its on-paper output. Also, why the hell get 3 TB of storage? Do you plan on pirating that many DVD's or burning that much money on them? And only 3 GB of RAM? No, sorry, you're dropping the ball on this one. NO "enthusiast" would sacrifice a solid 6 GB of good RAM in Vista for a uselss hard drive and ostentatious third video card.

Follow your own recommendations, guys. Get an ATI 4870 x2, put the money into better RAM and cooling, then use what's left to get a pair of Raptor hard drives as workhorses and a 1 or 1.5 TB hard drive for media storage if you want to use all your $2500.

 

[Guest]

why not spend the extra $$$ on more RAM on 64 bit Vista?

 

[Atticum]

For $2500 I would think sticking a SSD drive in there would be something people would want, no? And I agree with the other comments regarding 64bit vista and RAM.

Aside from that, I think the system builder articles should really include something about Monitor/OS/input devices, even if its just in the introduction. The $2500 build might not need it b/c its geared for more advanced users, but the "budget" builds could mislead people into thinking their system is going to be $300 cheaper than it will be.

 

[jcknouse]

[citation][nom]Sparky4688[/nom]Guide for thermal paste is to to use a razor's edge at a nearly flat angle to very thinly, evenly, and smoothly cover the entire CPU heat sink. Too much paste can have an adverse effect as you noted.[/citation]

that was probably my problem. i used a business card. lol

i was in a hurry to get it put together.

i'll re-paste the CPU tomorrow morning. Lucky I keep cleaner and spare paste on hand at all times :-D

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]MJRSnyder[/nom]Drop one of the hard drives and bluray drive and get 2 4870x2s and it would have destroyed[/citation]


You didn't read that the system it was being compared to HAD two 4870 x2's? And it still lost? Because 3x 260 Core 216 beats 2x HD4870 X2.

If you can't read, don't write.

 

[bourgeoisdude]

"For $2500 I would think sticking a SSD drive in there would be something people would want, no?"

I can't speak for others, but I certainly wouldn't want to do that. SSD's are still far too expensive for the capacity, and in the end they aren't the best bang-for-buck.

"And I agree with the other comments regarding 64bit vista and RAM."

Depends. My point earlier is only that 32-bit Vista could not support all 6GB. I do not believe that had this build used the 64-bit Vista and 6GB of RAM that any numbers would have gone up--in fact, the games would most likely have gone down a negligible amount as they are still not fully optimised to run on 64-bit OSes.

As a side note, I do plan on my next build having a 64-bit Windows in it, but mostly because I want to have more experience with it from an IT perspective. I'm hoping to hold out until USB 3.0 mobos and Windows 7 as well, though. Until then, my old Socket 939 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ with 2GB of RAM will have to do.