System Builder Marathon, August 2012: Alternative $2000 Gaming PC

[sherlockwing]

5760X1080 is way overkill, but this build is definately what I am aiming for to support a 120Hz monitor.

 

[sherlockwing]

That being said, the Mobo is way over kill, I'd rather spend $134.99 on a ASrock Extreme 4 and build this system in a more spacious full tower(Thor V2 for example).

People who claimed "money were wasted on SLI" is blind to not see money is wasted on the pointless Mobo and overshooting the necessary PSU by 200W(Seasonic 850W).

 

[zooted]

[citation][nom]menigmand[/nom]Since you're using 2 instead of 3 graphics cards, how do you find the microstutter?(you earlier ran another story about how microstutter was caused by having 2 GPU's in SLI, and how it was solved by adding a third card...)[/citation]
That story said that microstutter was pretty much only apparent on lower end cards (6850/gtx460 and below.) So I don't think it should be much of an issue.

 

[jaquith]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Actually, this one is the fake, as in the experimental PC designed specifically for gaming. The other one was picked by reader recommendations, and that's why it made it into the "main event".That is to say, as much as this one costs, it's still pretty much worthless to the majority of high-end users. Basically it's a $1000 PC with a bunch of extras.To put it another way, money "wasted" on the other one went towards making it more flexible and practical. Money "wasted" on this one went towards supporting future upgrades to its SLI array. It's nothing more than an expensive toy.[/citation]
WOW, I am surprised you actually admitted what I was thinking, your conclusion is right. Respect is earned - You've got balls!

Futuremark's Hall of Fame says it all -> http://www.3dmark.com/hall-of-fame/

Regarding the build, a couple changes that will still keep you within budget:
1. HDD - the Samsung is discontinued and 500GB is too small. So for 1TB/7.2K either the Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ or Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003.
2. RAM - the Ares have a horrible VCCIO/VCCSA profile on most from their cheap IC's sets. So either the Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (8-8-8-24) Model 997043 or Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866 (9-10-9-27) Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9

 

[spookyman]

For about $200-250, you could get one GTX 690 that would be faster then the 2 GTX 670's. I would be half tempted to use 2 7970's for this build but over all its a good build.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

personally, I like this build as a solid 3-screen gamer (but notice th single 670 + 3960 manages a playable 30fps.

My view given the complaints about 1280x1024 being cpu bound, why not drop this as a tested resolution?

I'd suggest 1920x1080 being the default tested resolution of all machines. most people aren't buying anything lower resolution except maybe $90 1600x900 screens, leaving the 1680x1050 as a reasonable low-end test.

 

[ojas]

Man i feel like posting a few builds...when's BestConfigs happening?

 

[dalmvern]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt a 1050W power supply overkill for SLi 670s? I would think that 850W should be more than enough with plenty of headroom. Maybe they were just trying to get a good quality gold PSU or something...

 

[cknobman]

Cool build.

Personally I would have gone with Crossfire 7950's which would have been $100+ cheaper and used that extra money to get the 3770k.

Crossfire tends to scale a little bit better(for the most part) than SLI anyways.

 

[Uni-duni-te]

On paper I actually liked the build, too bad you didn't have luck with the processor/mobo this time, getting a smaller OC. I just wish you gave the Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 a chance on one of your builds, I think its the best cooler under $50 (and costs only $39!), comparable to the $80 range coolers in performance and a much lower price tag.

 

[firebird]

Great series of articles and I really liked the alternative build's comparison. Tom's always saves me so much time by testing the builds I was wondering about.

With my current setup I can do some video editing and still play Skyrim @1920x1200 with over 60 FPS 'cause of CPU muscle and the SpursEngine card. I definitely see a reason to spend more $ on CPU muscle to retain a useful "enthusiast" PC. A motherboard that would allow QuickSync use with discrete GPU (single) would be fantastic for this level of build.

 

[JohnMD1022]

Crappy photos.

Anyone ever hear of Adobe Elements?

Look at the Antec case photo and compare it to this:

http://www.picpaste.com/antec_eleven-hundred_front-RZe4YIrl.jpg

That's the result of 20 seconds fiddling with Brightness/Contrast in Elements 2.0.

 

[Lyrick]

With AMD's new focus on Sleeping Dogs instead of Dirt 3, is there any chance that future benches will use that title instead of Dirt 3?

 

[jaquith]

[citation][nom]dalmvern[/nom]Correct me if I am wrong, but isnt a 1050W power supply overkill for SLi 670s? I would think that 850W should be more than enough with plenty of headroom. Maybe they were just trying to get a good quality gold PSU or something...[/citation]
Let's compare, the 1050W is a no brainer and will allow for expansion. SeaSonic are excellent PSU's and the cost difference is $10 for 200W which leaves you some head room for water cooling, a 3rd GPU, etc. You could barely get by with 750W~800W, but when you factor in CPU & GPU(s) OC'ing I prefer the headroom and expansion vs tossing a PSU due to lack of foresight.
$189.99 SeaSonic X Series X-850 Gold Certified 850W
$199.99 SeaSonic Platinum-860 Platinum Certified 860W
$199.99 SeaSonic X-SERIES X-1050 Gold Certified 1050W

 

[buzznut]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Actually, this one is the fake, as in the experimental PC designed specifically for gaming. The other one was picked by reader recommendations, and that's why it made it into the "main event".That is to say, as much as this one costs, it's still pretty much worthless to the majority of high-end users. Basically it's a $1000 PC with a bunch of extras.To put it another way, money "wasted" on the other one went towards making it more flexible and practical. Money "wasted" on this one went towards supporting future upgrades to its SLI array. It's nothing more than an expensive toy.[/citation]
I disagree, I prefer this build over the other one. How much difference are you gonna see? 2.2%???

 

[Pedrovsky]

very good computer (i'd save the de money from the 256gb ssd, get a 128gb),i'd get a better cooler and better ram but this one is very good and makes sense...

Good job

 

[hargert]

Great article and build, I am glad to see some 5760x1080 performace numbers. I am one of those freaks that has a 3 monitor setup and I will be building a new system soon. It will be nice to be able to play games with all 3 monitors. I would take this build over the earlier one any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

[demigodz]

I like the build very much. Would have been interesting to see how triple 7950 would have gone. Maybe better value for performance with the new boost feature.

 

[shadyinc]

It still seems ODD to see GTX670 being used instead of 7970.

 

[TeraMedia]

It seems about $140 was spent to get a mobo that supports 4 GPU slots, in the name of future expansion. The EVGA 04G-P4-2690-KR is currently available on NewEgg for 999 (don't know what the price was at purchase time). If you could save that $140 with a cheaper 2-slot (x8/x8? Or with a PCIe splitter?) 1155 mobo, and save an additional $50 *somewhere* (case? PSU?) you could try out an even faster (presumably) GPU configuration, still be under budget, and still have that expansion room you want. That would have been an even bigger surprise.

As is, I hope the winner of this rig adds a third card, 3 x 3D displays and tries out 3D surround gaming. Just to say it was done, if nothing else.

That said, I don't know if a 690 can be SLI'd with something like a 680 to get Tri-SLI, or if you'd need to fork out for another 690 (yikes).

 

[tmk221]

in ''Test Hardware Configurations'' section you did not mentioned that there are 2 gtx670 in SLI

 

[pacioli]

I knew it! This is the machine I've been waiting to see!

 

[blazorthon]

[citation][nom]TeraMedia[/nom]It seems about $140 was spent to get a mobo that supports 4 GPU slots, in the name of future expansion. The EVGA 04G-P4-2690-KR is currently available on NewEgg for 999 (don't know what the price was at purchase time). If you could save that $140 with a cheaper 2-slot (x8/x8? Or with a PCIe splitter?) 1155 mobo, and save an additional $50 *somewhere* (case? PSU?) you could try out an even faster (presumably) GPU configuration, still be under budget, and still have that expansion room you want. That would have been an even bigger surprise.As is, I hope the winner of this rig adds a third card, 3 x 3D displays and tries out 3D surround gaming. Just to say it was done, if nothing else.That said, I don't know if a 690 can be SLI'd with something like a 680 to get Tri-SLI, or if you'd need to fork out for another 690 (yikes).[/citation]

I don't think that a 690 can do SLI with a 680 like a 6970 can with a 6990 and the 7970 would with the 7990 (if it ever gets released) and the 7970X2 (if it ever gets released).

 

[manicmike]

I always enjoy the SBMs (unlike some ppl who only seem to enjoy the chance at an "I could do better"), I am wondering though, if the winner of this rig also gets the 3 screen set up?

Also, because some ppl can't read an article before they start asking stupid questions (your teacher in grade school lied to you, get over it) the 1050W PSU is to support expansion, as well as the mobo with more PCIe slots than the build [currently] has cards.

 

[blazorthon]

I disagree, I prefer this build over the other one. How much difference are you gonna see? 2.2%???

The other build would have nearly twice as much highly threaded CPU performance and that's fairly similar to the graphics performance advantage that this build has. Prefer whichever build that you want, but Crashman is correct. This build is a high-end toy in comparison to the other build, granted that other build would have been even more flexible given a Radeon 7970 instead of a GTX 670.