System Builder Marathon Bonus: Newegg Customer Choice PC

[chesteracorgi]

It is hardly surprising that ultra high resolutions are bottlenecked by available GPU RAM. The question that it leads to is at what point is there a diminishing return on extra video RAM? How about a comparison between 1.25 GB VRAM and 1.5 GB VRAM, and 2.0 GB VRAM? Would dual GTX470s in SLI compete with a GTX 680, or, alternatively, dual GTX 570s? Do todays games give the 7970 an edge over the GTX 680 in surround set ups?

 

[supall]

I liked this article. Its interesting to see how systems with top rated parts are built. You guys should do 2 articles - one for AMD and one for Intel and compare the price/performance chart on those based on consumer ratings. I would think that would be interesting to see.

 

[ojas]

I'd be interested in seeing how efficient the 7850 and 7870 would be in Cross Fire, compared to the previous gen cards. Though to be honest, i'd rather wait for that review once the GTX 660 and 660 Ti come out.

 

[gam0reily]

The only thing that the SBM pc suffered from was a weaker CPU. That would have definitely nailed it!

 

[Pezcore27]

Great write up. I know the GTX680 just barley came out, but it would've been nice to see it in the build for 2 reasons. I know its just a tad bit more expensive but it has more available on board video memory to support the ultra settings in BF3, and with the use of just one card you bring down your power usage and heat production.

You do realize that this was picked by the most popular choices from newegg.com and that the GTX680 was not out nor voted on by newegg customers when the parts were ordered for this build.

Seriously I wish people would actually pay attention and stop suggesting things that were not even out at the time of the build. You will almost guarenteed see a GTX680 in the June SBM because they will be available by then, but they were not available almost 2 months ago when the purchases for these builds were made

STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Onus]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]The only things wrong with Don's PC are its junk case, junk motherboard, locked CPU, too-small SSD, and read-only optical drive. That's over half the system, you'd be better off putting his graphics card into this one.Note: Written from the perspective of a motherboard, case and optical drive reviewer.[/citation]
I agree the case is junk. I'm willing to accept it as an experiment though; the results are in, and it's a FAIL, although it won't put other parts at risk like one of their PSUs would. If selecting this case was to learn a lesson, I'd say it was successful, so you can ease up on him (assuming he NEVER does it again!)
On the mobo, it looks like he just got a bad one. It's a puzzling choice, with SRT-offering Z68 for a similar price, but USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s are both there, so I'm not sure what it's missing that really matters. I wouldn't buy this board, but "junk" is way too harsh.
The locked CPU is purely personal preference. Not everyone overclocks. This PCs performance was not a failure by any stretch. Even though I prefer [mild] OCs myself, if this CPU freed up money for the HD7970, I think it was the right choice.
I'm inclined to agree about the SSD being a little small. I would have preferred to see it used for SRT.
I definitely agree about the optical drive; it was a baffling choice, a capability loss in no way worth the few dollars saved. Perhaps Don's focus was a little too tight, on pure gaming, and he let it work him into a corner. Giving up the $20 cooler would have brought the budget back into line and allowed for write capability on the ODD. Maybe you all should let him (make him?) do the $500 gamer next time.

 

[halls]

Whoa, unexpected treat. Thanks guys! These are the kinds of articles that I keep coming back for. I love your comparisons and testing methods, and I consider your results when I build computers for my friends. I am a reader for life.

 

[Ditt44]

You need to check your math... you only accounted for the price of 1 EVGA card...your actual price is $1937.00

 

[quicksilver98]

[citation][nom]ditt44[/nom]You need to check your math... you only accounted for the price of 1 EVGA card...your actual price is $1937.00[/citation]


^^ Epic Fail... Since when does a 560Ti cost $460?? ::Face Palm:: Some of you people on here really make me wonder about where the human race is going... Idiocracy FTW!

 

[lilcinw]

Great article. I loved seeing how the crowd-sourced PC takes a value win over the hand-picked expert build even if this build did cost more.

This was by far the most interesting SBM addition I have seen.

Maybe next quarter you can do your crowd sourcing in the forums (with appropriate front-page splash for attention). I am sure the debate would be passionate and vicious. Give the forum members a similar budget and see if they can top the Newegg build.

 

[Scorpionking20]

This was unexpected, and pretty cool (save for the MB). Thanks Tom's Hardware!

 

[jabliese]

Going with a single 560ti would have dropped the price of this system down to Don's range, and should have given Don a much needed ego boost. Probably want a small bump to a 2gig 560ti in that case.

 

[SinisterSalad]

A lot of people read the articles, but it seems many fail to comprehend what the articles are about... ugh.

Fun write-up to read.

 

[pauldh]

[citation][nom]jtt283[/nom]The locked CPU is purely personal preference. Not everyone overclocks. This PCs performance was not a failure by any stretch. Even though I prefer [mild] OCs myself, if this CPU freed up money for the HD7970, I think it was the right choice.[/citation]
Agreed. Don even anticipated four (Sandy Bridge) cores @ 3.8 GHz, which IMO is plenty for any gaming rig. I understand how this choice isn't building "to win" the SBM, but otherwise I agree with the choice for it's intended purpose.

We all know the same ole unlocked 2500K is the better (enthusiast's) CPU, but that doesn't necessarily make it the better buy for all people. For gaming, a stock i5-2400 offer's yesterday's (last gens) "high-end" gaming performance.

*edit*- coming from the guy who's been most screwed by the locking of these second-gen processors. 😉

 

[jaquith]

Again, nice build and thanks for the time to put together all of these Builds and run all of those 'fun' to do Benchmarks!

While I 'get' Top Rated the fundamental Problem is skewing the rating by price, shelf age, etc of the components. Meaning more (stars) isn't necessary or even a real factor of what's good. More often than not, the ratings means the component(s) are cheap but work per class.

Example, GTX 560 Ti comes in two primary flavors, 448 CUDA Cores which is capable of >2-WAY SLI vs 384 CUDA Cores. Another example in GPU's offering an improved performance is vRAM 1.0GB vs 2GB (for the most part), or OC'ing, or cooling, etc. Since folks shop price over actually knowing their components all that data gets progressively meaningless.

BTW - the EVGA is a nice quasi reference GTX 560 Ti with a lifetime warranty. Selection of rating further depends upon other 'filtering' factors at NewEgg.

In contrast, the highest performers often require a little more finesse on the part of the builder to obtain the potential of the component or the component is more expensive per 'class' and isn't purchased as frequently, but clearly out performs per 'class' component.

Proper selection is a complex process, and ratings and feedback can be an asset or a liability, so you must further research the products.

-My two cents.

 

[pauldh]

It might have also been interesting to compared only #1 picks rather than #1 and #2 combined. A pair of GTX 550's, 64 GB SSD and only 4GB of RAM? Probably only the games would suffer.

Interesting yes, but given one chance, I think you made all the right second-choice tweaks to today's rig. The average buyer way-underspends on the GPU compared to what our expectations require.

I have two of those 64GB SSD (at home), one yet unused. I'll put it to good use (once time allows), but it is not enough to stick in my next "main" gaming build. I at least want one big enough to house my Steam program apps folder. I like your 128GB upgrade. And at current prices, IMO why settle for 4GB if the budget allows an 8GB RAM kit. (Anyway, just my $0.02)

 

[sp0nger]

Awsome Build!

 

[Tab54o]

This is basically what i do when I build my own systems. I only buy stuff with 5 star ratings. Keeps me from having to return stuff through shipping.

 

[Tab54o]

I don't understand how the Intel DZ68BC fits into this system. Its a rippoff and it doesn't have the best ratings.

 

[Pezcore27]

I don't understand how the Intel DZ68BC fits into this system. Its a rippoff and it doesn't have the best ratings.

Remember the items in the builds were purchased almost 2 months ago now. At that time, it did have the best rating for the LGA 1155 Motherboards.

 

[Marcus52]

[citation][nom]a4mula[/nom]Interesting, still not surprising given recent results in group dynamic studies. Groups will often make better choices than individuals, that's not to say a group can replace or perform on par with an expert individual, just better than the average.[/citation]

While groups may overall make better choices, I frankly don't think it's true enough to rely on. There are too many "common knowledge" beliefs that have no basis in fact.

I do think the kind of person that participates in PC building tends to be a bit better informed (about PC fundamentals), so using their overall judgments as a guide is probably a good thing, as long as you realize the limitations. It's no surprise to me that this build performed well. It's also no surprise that it out-performed the SBM build overall, since that build wasn't necessarily built for the absolute best performance it could deliver, but also had in mind exploring different options.

😉

 

[bison88]

[citation][nom]Tab54o[/nom]I don't understand how the Intel DZ68BC fits into this system. Its a rippoff and it doesn't have the best ratings.[/citation]


I was thinking the same myself. Don't see why anyone needs to spend upwards of $200 for a good MOBO. Never spent more than $150 and have always got more features than I bargained for, you just have to shop around, know what you want, and be patient. Would not buy that board personally, but overall not a bad build when you consider you're getting the latest generation of most products.

 

[pauldh]

[citation][nom]Pezcore27[/nom]Remember the items in the builds were purchased almost 2 months ago now. At that time, it did have the best rating for the LGA 1155 Motherboards.[/citation]
This is not the first time I've seen this, but I'll mention it here just to stop the rumor. Somewhere this number grew to 2 months, which is not true. We hadn't even started discussions on the individual builds that early, never mind placed orders.

As of right now (day 5 of the live series) it would be 5-6 weeks at the most since any of these were ordered, and likely less for this final rig. Because of scheduling amongst many involved, it's difficult for Tom's to get under a 4 week turnaround from order purchase to a live series, but we sure don't want to push things out "two months". It takes time, but we try to stay as current as possible.

 

[Crashman]

I agree the case is junk. I'm willing to accept it as an experiment though; the results are in, and it's a FAIL, although it won't put other parts at risk like one of their PSUs would. If selecting this case was to learn a lesson, I'd say it was successful, so you can ease up on him (assuming he NEVER does it again!)
On the mobo, it looks like he just got a bad one. It's a puzzling choice, with SRT-offering Z68 for a similar price, but USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s are both there, so I'm not sure what it's missing that really matters. I wouldn't buy this board, but "junk" is way too harsh.
The locked CPU is purely personal preference. Not everyone overclocks. This PCs performance was not a failure by any stretch. Even though I prefer [mild] OCs myself, if this CPU freed up money for the HD7970, I think it was the right choice.
I'm inclined to agree about the SSD being a little small. I would have preferred to see it used for SRT.
I definitely agree about the optical drive; it was a baffling choice, a capability loss in no way worth the few dollars saved. Perhaps Don's focus was a little too tight, on pure gaming, and he let it work him into a corner. Giving up the $20 cooler would have brought the budget back into line and allowed for write capability on the ODD. Maybe you all should let him (make him?) do the $500 gamer next time.

Let me summarize my "Junk" label for the motherboard: You could get a well rated board with far better features for $5 more in the "non-SE" version of the same model number. The difference between those two is startling, and the $5 difference isn't worth arguing over. And heck, for another $5 on top of that you could get the Z68 version of the better board.

I wouldn't have called that board "Junk" if it were $15 cheaper, because then it would be competing for the ultra-low-cost market.

I don't understand how the Intel DZ68BC fits into this system. Its a rippoff and it doesn't have the best ratings.

Simple, a month ago I clicked "sort by best rated" and that was the number 1 rated board a month ago. These things can change quickly as a part that sticks around longer has a greater chance of having the most votes. I'm almost certain that's how the Antec Nine Hundred ended up on top.

This is not the first time I've seen this, but I'll mention it here just to stop the rumor. Somewhere this number grew to 2 months, which is not true. We hadn't even started discussions on the individual builds that early, never mind placed orders.

As of right now (day 5 of the live series) it would be 5-6 weeks at the most since any of these were ordered, and likely less for this final rig. Because of scheduling amongst many involved, it's difficult for Tom's to get under a 4 week turnaround from order purchase to a live series, but we sure don't want to push things out "two months". It takes time, but we try to stay as current as possible.

Right, the other stuff was ordered 5-6 weeks ago and this one 4 weeks ago.

 

[A Bad Day]

Of course, this concept requires a few concessions. For instance, if the best-rated motherboard is a Socket AM3+ platform and the most popular processor comes from Intel, well, that's a problem.

No it isn't! You can simply use a welding torch and a hammer, like one of my totally bright classmates did with his/her $990 i7 Extreme 3960X and a Socket 423 motherboard!