System Builder Marathon, Dec. 2011: System Value Compared

[nerrawg]

This has to be one of the best system builders yet. While holding back the urge you guys must have had to shower the description of the $1200 build with a tirade of expletives worthy of its dire performance, you have managed to clearly warn every sensible enthusiast off of buying the new AMD bulldozer architecture - Well done!

I have to admit I am rather shocked at Bulldozers disparaging performance, and principally for one reason:
In late 2009 I purchased an AMD phenom X2 550BE for £60 ($95). Unlocked and overclocked it has run as a quad core @3.8 Ghz since then. 3 years on AMD is selling a $160 piece of trash with the same (or sometimes less) performance! Un-Fracking-Believable! I really hope Rory Read's sitting on a Golden Goose (and not another Spruce Goose) because I really can't see where they are going to go from here.

 

[paradoxeternal]

[citation][nom]kinggraves[/nom]AMD already said that Bulldozer isn't going to be good at gaming and low thread applications. You might as well complain about how your toaster doesn't make good spaghetti. It should be good for the server type applications it's designed for, especially after OS that are better able to handle multi threading comes out. AMD left the gaming enthusiasts to Intel, they didn't screw it up, they released exactly what they wanted to. Stick with Intel for decent gaming performance.Still, the $1200 build was bad all around, not just the CPU. The SSD was lousy, memory bandwidth is clearly gimped, GPU power far outpaced CPU power. Remove the second GPU and spend the money on an 8150 and a better SSD/motherboard. You still wouldn't have great graphics processing but it'd be better than this mess.What I'd like to see is a $600 build featuring a Llano proc and a hybrid Xfire compatible GPU. I think this combo could prove better than anything a low end BD would do.[/citation]

uh... when AMD launched the FX lineup they had a video comparing their BD chips to core i7's, with FPS results in games like DIRT 3 and Crysis 2. most of the FPS were comparing overclocked BD's to stock speed i7's, it turns out, but they still definitely marketed this to the gaming crowd. my phenom ii x6 performs just as well if not better than an FX 8150.

 

[techngro]

[citation][nom]doron[/nom]I hope they'll revise this build with a 2500k as well as an overclocked phenom II x6 for a solid comparison, especially gaming wise.[/citation]

Sorry, I accidentally voted you down when I wanted to quote you. Anyway, I am currently building a new budget gaming build and I avoided BD like the plague. I ended up getting a 960T Zosma. It's a black edition, so I hope it will do the job well with a nice overclock.

 

[64bitguy]

If I were going to spend $650.00 on an "entry" PC with no screen, I think I'd rather spend $699.00 on a COMPLETE i7 system with 7200RPM Drive, 4Gig (8 Gig for another $40.00; but you'll have two each 2 Gig DIMMS to sell), Windows 7 Pro, Blu-Ray/DVD Burner drive, 1GB DDR5 Video, USB 3.0 and HDMI.... Isn't this called a no brainer?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1421200&CatId=4939

 

[pauldh]

[citation][nom]64bitguy[/nom]If I were going to spend $650.00 on an "entry" PC with no screen, I think I'd rather spend $699.00 on a COMPLETE i7 system with 7200RPM Drive, 4Gig (8 Gig for another $40.00; but you'll have two each 2 Gig DIMMS to sell), Windows 7 Pro, Blu-Ray/DVD Burner drive, 1GB DDR5 Video, USB 3.0 and HDMI.... Isn't this called a no brainer?http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] CatId=4939[/citation]
I take it you are not much of a gamer? Two very different purposes. The no brainer for gaming would be to build the $600 desktop that handled Crysis at Very High details and maxed out Just Cause 2 at 1920x1080. The no brainer for a cheap notebook with some gaming abilities would be to 1) find a notebook with the features you want, and 2) discrete graphics capable of delivering the gaming level you desire.

I will say... great specs for a $700 notebook with I7M, bluray, and discrete graphics. But, you'd have to severly lower details and resolution on Mobility 6490 to play the demanding crop of PC games, or spend a ton more (in mobile form) to reach the gaming abilities of this $600 desktop. Nice for casual gaming and movies on the go, but I'd have to already own a more capable desktop (like you find in the SBMs) to first fill my gaming needs.

edit: Here's a mobile gamer that could replace a desktop for a large number of folks. It's over $2000, but can almost match the gaming abilities of the $600 SBM PC. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/eurocom-racer-core-i7-2960xm-radeon-hd-6990m,3105.html

 

[userngalan]

it doesn't include monitor

 

[jediron]

The 1200 dollar pc is flawed with a bad ram/mobo issue, causing the bad ram throughput (most likely single channel performance). Therefor, this test and the outcome are meaningless!

Do the test over, properly with a good configured AMD pc and then draw your conclusions. I'll bet it will not be so bad as described now. What a waste of time. Didn't you ever thought "he, that ram throughput is so low, maybe something is wrong" ?