System Builder Marathon, June 2011: $1000 Enthusiast PC

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What? 6850 x 2 = $340? Um, I could get TWO 6870's for $350~ EASY. Sure, they have mail in rebates, but who cares.


Two 6870's would stomp the 6850's, and you would literally spend the same, if not a measly $10 more.
 
[citation][nom]seller417[/nom]650W is enough power for this rig?[/citation]
Well, looking into my tarot cards and crystal ball, I see It peaks at 400W at full load. So yeah, I think 650W may be a bit of an overkill.
 
[citation][nom]quixilver1[/nom]Why change the cooler from the $200 pc. It is only $5 more and still within the budget.[/citation]
Should read $2000 pc.
 
[citation][nom]whysobluepandabear[/nom]Well, looking into my tarot cards and crystal ball, I see It peaks at 400W at full load. So yeah, I think 650W may be a bit of an overkill.[/citation]
Why would it be overkill? Its the kind of headroom you should have so your not straining the psu. Sure you could get away with less, but for a few dollars more than a 500w unit you can get a 650w. Its perfectly balanced and leaves room for upgrade. Its good to see what 2 6850's can do but i think if I were building this PC i would chose a faster single card and upgrade to dual cards later.
 
[citation][nom]seller417[/nom]650W is enough power for this rig?[/citation]
Yes. There is a misconception that rigs need over-sized power supplies. I have a Core i7 875k and a Radeon HD5850 running on a 400 Watt power-supply. Is it pushing it? Yes, if I clock it to 4.2 GHz and run Furmark and Prime95 none stop...
No if I run Furmark and Prime95 at 3.33 GHz, and definitely no for any realistic workloads.
Why did I get a 400 watt power-supply? Because it is darn silent and was recommended on Silent PC Review for "budget" power-supplies. (Bare in mind that "normal" are gold SeaSonics)
 
[citation][nom]iam2thecrowe[/nom]Why would it be overkill? Its the kind of headroom you should have so your not straining the psu. Sure you could get away with less, but for a few dollars more than a 500w unit you can get a 650w. Its perfectly balanced and leaves room for upgrade. Its good to see what 2 6850's can do but i think if I were building this PC i would chose a faster single card and upgrade to dual cards later.[/citation]

Because he was asking if 650W was enough, when all he had to do was look at the chart and clearly see the 399W max system (CPU+GPU) load.


So essentially, for that system, the 650W is more than enough, and ...effectively an "Overkill".
 
Most power supplies run most efficiently around 50-60% max load. That and they tend to not heat up as much at that load, so what you think is "Overkill" might be more reliable, efficient, and less likely to have failing components due to less heat.
 
[citation][nom]alikum[/nom]Here's another question. Does it have sufficient power connectors for both cards?[/citation]
Yes
2x 6+2 pci-e connectors
Card uses 1x 6pin connector each
 
If you are going to overclock and spend that amount of money for the CPU, it does not make any sense to go cheap on the cooler. Next time show the difference between this cooler and the high end cooler when overclocking. It may only make sense to go cheap when not overclocking.
 
[citation][nom]quixilver1[/nom]Yes2x 6+2 pci-e connectorsCard uses 1x 6pin connector each[/citation]
I was under the impression that each requires at least 2 connectors because my toxic version requires 1x 6+2 and 1x 6
 
[citation][nom]alikum[/nom]I was under the impression that each requires at least 2 connectors because my toxic version requires 1x 6+2 and 1x 6[/citation]
my powercolour 6850 has 1 connector and so do most of them.
"I have a Core i7 875k and a Radeon HD5850 running on a 400 Watt power-supply" - wouldnt try that on a diablotek 400w.
 
[citation][nom]quixilver1[/nom]Why change the cooler from the $200 pc. It is only $5 more and still within the budget.[/citation]

My guess is that the $2k cooler couldn't fit in the $1K cooler case. The Nighthawk is an inch narrower and the Loki is an inch shorter. There are still a few good cases which should work with the 120 mm fan.
 
This build completely killed my video card plans. 2 x Radeon 6850 are $10 cheaper than THE CHEAPEST GTX 570. But what's the better choice!?! Damn you graphics card producers for making this so hard :)
 
Why not get a z68 board instead? There are several at the same price point without sacrificing anything.
 
So many things wrong with this build I don't even know where to start. First, the good: the motherboard was a great choice, as was the CPU.

Now, the bad: for the same price, you can get a Corsair A50 CPU cooler. It has better cooling capacity and is quiet.

Two, the RAM. You can get 4GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM now for $45. Why the hell waste $10 more for crappy RAM?

Three, $180 for a Radeon HD 6850? Not what I call a bargain, especially when you have been able to get them for under $170 for quite a while now. You would've saved $20 in total there. at least.

Four, the HDD. Why did you pick a more expensive, lower performing, and louder Caviar Black 750GB over a Spinpoint F3 1TB? That would've meant savings of $5 or $10.

Five, the Power Supply. You guys chose a Power Supply that uses an outdated design and that can easily be surpassed in overall quality for a lower price. You could've gone for the Antec NEO ECO 620C, a PSU that's better, for $20 less.

Six: the case, I would've gone something a bit better for a $1000 build. You could've gotten something better with the money saved from getting those other better and cheaper components, something like a Zalman Z9 Plus.

With all of this in mind, you guys would've saved a total of around $40 which you could've put into something very substantial, perhaps into upgrading to Radeon HD 6870 CrossFire. That would absolutely crush the old build in gaming, while getting better components overall.
 
LOL at the Caviar Black 750 "being faster". Pro tip: it's not. One, the Spinpoint F3 1TB is faster than the Caviar Black 1TB, which enjoys higher performance than the 750GB due to higher platter density. How in the world does it end up being "faster"? Oh wait, it's PCMark. Now I see why.
 
Of course TH's SBMs always offer us a unique learning experience and I can't thank them enough for that.

However, there are some negative points that require explanation:

- Right out of the gate, their sacrifice of USB 3.0 doesn't make any sense since their total budget is $1000. They could've used the extra $9 to buy the slightly pricier MSI board. Namely, the MSI P67A-G45 which is found for $133.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130582

- Also, why didn't they go with the Samsung Spinpoint that retails for $65?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

- When buying the Spinpoint, they could've bought the Xigmatek Gaia heatsink used in the $2000 build with the pricier MSI board to have better processor temperature and USB 3.0.

- Also, why not try and push the cards further using afterburner and increase the GPU voltage if needed until a REAL ceiling is reached rather than claiming that CCC limits are the true stability limits?

I really like this SBMs case and the fact that they could build a dual graphics system with only $1000.Impressive
 
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