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System Builder Marathon, June 2012: $1000 Enthusiast PC

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Why go P67 instead of H77?
And what's with the bland, junk case choices on these builds?

A $1K build I typically recommend looks like this:

- Corsair Carbide 400R: $99
- Seasonic M12 II 620W: $89
- Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H: $119
- Intel Core i5-3450: $199
- Stock fan
- 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport: $46
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB: $99
- Lite On DVD Burner: $17
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7870: $359

Total: ~$1027
 
Today, you can get an 2500k + z68 + 670 build at 1000k. IMO there is no real point in going past this mark. The more you spend after this point the less you get performance wise.

As for this build, it works but it should not be a blue print for a build today. I would argue that due the the 670 existence at 400 it would be a good idea to skip the SSD in a 1k build. That can be added later and the cost on them keeps going down. Not only that but you end up getting more space for the money the longer you wait to buy an SSD.

Example build (gaming rig)

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM

NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black “Aluminum Brush / Plastic” ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 Hard Drive

EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670

XIGMATEK LOKI SD963 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler

CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA

Subtotal: $1,006.91 (under 1k with MIR and codes)
 
[citation][nom]loops[/nom]Today, you can get an 2500k + z68 + 670 build at 1000k. IMO there is no real point in going past this mark. The more you spend after this point the less you get performance wise. As for this build, it works but it should not be a blue print for a build today. I would argue that due the the 670 existence at 400 it would be a good idea to skip the SSD in a 1k build. That can be added later and the cost on them keeps going down. Not only that but you end up getting more space for the money the longer you wait to buy an SSD. Example build (gaming rig)LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black “Aluminum Brush / Plastic” ATX Mid Tower Computer CaseWestern Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 Hard Drive EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 XIGMATEK LOKI SD963 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA Subtotal: $1,006.91 (under 1k with MIR and codes)[/citation]
For 1000k, you could probably get a supercomputer lol.
 
At least this build maintains the gaming focus that was present with the 2k build, so we can get an apples-to-apples comparison. This build reminds me of production race-ready cars such as the F40 and the original Viper where they stripped out everything that was unnecessary for driving. Stereo? Nope. A/C? That would drag down the engine and increase weight! What are you crazy? Parking sensors and backup monitors? Fuggedaboutit. Thing is, most people prefer normal sports cars over those super-racers...

There's a lot not to like about this build, and as others already said I think that using this SBM as a dual-channel comparison experiment was a bit of a waste for this SBM. Yes, value goes up by 25% over last build, but a lot of posters have made it clear that the "value" isn't actually better, due to absent SSD, poor case, constrained RAM, questionable CPU choice, lack of balance, and other shortcomings.

Since the 670 wasn't available, the use of a 7870 with extra $ put to other components could have done a lot to balance this system - even from a gamer's perspective. Put the A/C back in the car, reinstall the 10-speaker MP3 audio system, and make it an enjoyable ride, not just a fast one.
 
They should have made the $500 build instead of this, waiting for the GTX670 for around 400bucks they could get better parts. And also that case, doenst look apealing at that price, it lacks of many main features that any $1000ish build needs, as space for those GPUs..
 
Like others have mentioned, an overclocked 7950 would have been better than the 7970 for this build at the time... Overclocked, a 7950 can have equal performance to an overclocked 7970 with the same cooler (a lot of 7950s have 7970 coolers). That would have at least left more room for improvements in other hardware, such as 2x4GB of RAM and a Z68 motherboard.

[citation][nom]ddan49[/nom]I personally think they went a little TOO overboard on the GPU. Sure, it'll tear through games... but at 4GB of RAM, a non-overclockable i5 CPU, and a P67 motherboard... well... meh...[/citation]

You can overclock all Sandy and Ivy i5s by about 20% to 35% through Turbo Core and minor BLCK overclocking. It's not as far as the K editions go, but it's something. There's nothing wrong with having a non K edition i5 or i7 if you don't mind not being able to push far past 4GHz most of the time.
 


I don't think that the GTX 670 was out when they made these PCs for this SBM.
 


Buy an i5-3570K and replacing the crap paste with much better paste.

Get a Z77 motherboard.

Get more powerful PSU.

Get three Radeon 7950s and overclock them as far as they can go, within reason.

That would push the price of the build far beyond $1K, but it should still have similar gaming performance per dollar at Eyefinity resolutions where Tahiti can really compete. Just make sure you have the new Catalyst 12.6 driver to avoid CF stability problems with an Eyefinity setup worthy of such performance. Of course, three good GTX 670s could be substituted for the 7950s, but each 7950 comes with $300 in free games and I don't know about any of you guys, but I never have trouble selling the free games and that makes a huge difference in cost. Tahiti also does better relative to GK104 at high resolutions such as Eyefinity 5760x1080 and 5760x1200.

Point is, high expense builds don't need to have poor value.
 
[citation][nom]loops[/nom]Today, you can get an 2500k + z68 + 670 build at 1000k. IMO there is no real point in going past this mark. The more you spend after this point the less you get performance wise. As for this build, it works but it should not be a blue print for a build today. I would argue that due the the 670 existence at 400 it would be a good idea to skip the SSD in a 1k build. That can be added later and the cost on them keeps going down. Not only that but you end up getting more space for the money the longer you wait to buy an SSD. Example build (gaming rig)LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black “Aluminum Brush / Plastic” ATX Mid Tower Computer CaseWestern Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 Hard Drive EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 XIGMATEK LOKI SD963 92mm HYPRO Bearing CPU Cooler CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA Subtotal: $1,006.91 (under 1k with MIR and codes)[/citation]

Xigmatek makes *HORRIBLE* fans, IMO. Not only are they a pain to install but I nearly fried a CPU using one of their fans because I was getting so many CPU temperature read errors and I finally chucked it for a Hyper 212 which is a far better choice.
 
Disappointing choice for the case. I would gladly spend an extra $20 and not see my Graphics card in this awkward position.Also, from my personal experience, the amount of ram is insufficient for multitasking.
 


The 7970 is on-par with the GTX 670 overall in gaming performance... Why delay a SBM for a card that they might not have known about at the time and even if they had, would not only not really beat the 7970, but would mean that the SBM would be late? Sure, the 670 wins slightly in most of the more popular titles that aren't memory bandwidth heavy, but it's usually not a noticeable win. The 670 is the better buy now that it's out due to lower cost and power consumption in most situations while also performing similarly or slightly better in most of the more popular games, but it's performance alone does not come close to meriting a delay of the SBMs. I don't claim to know how much time that Tom's needs for this, but I don't think that delaying it would have been a good idea. For this build, yes, the GTX 670 would have improved many things, but would it have been worth the cost of time? I think not. Lets not pretend that this system isn't still good, even if it's poorly balanced.
 
Yeah, it's nitpicking, but two small typos: Page 1 - "drop out budget" > "drop our budget" and Page 2 - "it supposed SLI and CrossFire" > "it supports SLI and CrossFire"

Aside from that, I have to echo others' thoughts here: this rig really doesn't do it for me. It just feels . . . cobbled together, like someone cleaned out the surplus closet. A 7970 paired with an old multiplier-locked CPU just doesn't feel right. I'm not hating on the 4GB RAM, though, since really utilizing 8GB just doesn't often happen outside professional content creation.

I'd like to see the next SBM dedicated to balanced, stylish rigs. Instead of going for maximum benchmark performance at the cost of everything else, I'd like to see something similar to the extreme build last quarter. I'd like to see a good portion of the budget go to a nice case, a full featured motherboard, and maybe even some peripherals like drive docks and card readers. We already know you can build a machine that smokes the benchmarks. I want to see you build the quietest, classiest, most usable rig you can for the budget.

I realize the $500 build may not be able to follow this formula, but the $1000 and $2000 builds shouldn't have a problem.
 
This is my least favorite build in this series. When I saw that the video card and io shield did not fit I would have simply returned this case or set it aside for some junk parts and got a new case. I understand the rules of these build articles, but there should be an exception made when something is defective or just terribly low quality. This case is not suitable for this build and should not have been used.
 
This case is not suitable for this build and should not have been used.
Click to expand...
What @bucknutty said. Does the winner of this system inherit a case that won't properly fit the EMI-shielding I/O plate? Unlike many of us, TH might have the resources to buy an extra case or other unworkable part when the original choice doesn't work for the intended system. At a minimum, you could substitute a fugly "backup plan" case that while not being anyone's choice, will at least fit the hardware properly. I'm sure a note such as "The case didn't work because of X, Y and Z, so we had to go with Plan B" would be acceptable to most readers. We can't do that as easily, but we'd learn from your mistakes and still see a working system within your publishing timeframes. Substitutable components and valid reasons for doing so would include cases (broken or non-fitting), CPU coolers (broken or non-fitting), PSUs (broken), DVD drives (broken, doesn't fit), RAM (broken; if causes CPU cooler not to fit, change the cooler to stock or RAM to base spec as a penalty), HDDs/SSDs (broken: try to replace with comparable spec), MB (broken: try to replace with comparable spec), CPU (broken: try to replace with comparable spec). I know replacement parts aren't always available within the provided time window, but I imagine that in most cases they are - the single-channel memory MB from last quarter's SBM notwithstanding.
 
[citation][nom]Article[/nom]The bundled cooler Intel pairs with its Core i5-2400 isn’t as efficient as the previous system's Arctic Cooling Hyper TX2. However, our thermal measurements are still acceptable, and we don’t think anything beefier is necessary, particularly when you take into account this CPU's meager overclocking headroom.[/citation]

You mean Cooler Master Hyper TX 3
 
Love Gigabyte Motherboard they have been rock solid, with very few RMAs. But I don't see why you used a P67 version which is practically EOL. When you could have used a new Intel chip-set like the H77 or such the ASRock Z77 Pro4 is about the same cost. Also why not use an i5-3450 Ivy bridge CPU instead of reusing the i5-2400. I know we all would have liked to see the GTX670 in this build I think it would have been better to wait to do this right with that card then 75% redo of a previous build. I know the excuse "we got the parts back in the day" but still this was very disappointing. It could have been so much more interesting.
 
I actually liked the possibilities this case could have provided. Ascetically the case is better than some of the sci-fi reject cases out there. Had the I/o panned fit and the GPU not had to have been tweaked and manipulated to fit, it had potential.

Will the winner be able to ask about a substitute case as the build should not be sent to the winner with the panned not fitting and the video card having to be tweaked to fit.
 
[citation][nom]littleleo[/nom]Love Gigabyte Motherboard they have been rock solid, with very few RMAs. But I don't see why you used a P67 version which is practically EOL. When you could have used a new Intel chip-set like the H77 or such the ASRock Z77 Pro4 is about the same cost. Also why not use an i5-3450 Ivy bridge CPU instead of reusing the i5-2400. I know we all would have liked to see the GTX670 in this build I think it would have been better to wait to do this right with that card then 75% redo of a previous build. I know the excuse "we got the parts back in the day" but still this was very disappointing. It could have been so much more interesting.[/citation]

That would have been a long delay on this SBM... I'd rather have Tom's not wait. Had Tom's used a 7950 instead of the 7970 (would change stock performance, but overclocking performance would be almost identical if if was a 7950 with the same cooler and PCB), the questionable parts would have had a greater portion of the $1K budget without sacrificing performance nor delaying the SBM. The 7970 was simply a poor choice at this budget and this was reflected in the rest of the build.
 
A great system build in of itself, however I fail to understand the point of even comparing it to the last system, it is for all intents and purposes the same. Good testing and analysis as always by TOMs, but it fails to address some of the most important questions in the mid-price range for a gaming system- which I will list here:
1. Is it worth the extra for the 2500K if you overclock? Also is it worth it if you want to upgrade to xfire/sli?
2. NVidea or AMD at this price point (ok you couldn't get the 670 no p - but I still want to know in future)
3. 7850 Xfire or 7970?
4. Is it worth saving some dosh and getting the 7950 if you OC - will it still play ever game smooth at 1080p or even at 1600p?
These are important questions for those of us buying mid-range pcs now
 
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