System Builder Marathon, June 2012: $2000 Performance PC

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Awesome Build!!

I have the exact same GTX 680 from ASUS, and I love it. Managed to get 1337Mhz out of the core and 6800 out of the memory. I achieved that with only 115% power limit. If I raise the power limit any higher, i start to loose performance and stability. That is a truly awesome memory oveerclock you got out of it! Congrats!

Very much looking foreward to the value comparison.
Would LOVE to see the 1800$ build win the value comparo!
GO GTX 680!!

My vote goes towards keeping a gaming focus as opposed to a more "all-in-one" type build.
Love the System Builder Articles, love Toms!
 
Unfortunately GTX 680 availability is still pretty spotty.
Had to spend 2 days on newegg, refreshing the page every few mins to get the model i wanted.
However, it IS looking better. They are listing them more often on newegg, and they don't sell-out as quickly as they were a few weeks ago.
Check newegg daily from 5:30pm to 6:30 pm CST, and you should be able to catch one.
The GTX 670's are in stock right now.
Good luck rohitbaran!
 
should we keep the gaming focus or move back towards higher-cost do-it-all machines?
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Personally, I'm happy with the gaming focus. Don't know how others feel but gaming performance is more important than productivity benchmarks for me. I compile a lot of code and do some video encoding but I find gaining fps in games is more important than shaving seconds off my work. Besides, productivity follows gaming performance close enough.

On another note, I dislike value comparisons when things like SSD size and optical drives have made an impact in price. A larger SSD does nothing for a benchmark but is awesome in practice. I'd prefer only comparing the combined price of the gpu, cpu, cooler(s) and mobo in the value chart. That's not a perfect solution but it annoys me that things like high quality PSUs, nice cases, blu-ray burners and large SSDs throw things off so much.
 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Perhaps the award-winning NZXT Phantom 410 next time?http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 203-5.html[/citation]

My only dislike about this build is the case, for a $2000 PC I would prefer a case that was tidier and larger than the Antec Nine Hundred (especially with the layout of the HDD bays). The NZXT Phantom 410 would be much better for that budget.
 
should we keep the gaming focus or move back towards higher-cost do-it-all machines?
Click to expand...
do-it-all if it's greater than $2000, otherwise gaming.

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Perhaps the award-winning NZXT Phantom 410 next time?http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 203-5.html[/citation]
Or maybe the original Phantom? Even the Corsair Graphite 600T is good...
 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Perhaps the award-winning NZXT Phantom 410 next time?http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 203-5.html[/citation]
One of many great choices. If I had a $2000 budget instead of the $900 I'm currently working on, I would go with something a bit nicer like Thermaltake Chaser MK-I, Corsair Obsidian 650, Rosewill THOR V2, or one of many other feature rich cases.
 
Great read! I too enjoy these type of articles. Been a reader at Tom's for many years. Keep it up!!!

Well, I'd be willing to go out on a limb and say most members around here are gamers. I am, but I also do photo/video editing as a hobby on an older, and very sad build. By the way, I expect to be having a funeral for that poor fellow any day, now. :)

Now, about the reviews - I like seeing how much performance you guys get out of those lower-end builds. I'm sure those lower-end configs have helped a lot of folks around here with their build decisions. Especially those of us who can't afford the higher-end stuff. Today, those higher-cost do-it-all machines would/should run games fine, too. Honestly, the way technology has advanced and keeps rapidly advancing, you can build a pretty sweet do-all-machine for less than a grand these days. And one to last a few years at that! So, I like seeing those "budget" builds.

Also, I'd love to see video reviews on these builds. It'd be nice to see some performance video of the set-up and also be able to hear how loud/quite the machine is. You guys think this would be a possibility for future reviews?

Well, it's very late and I'm going my behind to bed! Too tired to proof read! Sue me if ya find any errors! 😛 Good night fellows!
 
[citation][nom]sam_fisher[/nom]My only dislike about this build is the case, for a $2000 PC I would prefer a case that was tidier and larger than the Antec Nine Hundred (especially with the layout of the HDD bays). The NZXT Phantom 410 would be much better for that budget.[/citation]Same price for the case, similar quality so this is really just a matter of preference. I like cases that are small enough to look good on my desk :) I don't like drive doors 🙁 But I'd still pick the 410 for someone else :)
 
Personally if I had that much money to spend on a system I would put a bit more money towards the case, like in the $150-$200 range. I would either want to do a themed case, where everything looks the same, a quiet case (maybe water-cooled), or a clean and elegant look (I think that the later would be best but that's just me).

I do think that it should be more towards gaming as that is what most people here do. However it might not be a bad idea to include a workstation build as well that was business first and gaming second for those people who work at home/small business and don't want to spend extra on a separate gaming machine, or maybe just make it business only, it depends on how you want to take it and what your business is. I don't do this so I don't know what the requirements for the build would be but I am sure that there are plenty of people out there who can provide quality input.
 
[citation][nom]csf60[/nom]"ASRock Z77 Extreme6:LGA 2011, Intel X79 ExpressStock 100 MHz BCLK"(Typo in test hardware configurations)[/citation]Fixed, thanks! (table copy/edit error, my greatest downfall)[citation][nom]simonmodule[/nom]Toms Hardware, you have writen i7-3770k(sandy bridge), where it actually is ivy bridge[/citation]I don't know what happened there, (sleep editing Chris?) but it's now fixed!
 
The power draw of these new CPU/GPUs is really amazing. My old setup with a Q8300 and GTX 280 both stock would draw 100W on active idle, and over 250W during gaming. My upgraded setup with a i5-3570k and 7770 (similar performance to the 280) draws just 44W during idle! Its incredible, almost laptop-like power draw, but with a heck of a lot more horsepower. During a gaming load I do around 130W, which is also amazing.

I am planning on returning my 7770 though for something more powerful like a GTX 660 when it comes out. I have a feeling it will be very efficient, going by the 670/680
 
gaming focus is nice, but there is such a thing as too much gaming focus. Next to highest end card in the market, is a bit too much even for the 2000$ system, especially when most purchased monitors are still no higher in resolution than 1080p. Concessions on other pieces of equipment did not justify this GTX680, even for a high end gamer. That gamer would probably upgrade in a year and a half to something much better, so the 680 would have made sense for a 3000$ if you had such budget, but not when other concessions were painful.

Just my personal 2c
 
Nice math. $359 to spare? I think you meant $259. Unless, of course, you were considering a $2100 build. Otherwise, a well-worded article and a joy to read.
 
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