System Builder Marathon, Q1 2013: $1000 Performance PC

[summersideguy]

[citation][nom]summersideguy[/nom]How about the following setup:Case Cougar Volant $42 - Direct Canada - Usb 3.0 Hot Swap Dock, All black toolessCPU I5 3470 $185 - Not interested in overclocking, at these speeds GPU is where its at for gamingHD 7770 Crossfire $230 - Dirt Cheap and two in crossfire are equivalent in most cases to a 7950BIOSTAR TZ77XE4 $141 - Comes with 3 PCI-E, on board power,reset. and at time of writing this free 8GM stick of Cosair Vengence MemoryCorsair Vengence $49 - 8GB Stick - DDR3 1600 bringing system memory to 16GBHydro H60 new version $60 - Direct Canada, for this price why notSamsung 840 120GB $99 - Newegg Free shipping boot driveSeagate Barracuda 1TB $70 - Free shipping Direct Canada 64MB Cache - storageOptical Drive LG GH24NS95 24X DVD writer - $14PSU - Apevia 700W -------------------------------All in $939Cdn, before tax's and most items are free shipping.I get the performance of an SSD and the convenience of 1TB of storage. Graphics performance should be in par if not surpassing the 7870. Double the ram and an awesome cooler.This is most likely what I would setup if I was restricted to a $1000 budget. Things I would stick with regardless of budget just to keep costs under control are the dual 7770's and the motherboard with the free memory combo.[/citation]

 

[Fulgurant]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qD6x
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qD6x/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qD6x/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: VisionTek Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($195.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite Power 460W ATX12V Power Supply ($36.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $860.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-01 02:11 EST-0500)

Is this a joke? Less storage, much less graphics' horsepower, and you think you've improved on the SBM build? Even the low price you've posted is misleading: when you restrict pcpartspicker to Newegg prices, you end up with a $952 total. In benchmarks, this rig will scarcely be better than the $600 SBM entry for this quarter. Grats.

Seriously, give me $1000.00 and I will make you *** your knickers. Same CPU, same GPU, SSD plus 1TB storage and when you pop the case you might actually be impressed as opposed to wondering which 7th graded slapped that rig together in 45 minutes. I dont mean to be dis respectful but honestly with the budget and means you guys have honestly 80% of your SBM builds seriously disappoint me.

You plan to shoehorn a 1TB HDD into the SBM configuration using Newegg prices? Feel free to post the build, but color me skeptical in the meanwhile. The only way I can see to fit an HDD into the mix is to reduce the size of the SSD -- which would be a valid choice, but it won't be an unambiguous and significant improvement.

I'm sure you could build a better system if someone handed you $1,000 and you were free to use any vendor and any short-term deal available -- but that's not the deal, here.

 

[joshua25ss]

Agreed the ssd is a little overboard here. If this build would have stuck with the hdd you could have gotten 7970 Black in there for $1020. Keep the case and your back another $10. $10 bones over budged for a total game performance win, likely beating the $2000 q4 machine. I know this isn't only a gaming comparison but I'll trade the ssd for the 7970 any day.

 

[loops]

[citation][nom]loops[/nom]I like the build but that SSD is not the best place to spend the cash. I see SSD as add ons. Why the DVD drive? Can't we use a thumb drive by now? With that said, I'd love to see more sli/CF ideas like this one below:
1 NZXT Source 210 S210-002 White w/Black Front Trim “Aluminum Brush / Plastic” ATX Mid Tower Computer CaseItem #: N82E16811146076Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $39.991 Western Digital WD Black WD5003AZEX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare DriveItem #: N82E16822236345Return Policy: Standard Return Policy-$30.00 Instant $99.99$69.991 Rosewill RHTS-12006 Canal High Fidelity Passive Noise Isolating Rosewood Ear buds-RetailsItem #: N82E16826193077Return Policy: Standard Return Policy-$10.50 Instant-$9.49 Saving $19.99$0.002 HIS IceQ H787Q2G2M Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video CardItem #: N82E16814161404Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy-$10.00 Instant$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card $499.98$479.98($239.99 each)2 AMD Gift coupon: Bioshock Inf. + Tomb RaiderItem #: N82E16800995146Return Policy: Standard Return Policy-$149.99 Saving $299.98$0.00($0.00 each)1 SILVERSTONE Strider Essential series ST60F-ES 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC ...Item #: N82E16817256071Return Policy: Standard Return Policy-$10.00 Instant$10.00 Mail-in Rebate $74.99$64.991 Kingston HyperX Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX16C9B1BK2/8Item #: N82E16820104387Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy $42.991 ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel MotherboardItem #: N82E16813157293Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy-$10.00 Instant $134.99$124.991 Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350PItem #: N82E16819116782Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy $179.99Subtotal: $1,002.92[/citation]


I have to say I am a bit surprised that an i5 and 7870 in CF for 1k is getting such a meh response. All the same....I'd put money that the 7870 in CF with an i5 vs i5, 7930, and a SSD.

 

[mikenygmail]

For $1,000 you could easily include crossfire'd AMD 7870 LE's (same hierarchy position and similar power as 7950) with some other sensible changes.

 

[Fulgurant]

I have to say I am a bit surprised that an i5 and 7870 in CF for 1k is getting such a meh response. All the same....I'd put money that the 7870 in CF with an i5 vs i5, 7930, and a SSD.

You're probably getting a meh response because of your extravagant use of mail-in rebates, which aren't available to SBM participants, and because you failed to list the vendor(s) from which you would order those parts.

By my count, your proposed rig weighs in at $1,092 without the various rebates you cited.

And then there's the fact that your CPU is inferior to the SBM's, which would lower your system's performance in the non-gaming benchmarks. Like 'em or not, those general-performance benchmarks are a part of the process.

Your build would, in short, lose badly to all of the SBM builds in the value comparison. You're overbudget, and Your CPU is underpowered. Your build would perform much better than the SBM entries in certain games -- but no one asked you if you could come up with an ~$1,100 build that wins 1/3rd of the competition against systems costing a max of $1,000.

By the way, your listing of headphones that are free after mail-in rebate was a nice touch -- the kind of touch that implies you're showing off. Too bad you didn't pay more attention to the conditions of the SBM before you showed us your leet skills.

 

[SebDays]

Is this a joke? Less storage, much less graphics' horsepower, and you think you've improved on the SBM build? Even the low price you've posted is misleading: when you restrict pcpartspicker to Newegg prices, you end up with a $952 total. In benchmarks, this rig will scarcely be better than the $600 SBM entry for this quarter. Grats.


You plan to shoehorn a 1TB HDD into the SBM configuration using Newegg prices? Feel free to post the build, but color me skeptical in the meanwhile. The only way I can see to fit an HDD into the mix is to reduce the size of the SSD -- which would be a valid choice, but it won't be an unambiguous and significant improvement.

I'm sure you could build a better system if someone handed you $1,000 and you were free to use any vendor and any short-term deal available -- but that's not the deal, here.

My bad. I forgot to include the 3TB HDD and to mention the RAID0 setup of the SSDs. They wont fail from regular use having lasted over a month. (In honesty, one had to be RMA'd soon after the first week)

The setup cost me less than $1,000 about 2 months ago. That was before recent changes in prices in peripherals. Switch out the vid card, and skim some better deals, and sure you'll make it under $1000. However, I recognize you dismissed that option, so...

I plead that you pay more focus that with the OS running RAID0, the system will be bottlenecked by the OS even less. The published setup lacks that.

I strongly urge that if parameters of a budget allow, that the OS run on RAID0 with SSDs. I recognize that many folk contend that it is risky, but given another drives and the cloud backup options that us computer enthusiasts surely, nevermind the ease of reinstalling an OS, I doubt there's significant excuse to be intimidated by the concept.

Now, you wouldn't suggest that RAID0 with SSDs have no place in a $1000 build do you? Simply offset the extra space of moving from a single 240GB to a dual 60GB with at least a TB. With double the drive speed of a single SSD, and enough space to install the most heavily used apps and games for a power user, what's not to like?

 

[pistolpete31]

I could build a $1200 pc that poops on this thing

 

[phate1337]

nice addition with the SSD, but i would have gone with two lower card in SLI myself

 

[Fulgurant]

I plead that you pay more focus that with the OS running RAID0, the system will be bottlenecked by the OS even less. The published setup lacks that.

I strongly urge that if parameters of a budget allow, that the OS run on RAID0 with SSDs. I recognize that many folk contend that it is risky, but given another drives and the cloud backup options that us computer enthusiasts surely, nevermind the ease of reinstalling an OS, I doubt there's significant excuse to be intimidated by the concept.

Now, you wouldn't suggest that RAID0 with SSDs have no place in a $1000 build do you? Simply offset the extra space of moving from a single 240GB to a dual 60GB with at least a TB. With double the drive speed of a single SSD, and enough space to install the most heavily used apps and games for a power user, what's not to like?

I just think it's funny that almost everyone else complained that the $1,000 build spent too many resources on storage speed -- and then you come along and insist that your build, which makes even more compromises in the name of storage, is better than anything Tom's built for this quarter.

RAID 0 is a perfectly valid choice. I think it's overkill in this case, but if you want the fastest possible storage speed, then more power to you. You've built a fine rig, but it's by no means clearly better than any of the SBM rigs. More to the point, your rig is demonstrably worse within the context of the SBM's rules.

I don't mean to criticize you for building the rig that you did; for your needs, I'm sure it's a good configuration -- but if you're gonna post with the pompous lede that "you're confident you've built a better rig," then you can't ignore the conditions of the SBM. You can't ignore that only newegg prices are applicable. You can't ignore that mail-in rebates and other short-term deals are disallowed. You can't ignore the performance metrics used to evaluate the SBM rigs against one another.

Compare apples to apples; that's all I'm saying.

 

[de5_Roy]

i just want to say that someone is going to own this pc. toms gives away each build to respective winners after each marathon.
which one do you think looks better, a $1000 build with a run of the mill hard disk drive or a snappy ssd? what are the chances that the winner doesn't have an hdd already? which, as an addition, is easier on the wallet, for regular users? RAIDed 60 gb ssds has it's weakness (subjective choice of term) as well. imo, it's sorta like starting with 2 crossfired 7770s instead of a 7870/7870le. it is easier to add another ssd to the build and make 2x 240gb down the line, as ssd prices drop.

 

[youssef 2010]

In other words, the 7870LE is enough for 1080p gaming @ ultra details

 

[Novuake]

In other words, the 7870LE is enough for 1080p gaming @ ultra details

Other than a few exceptionms like BF3, Crysis3 and Far cry 3. It seems all the 3s are bad...

 

[Alec Burton]

Why not use GTX 660Ti its a way better value for a very similar price, which will dramatically increase performance.

 

[Novuake]

Why not use GTX 660Ti its a way better value for a very similar price, which will dramatically increase performance.

Are you trolling? You are the ONLY person that would say this(other than nvidia fanboys)... Are you an Nvidia faboy???