System Builder Marathon Q1 2015: Alternative $1750 PC

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remkobos

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One nice thing about this choice seems to me that choosing the cheapest CPU of a new expensive family gives you the possibility to upgrade to a better one using the same socket when many years have past and prices have dropped, because by that time there's a new "expensive family".

And if one would argue that having to replace the motherboard at that time doesn't have to be a great disadvantage for the buyer of a more economic cpu-line, in this case it also means using DDR4-memory for which the same thing can be said.

Faster and more will be more affordable at the time you would have said goodby to a DDR3 using machine and you can postpone that moment for this one.
 

larkspur

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The system you linked would lose to both the original $1750 machine and this alternative build. It doesn't use Newegg exclusively and it relies on over a hundred bucks worth of MiRs... And 4x4gb ram? At least use 2x8gb... upgrades, hello? How many times do the editors have to say it? The benchmark suite is designed to test a system's balance. Only a small portion is gaming performance. Not everyone puts together a $1750+ system for gaming. In fact the only machine labeled "gaming" is Paul's $600 machine (and it's a very appropriate label). The others (especially this alternative build) are much better balanced for multiple uses. It's called the System Builder Marathon and NOT the Gaming System Builder Marathon.

Storage suggestion - I think you should set some standard for storage. My suggestion is to simply make a minimum requirement that each system have at least 240/256gb of storage (SSD and/or HDD). No need to spend performance-parts-money on a cheap HDD if the system already has a reasonable-size SSD. That should eliminate problems like "Don got a 256gb SSD but also spent $55 on a HDD (which had no effect on benchmark performance) while Thomas only went with a 256gb SSD". If you win the system, then add any additional storage yourself. Everyone has different needs. I'd rather have the cheap HDD money spent on a better motherboard or cpu cooler.
 

f-14

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nice alternative build, i too started pricing out the same build with almost the same exact parts as the first build except i had the 4x4 kit of gskill 2400 ram same board, same processor you substituted and Subtotal: $1,709.92 the only other thing i would have changed is the case.

for this new build of yours, yet again i would only change the case to the DEEPCOOL TESSERACT or the HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition (very blah 2008 internals) and apply the savings towards more fans to solve your ventilation problem you can expect in every internal venting graphics card rig. antec 900 is sorely missed and the Corsair Carbide Series 300R you needed went up far too much in price for my taste in markets filling of that void.

the big bonus i liked in your build was the cooler master cpu cooler where they cut of fins to solve a major issue, to which i think turned out nicely and has been long over due for cpu cooling manufacturers making happen. i would also like to see them flatten out those colling pipes a bit and " V " them around in effort to disperse more heat as they come into contact with more fresher unheated air by the previous set of pipe infront of it,and angled to channel air towards the center of the cooler or when rotated 180º it channels air away from the center towards the outer edge all with out using previously heated air from the pipes preceding it for maximum effort at dissipation.
 

larkspur

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Short Answer: For the exact same reasons that you include a SSD in any build.
Long Answer: As a long-time fan of the SBM, I can tell you that Paul, Don, and Thomas are forced to juggle a delicate balance of practicality vs. pure performance. Do you go full-out to win the performance benchmarks or do you actually give the winner of the system a practical system?

For instance, if the ultimate goal was simply to win the benchmark suite's price to performance ratio (aka "value"), then they certainly wouldn't spend a dime on the enclosure. Any experienced enthusiast knows that numerous college studies (including ALL the Ivy League schools) have shown that computer enclosures made with cut-up-and-glued-or-taped pizza boxes can make computer cases that have ideal price-to-performance ratios.

But look, I know what you all are thinking: "Most people these days only have access to crusty grease-stained pizza boxes Larkspur! Isn't that going to affect my computer's performance?" Have no fear folks, the reality here is that boxes stained with crusted sauce, cheese and (especially) grease are better than clean boxes due to a greater ability to absorb noisy fan sounds. We're looking at as much as 5-10% noise reduction (depending on how much cheese and meat the pizza contained, obviously this varies...). Given all this, I would highly suggest a "meat-lover's" type pie when you are getting ready to build. Get messy, have a good time, and relish in the fact that you get a computer enclosure and a meal all for the same $20 plus tip. I mean, either way, we all gotta eat, right?! ; )
 

Isaiah4110

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Extremely interesting exercise comparing the two high end builds!

You have a typo on page 5 here though:
Intel Core i7-5820K: 3.3 - 3.6GHz, Four Physical Cores
O/C to 4.13 - 4.5GHz, 1.18V
In the table should indicate "Six Physical Cores".
 

Isaiah4110

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But then there’s the issue of 3D performance. A do-everything gaming machine that wants to be extra-fast across the board needs all of the upgrades from both of this quarter's machines. Add a higher-quality case and a storage drive to complete the system’s functionality, and we’re suddenly shopping for a $2000 PC.

Of course, most of us can’t afford a $2000 PC. I only get hardware this good because it shows up on my doorstep. Keeping in mind that a six-core processor really does have better value in a high-end PC compared to SLI graphics, I’d like to hear your thoughts on future hardware and budgets. I can certainly build a dream machine if requested, though I’m not sure how many of you would like to read about it.
Great job with the articles. I think they really illustrate the importance of deciding the main purpose of a machine before picking parts for the build. Both machines offer excellent performance all around, and, realistically, will game exceptionally well in all titles.

The end conclusion really shouldn't surprise anyone: If you are building a system with the chief purpose being to maximize your gaming performance, pump a higher percentage of your budget into your GPU sub-system. If, however, you plan on a high end build being used for productivity and/or "work" purposed with gaming being secondary, then pump the extra money into a higher end CPU/RAM sub-system.

In a nutshell: These two articles perfectly illustrate how the main benefit to a custom-built PC - tailoring the system to meet your specific usage requirements - should always be stressed when building a new system.

Again, great job on the article(s).
 

codyleemanofaction

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I always want to see SLI/XFire... and now that you did it, I'd prefer the system with the 980... go figure. Thanks for putting it out there though! It was great to see the comparison and looking at the reality of power consumption.

Also, as to the SSD vs HDD... I would say HDD's are becoming like keyboard/mouse/monitors. If you are reading this site, you've probably got a home PC... and with that you probably have an HDD with your media library you could drop in to a new SBM machine. I see no reason why $50-100 ought to be set aside for mechanical storage anymore, so power to you for leaving it out!!! To make it count, throw more tests which measure startup times, read/writes for something, and most importanty... Loading screen times on the games.

Great fun on all the articles for this SBM!
 

ammaross

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@firefoxx4

i cudnt agree without you less. people always refer that i7 are just a waste of money but they forget th endless opportunities that a pc can perform. till now a i7 870 hasnt yet failed me from 4 gpus goin from a 6850, 7850, 7970 and finally 280x. i often use my computer for many purposes. like they say its better to have and not need than to need and not have. the same people who kept saying that 8gb is more than enough while right now i feel more comfortable with 16 gb
It really depends on what you are doing. I do office, games, and the occasional VM or video editing and rarely does my RAM usage ever go north of 6GB in use. 8GB really truly is enough for most people these days, and for the foreseeable future. If you are doing more than that, or all of that at the same time then having 16+GB of ram is a good thing, but keep in mind that this does not apply to most people. I would even dare say it does not apply to most people on this site. Besides, you can always get 8GB of ram using half of your available slots and upgrade to 16GB later.

The i5 vs i7 argument I agree with you on. For today's games a quad core i5 really truly is all you need... but other workloads are getting much better at utilizing more cores lately, and with the new(ish) x86 consoles it will not be long until we see games get beyond 4 cores more regularly. But if you do any video editing/rendering/transcoding or other heavy lifting then the more cores the better, though I would be hesitant to sacrifice core speed for core count. It is easy to upgrade RAM... but upgrading a CPU typically means upgrading a lot of other expensive things as well, so it is best to start off with the best you think you will ever need during the life of a system.

Then CaedenV, this system is not for you. I'm lucky if my Premiere projects take ONLY 6GB of RAM. Toss in After Effects, Photoshop, or any other supporting tools and you push north of 12GB rather rapidly. My poor 16GB is pushed hard enough I can't have a project open and a game at the same time. Granted, my i7 OCed churns through 1080p vids fairly quickly (especially left to run overnight), I'd certainly not complain about the extra RAM bandwidth nor the extra couple cores.
 
In general, I liked this build; any changes would likely be niggles to make it more personalized to me. I'd love to win it.
I'm not even going to gripe over the drive space. Many professional-level machines (which this is), have LAN or NAS connections anyway.

Edit: Oh, I deleted an alternate build up there because it didn't follow the rules of the SBM, and is therefor off-topic.
 

gibbly

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@caj If you have the money then go make yourself a future proof build, but most of us have too tight of a budget for that
 
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I've got 7200rpm HDDs coming out of my ears from various builds, so I don't think it's a big deal to not see one overtly spec'd out here.

On the apples to apples comparisons, where the same GPU is used, I'm a little put off that it seems all the 5820's actual value in a "jack of all trades" system is pretty much directly proportional to the magnitude of OCing you can get out of it.

Since individual OC mileages WILL vary, for the amount of value added (relatively small) you're taking a crap shoot on whether the added overhead in cost ($50 more for CPU, and another $100+ for DDR4 over DDR3, and about $50 more for an x99 motherboard, plus more in PSU cost) will be balanced out by the performance boost, if any.

That's a lot of OCing to bet on.

Intel should have released an X99 chip in four cores with a clock about where the 4790k is, and at a similar price - that would have justified to me the transition to X99 / DDR4 a whole lot easier. I don't have a horse in this race yet, since I'm still looking at 5820 vs 4790 for my first intel build.

EDIT: Just looked PCPP, and the difference between a 5820 build (w/ appropriate mobo/ram) and a 4790 /1150 build is now just $150, with all other components being the same.
 

TNT27

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Do they announce who wins it? Or is it kept private, they contact you by phone? I dont want people knowing anything about me on the internet, haha.

Announce winners march 10th (When the sweepstakes entry ends) Or another date?
 

Taintedskittles

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Great job guys, favorite build so far. If I won this, I would chop up my current rig. Add 10tbs from 4 mechanical HD's & 1 ssd 128gb. Add a avermedia capture card. Use this system for 3ds max rendering & game streaming . In a heartbeat.
 

cynic77

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Jan 23, 2014
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Sorry to necro the comments, but I finally got to read this article and I must say... I love this alternative PC! To all of you that love your Z97 builds, good for you! But as stated in other responses, please don't diss those of us that need a more powerful X99 build that we can also use for gaming.

Regarding RAM, I wish X99 boards came with 16 slots... I mean, why the hell not? :) I run multiple VMs for my day job and Lightroom/Photoshop for my weekend job, so I'm an oddball here, I'm sure. Still, even without memory hog applications, I can't believe any "enthusiast" is getting away with 8 GB or less, unless they only have 7-8 browser windows and 1-2 Word docs open all day, but then you're not an "enthusiast," are you?

I have a new ASUS X99-Deluxe based, liquid-cooled rig and couldn't be happier. Yes, I paid a premium, but I have no regrets. I'm future-proofed with DDR4, a 64 GB vs. 32 GB RAM max, boatloads of PCI 3.0 lanes, PCIe/NVMe storage options, USB 3.1 (via BIOS update), and can look forward to Broadwell-E CPUs next year. As such, I obviously vote for more builds (and other articles) with X99!
 

Gman46

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dstarr3, I don't understand your type. you want a lower performing video card that costs twice as much. Me thinks you have no experience with building your own.
 

kindofnoob

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Question about dual 4k display capabilities: Will both systems be able to push to two 4k displays? I'm assuming the 5760x1080 provide a ballpark number.

Are there any other considerations for cabling for 4k displays?
 
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