System Builder Marathon, Q2 2013: $2500 Performance PC

[allanitomwesh]

Bring on the $400 rig.

 

[flong777]

Hmmm, I am not sure what the practicality of a MITX build is. I guess, home theaters and limited space.

If limited space is an issue, I wonder how the new Apple Desktop compares to this build as far as cost and performance. I am betting that the the Mac would be much faster and it is also much smaller. However, I wonder what the cost is for the Mac.

 

[uruquiora]

very good article, thanks Tom, i love coming back to read such reviews... Thumbs up

 

[ojas]

Well, i think i found *one* article, but this is Chris' article. Compares 670 SLI with a 7970 CrossFire setup.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-review,3200-16.html

The only other article i remember that probed VRAM bottlenecks was one involving 6950 1GB vs 2GB in 2011, or something.

2GB vs 2GB SLI scaling:

I just cross-checked, the SLI results above match your SBM build for BF3 and Skyrim. There's clearly scaling from a single 2GB card to two of them, so i wouldn't think that's a VRAM bottleneck.

And the vanilla 7970 has 3GB of VRAM, but it trails the SLI...

 

[Crashman]

Well, i think i found *one* article, but this is Chris' article. Compares 670 SLI with a 7970 CrossFire setup.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-review,3200-16.html

The only other article i remember that probed VRAM bottlenecks was one involving 6950 1GB vs 2GB in 2011, or something.

http://media.bestofmicro.com/T/Z/336743/original/gtx%20670%20sli.png

I just cross-checked, the SLI results above match your SBM build for BF3 and Skyrim. There's clearly scaling from a single 2GB card to two of them, so i wouldn't think that's a VRAM bottleneck.

And the vanilla 7970 has 3GB of VRAM, but it trails the SLI...

THANK YOU! I talked to Paul Henningsen about it, he said I was thinking of Metro 2033 and 1.5 GB vs 3GB cards. I said "Erf?" I'm pretty certain it wasn't Metro 2033 because I've always had "multiple issues" with the benchmark, most notoriously having it crash. If I was thinking of STALKER COP results, then I'm REALLY having a short-term vs long-term memory conflict.

Either way, there's never a good excuse to back an argument with benchmark results from a site that has questionable priorities, so I'm reserving any apologies to the original article content and leaving nothing on the table for the follow-up thread. Thanks for the help!

 

[ojas]

@Thomas, BigMack70: glad i could help!

Tip for searching Tom's: Use google with "tomshardware" as a keyword.

 

[slomo4sho]

@Thomas, BigMack70: glad i could help!

Tip for searching Tom's: Use google with "tomshardware" as a keyword.

Yes, this is the best way to go. The search functionality on this site it horrid (almost as bad as the comment section).

 

[fcabanski]

Can someone explain performance to me? The Passmark charts show the GTX 770 outperforming the 690. But reviews show the 690 outperforming the 770.

 

[slomo4sho]

Can someone explain performance to me? The Passmark charts show the GTX 770 outperforming the 690. But reviews show the 690 outperforming the 770.

Single card vs SLI.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

This is the worst system builder I've ever seen. They did nothing well, they didn't even try price per performance. Some of the laziest building I've ever seen.

 

[sanilmahambre]

GTX 690 will get suffocated in that mini ITX....LOL

 

[ojas]

Can someone explain performance to me? The Passmark charts show the GTX 770 outperforming the 690. But reviews show the 690 outperforming the 770.

Passmark is hardly reliable, and Tom's Hardware's editors don't trust it one bit, so yeah. 770=overclocked 680, and the 690=2x680 (roughly).

This is the worst system builder I've ever seen. They did nothing well, they didn't even try price per performance. Some of the laziest building I've ever seen.

Care to explain in some detail? I think it was quite a good build with lots of details put in. Laziest trolling I've ever seen, to be honest.

GTX 690 will get suffocated in that mini ITX....LOL

Well, it didn't get suffocated. Did you even read?

 

[de5_Roy]

Care to explain in some detail? I think it was quite a good build with lots of details put in. Laziest trolling I've ever seen, to be honest.

er... i am afraid i am going to have to disagree with you there, ojas. the laziest attempts usually contain single word posts such as "first!" or "meh" or "<brandname>ftw" etc. the last one may be technically a phrase but you can easily notice the lack of effort in typing all of it... ^_^

this poster, otoh, went though the excruciating ordeal to type those words. it takes a lot of effort to type letters and words, geddit? just because he's trying to undermine (baselessly and unreasonably) the effort builders put into sbm builds, does not mean we should ignore his industrious(!!) effort in typing after not reading all the build procedures. we should not sink to that level.

in short, we should appreciate that people can type letters and words even if they may not be able to read.

 

[L0tus]

Really impressed with this rig. I'd only swap in a 3TB Toshiba HDD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149396) ...same price

 

[L0tus]

OK one more thing...a 690 is overkill...770 SLI will run this baby cheaper, cooler and faster. In fact any single-core GPU above the 770 is a waste of time.

 

[RedJaron]

OK one more thing...a 690 is overkill...770 SLI will run this baby cheaper, cooler and faster. In fact any single-core GPU above the 770 is a waste of time.

SLI on an ITX/DTX mboard? That's a trick and a half.

 

[ojas]

Care to explain in some detail? I think it was quite a good build with lots of details put in. Laziest trolling I've ever seen, to be honest.

er... i am afraid i am going to have to disagree with you there, ojas. the laziest attempts usually contain single word posts such as "first!" or "meh" or "<brandname>ftw" etc. the last one may be technically a phrase but you can easily notice the lack of effort in typing all of it... ^_^

this poster, otoh, went though the excruciating ordeal to type those words. it takes a lot of effort to type letters and words, geddit? just because he's trying to undermine (baselessly and unreasonably) the effort builders put into sbm builds, does not mean we should ignore his industrious(!!) effort in typing after not reading all the build procedures. we should not sink to that level.

in short, we should appreciate that people can type letters and words even if they may not be able to read.

Hahaha. This just made up for that troll

 

[iiTzzDeFuze]

Why not just a titan? that fan is like a leaf blower.

 

[RedJaron]

Why not just a titan? that fan is like a leaf blower.

Why not just read the article? You might see how they mention Titans were out of stock.

We really need some kind of restriction to comments. May posters mark a check box that says, "I agree to the terms of this thread that I have fully read the associated article." or something.

 

[de5_Roy]

Why not just read the article? You might see how they mention Titans were out of stock.

We really need some kind of restriction to comments. May posters mark a check box that says, "I agree to the terms of this thread that I have fully read the associated article." or something.

some people seem to only read (look at, really) the intro, the benchmarks and the conclusion and skip everything else. quite a lot of people skip the build assembly parts of the article, some times don't even read the last page.

 

[unksol]

I don't think anyone would be surprised ASUS is a mile ahead of gigabyte. That's sort of expected. ..

 

[Fermm92]

I'm intrigued why you don't mention 670 mini/small form factor or whatever is called from Asus. I think is great for an mini pc maybe in the 1000$ rig you could even use it in the 400$ case y the PSU can hold it and you wet to keep it cool.

THAT would be awesome

 

[Onus]

That little GTX670 is an interesting card indeed, but it isn't single-slot so it would not fit in smaller mITX boxes, and it also needs a lot more power, and presumably generates a lot more heat.

 

[csf60]

some people seem to only read (look at, really) the intro, the benchmarks and the conclusion and skip everything else. quite a lot of people skip the build assembly parts of the article, some times don't even read the last page.

Just like people only read the abstract, results and conclusions in a scientific paper

 

[slomo4sho]

Just like people only read the abstract, results and conclusions in a scientific paper

You mean reading the procedure actually provides insight into the validity of the paper?