System Builder Marathon, Q3 2013: $1300 Enthusiast PC

[cleeve]

With access to new components like the Haswell-based Core i5-4670K and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 770, we're confident that we can build a $1300 enthusiast-class system that beats last quarter's. How does the previous mini-ITX PC stand up to this new hardware?

System Builder Marathon, Q3 2013: $1300 Enthusiast PC : Read more

 

[rolli59]

Keep them coming.

 

[chaospower]

I think this just shows that you don't really need more than a GTX 760 if you play on the most popular resolution of 1080p. Look how small the benefits of an Haswell are, compared to the 650$ build (HALF THE PRICE!) in games that mainly rely on GPU power.
Overclocking haswell is a waste of money considering the amount of money you need to invest in a good MB and a good cooling, only to reach a rather tame 4.3ghz OC...
Just buy the cheapest I5 you can buy and pair it with a GTX 760, if you play on 1080p, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

 

[DelightfulDucklings]

The more I look at these the sadder I am about the overpriced parts I have to pay for in New Zealand Nevertheless, another good article, keep it up

 

[silverblue]

"64 GB of cache"

I'd have that hard drive for $70 if it was true.

 

[bemused_fred]

"64 GB of cache"

I'd have that hard drive for $70 if it was true.

I thought it was only....32 on the blue models.

 

[cmartin011]

Can't wait to see a new amd gpu in these builds got me all giddy inside!

 

[Larry Bob]

This is a complete waste of money. You spend way more on the 4670K than you would on a 3570K, and a really expensive motherboard, then you pair it with a crappy CLC where even a 212 Evo or Respire T40 would do better. You then WAY overpay on the graphics card when a 7970 offers exactly the same performance (according to Tom's research) for $60+ less.

 

[persuse]

the vengence ram Worst chip in all the model and brands !
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313399
Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB)DDR3 2400 best P/p memory with same price better choice.
and corsair H50 not is better whan aircooler.
the Phanteks PH-TC12DX or V6GT with same price range the beat performance.

for ssd i,m recomend Kingston HyperX 3K 120G with same price and beter speed.

 

[Novuake]

Good choice in PSU. Odd choice in motherboard. Does not provide THAT much for 200$.
But most importantly, HORRIBLE choice in cooling. But ok...

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

This is old tech... We nee some new stuff! Can't wait to see amds new cards, and nvidias response. Also Intel supposedly has an eight core haswell-e coming

 

[MANOFKRYPTONAK]

Oh and 2gb of vram is only a starting point if you are serious about gaming even @ 1080p.

 

[ojas]

Dudes. Whatever happened to BestConfigs?

 

[BulkZerker]

Oh look! Its the same system as last quarter

 

[slomo4sho]

It would have been a much better use of funds to buy a cheaper motherboard and use the funds towards a better cooler...

 

[drul]

Would love to see what a XEON 1230 V2 (or even V3) with a sli of GTX760 (saved money on cheaper motherboard and cooling system should allow it) would do in your test

 

[Amdlova]

lol mine 3470 its running at 107mhz fsb and i get 4.2ghz two cores 4.0ghz 4 cores and i pay for this chip 170us 120us mobo.... this Enthusiast PC is only about spend money! harder!

 

[cknobman]

No way I would have chosen a 770 over a 7970GE that could be had for $30+ less.

 

[cknobman]

I consider this build a wash compared to last quarters and think your skewed gaming value chart is very misleading. You chose a resolution no one plays at because it just so happens to hide this build memory bandwidth issues and makes it look better than it really is at more common playable resolutions.

Not a terrible build, but no better. Should have saved some cash by skipping haswell for the cpu and getting a 7970ge for the gfx card.

 

[TeraMedia]

The superiority of this build over the last one is more deeply marred by the cheap memory than the author admits, once that memory is OCed. Given the supposed IPC arch improvements of Haswell and the higher clock of the 770, this system should be consistently faster.. but it's not. F1, Adobe, synthetics... all testing areas exhibited at least some cases in which last Q's specialized ITX build was faster while using older products and less power. To me, that paints this Q's generalized ATX build in a bad light. It's not that it wasn't good; it's that it wasn't as much better as it should have been.

 

[JamesSneed]

Im assuming TH had various spare parts from vendors and decided wth lets toss um into the system builder. Seems like a rather random choice of parts to pair together. I cant help but think if you downgraded the motherboard and used a cheaper CPU cooler you could have went SLI with two gtx 760's for only $100 more than the gtx 770 they chose. They certainly had enough power supply to do it as most systems with 2x gtx 760's are only pulling 450 watts at load.

 

[envy14tpe]

You had me until I saw the H50. Noooooooo! Why did you ruin this build?

A $200 mobo is meant for great overclocking. A H50 is nowhere near adequate for this. If you put a $50 Dark Knight on this build I'm sure you would have gotten to 4.5GHz. It's a shame seeing a $200 mobo and only overclocking to 4.3GHz.

 

[fat_panda]

With Haswell, I would not invest in a $200+ MB since the overclocking is completely dependent on whether you win the silicone lottery. Not to mention UD3H and UD4H overclocks the same for less.

 

[KelvinTy]

I thought Toms released an article not long ago explaining how "high performance" ram yields negligible performance gain... and now a 1866MHz ram? Given that it's "only" $70, still...
And do people still buy DVD-burner thingy? I haven't put any optical media in my PCs for well over 3 years... and the last one I use, was to reinstall Win7.

 

[mapesdhs]

Yet more proof if any were needed that a used 2700K is still far better value
when it comes to an oc'd setup. 5GHz no problem, no need for water
cooling, leaves the 4670K way behind. Ditto 2500K (I notice there are
loads on eBay US); why anyone would buy a 3570K or HW is beyond me.

I'll consider a newer quad-core when Intel finally releases something that's
worth bothering with. Heh, 4.3 with a newer chip... what a farce.

Ian.