System Builder Marathon, Q4 2013: $1600 Enthusiast PC

[RedJaron]

I'll tell you what made the biggest difference from a user standpoint this xmas. It wasn't the fx8320 upgrade... oh it was a noticeable improvement, don't get me wrong. Noticeable at stock even... though the fx8320 at stock was slower on a core per core basis then my 965be, it felt faster thanks to the 8 cores... but no. the biggest and most important user experience change was getting the SSD

So i'll go even further and say if getting an AMD fx cpu allows you to get an SSD, then it's a good purchase, as cpus have been bottlenecked by mechanical hard drives for the better part of a decade now... an SSD is basically required, or you won't really be able to tell the difference between the fx cpu, a core i5 cpu or a 5 year old core2duo.

So, so true. I don't think I can ever go back from having an SSD after the last 30 months. A CPU might speed a few things up, but an SSD speeds nearly everything up. A lot of gaming die-hards want to say it doesn't help the actual fps so it's better to put the money toward a bigger GPU. My guess is they haven't experienced levels and maps that load in a fraction of the time, OS updates in five minutes rather than 30, and applications that load almost instantly.

As long as the SSD price doesn't require dropping the CPU and/or GPU to sub-par levels, I consider it almost mandatory.

 

[Onus]

I don't see ever building a system for myself that doesn't use a SSD as the system drive. I wouldn't want less than a HD7750, but if I've got at least that, a SSD is a must.

 

[markaflias]

1600$ computer and 35$ case, thats non sense in my opinion .

 

[Onus]

Few of us would do that, but this machine was built to compete at benchmarks, so it's a wonder they didn't build it on top of the mobo's box. Perhaps it would help if you thought of it as a $1650 machine, anticipating that it would have cost another $50 to get a "budget-appropriate" case.

 

[RedJaron]

I don't see ever building a system for myself that doesn't use a SSD as the system drive. I wouldn't want less than a HD7750, but if I've got at least that, a SSD is a must.

Right, it depends what level you can fit in the budget. If a SSD means you need to drop from a GTX 770 to 760, I'm all for that. If it means I have to drop from an R9 270 to a 7750, I'd think about it a lot more ( really I'd just say I have to save up longer. ) If you pass the range of an i5 and 7870 and you don't have an SSD, I say you're missing out and doing it wrong.

 

[Onus]

Well, many of my games will run on med-high settings (or better) on a HD7750. I'd rather have lowered settings + SSD, but I don't doubt that people playing more demanding games would prefer an even stronger card as their minimum.

 

[markaflias]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($154.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($135.81 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($585.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $1597.63
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-07 20:53 EST-0500)

 

[Isaiah4110]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($154.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($135.81 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($585.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $1597.63
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-07 20:53 EST-0500)

The Tom's Hardware System Builder Marathons are restricted to the use of Newegg as a purchasing site. So your build is actually:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.95 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($585.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($135.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($28.97 @ Newegg)
Total: $1750.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-08 10:37 EST-0500)

You passed the budget limit by $150.

 

[Isaiah4110]

I agree 100% on the need of an SSD. It's nice to see others starting to take that same stance as during the first half of last year most people absolutely disagreed with me when I was including an SSD in $800-1000 builds.

It comes down to answering the question: "What makes a computer feel slow?" I always come back to the answer being "sitting there waiting for it to do something." Seeing as there is not a major difference between wait times from a 3570k, a 4670k, and a 4770k (in general, not heavily threaded tasks) and most people on that type of budget are not getting a monitor that can display more than 60 FPS, the better investment is absolutely a solid state drive that can hold as many programs and games as possible.

 

[markaflias]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($154.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($135.81 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($585.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $1597.63
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-07 20:53 EST-0500)

The Tom's Hardware System Builder Marathons are restricted to the use of Newegg as a purchasing site. So your build is actually:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.95 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card ($585.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($135.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($28.97 @ Newegg)
Total: $1750.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-08 10:37 EST-0500)

You passed the budget limit by $150.

:O Didnt knew that 🙁 . Thanks for the info

 

[phase03]

How confident are you about sustaining the GTX770 SLI power demands for a long period of time (0.5 day) with this PSU?I

 

[RedJaron]

How confident are you about sustaining the GTX770 SLI power demands for a long period of time (0.5 day) with this PSU?I

The TX-750 V2 is a SeaSonic OEM PSU, so no worries on that end.

Stock 770s pull ~200W while gaming. Put them through a torture test and you'll get up to 250W. Yes, these are aftermarket cooled and OCd, but I don't think these can go past 250W without thermal throttling taking place. I'd be surprised if they drew more than 225W x 2 at gaming loads.

Even if they did draw 500W combined while gaming, the PSU has a single 62A 12V rail. So unless the rest of the system is drawing 250W, I'd say you're staying safely at an 80% load.