System Builder Marathon, Q4 2013: A $2400 PC That Costs $2700

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Quote "7 years ago, according to the RMAA tests we used back then."

Then why is it that the alc889 codec on my gigabyte sounds flat and with more distortion compared to my xfi? I know the 889 isn't a high end codec but it should be on par with the xfi shouldn't it?
 
I remember I quit using it in motherboard reviews because the differences shown between boards were statistically insignificant. High end sound cards had a slight S/N ratio advantage. Onboard solutions have gotten slightly better, but you'd need one of the three systems to contain your card to see how it compares.
 
the real shame is how these new r9-290/290x aren't even a sizeable improvement in compute over the 280x or 7950... i can't figure out for the life of me why someone would pay a huge premium to use those cards for mining when the newly released r9-270 can be found for 150-180, and it's hash/watt curve is FAR better then the 290/290x or even the 280x...
 
I'm guessing that many of the guys running this stuff don't actually PAY for their power. Remember back when the majority of pirate servers were being run out of university dorms?

The comedy would be if the guys doing this claimed to be environmentalists/climate change proponents, socialists (more than their fair share?), or even liberal.
 


How much are you paying in utility each of those months and for how long a day? 4 HD 6950 aren't exactly humming along at 100w an hour a piece...

 
I'm trying to figure out how to GROSS $250 a month of a pair of 290's. I find his claims incredible. But I'd still like to hear how it's even possible

 
OMG, who would want to put any CR@P amd makes into their build? R9 290's are garbage cards. For $1000 you can put in a superior pair of GTX 780's in.

Also what a waste of money on the 4930k Intel processor. Should have saved money with a Haswell 4770k unit.........

Even the MB choice. I like ASROCK, but the board used isn't their best offering. Could have saved money with a higher quality MB/Haswell combo........
 
One of the best lessons I ever learned in college from a good professor is that it is absolutely pointless to say what someone "should have" done; it is only useful to try to figure out why he did what he did.
Once again, these discussions raise the point that it would be extremely helpful to describe the person for whom this system is being built. For example, if the person intends to mine Litecoins, then only AMD cards make sense. If the person is an engineer, perhaps a workstation card would be the better choice. I'm not sure we'll ever see that though, since the focus seems to be games, and/or winning benchmarks vs. the other two systems. Why not add an engineering application to the benchmarks? Testing gaming cards on that is no less fair than testing a workstation card on games. For such an engineering application, I suspect a $2400 PC will easily beat an $800 PC, even in value (might the margin be even more than 3:1?)
 


haha. yeah... sounds about right

well we can hope this fad ends, cause i was going to get a r9-290 to round out my computer upgrade back when you could find them for $400; i decided to get a nexus 7 instead when i couldn't find a single gpu i wanted for 300-450...

(damned nvidia and their f$@#$% overcharging... i seriously was going to get a 770 since i couldn't find a 290 for affordable cash, and i just couldn't pull the trigger. they're STILL overpriced even with their price reductions; i mean why pay 340 for a gpu when the 290 was just $60 more and 15-20% faster? while the 280x was the same speed and $40 bucks less? Granted you can't find either card for those prices anymore, but it's the principle of it. i can't and won't support that type of price-gouging)
 
Quote "7 years ago, according to the RMAA tests we used back then."

Then why is it that the alc889 codec on my gigabyte sounds flat and with more distortion compared to my xfi? I know the 889 isn't a high end codec but it should be on par with the xfi shouldn't it?
 
Profit BTC LTC USD Power Cost Profit
Per Day 0.0206 BTC 0.6351 LTC $16.51 $3.6 $12.91
Per Week 0.1445 BTC 4.4456 LTC $115.59 $25.2 $90.39
Per Month 0.6192 BTC 19.0525 LTC $495.36 $108 $387.36
Per Year 7.5337 BTC 231.8052 LTC $6026.94 $1314 $4712.94

There are the calaculations. 2 MH $800 BTC and .0325 LTC to BTC
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM Since this has been answered in the article and the response thread several times, I must assume that you're not willing to consider any answer acceptable. However, if you look at the System Value Compared article, it makes sense to anyone willing to open their eyes and looks at the charts.

 
Hey, you're still mining BTC? And geting 0.0206 per day? While also mining LTC? I didn't even know that you could get 0.02 BTC a day!

Also check out your current LTC rate, mine dropped significantly a few days ago.

 

if you were talking about the cabinet, it is a fractal design define r4 black pearl in the sbm build. the image however, first reminded me of a corsair, then cm silencio, then antec lol. the only antec part in the build was the spot fan to blow air on the vrm.
edit: if you're talking about the spot fan.... i don't know how it'd be ridiculous, $11 is small change for cooling the vrm.
 
Maybe I should start adding "supports PWM fan" to my motherboard considerations. It's not hard to put a screw channel in a sink.
 


I'm mining strictly LTC. That was copy pasted from my pools mining profit calculator today.

Believe what you want, I'm making that amount per month.
 
I thought about it a bit, $400 gross in LTC off four cards is possible even if difficult. It would have been easier a week ago I think.
 
I would love to know the Long-term value of a system like this...
I mean, in the case that someone bought this system, and another person bought one for half the price.
If the second person, after 3-4 years replaced his system spending again half the proce of this, would the older, expensive system still be in the same league?
I know that's imposible to predict, and that I'm not taking into consideration the first 3 years of having a really superior system, but I'm just curious about what would be better in the long run...
 


Short answer: spending a lot of time in forums, and some time reviewing the profit margins of competitors in the market would make your guess as good as mine.

Longer answer:

That's why people have multiple systems at once. An all purpose rig won't last as long as one built for one purpose, for obvious reasons. Things like "It only took how long to render ______ in 4k?", "the graphics couldn't possibly get any better than this, right?", "you rendered _____ terabytes of data in CAD off of a single card?" you hear all the time, but for the first time we see far greater returns from software tweaks than we do, or can do, by just increasing silicon-side grunt..

Now I've only been researching computers for a few years so for you to say it's impossible to predict the future of computer technology makes me think you've been dealing with computers longer than I have, because from what I've seen recently the progression of technology has become quite predictable. Albeit tremendous leaps forward, yes, but predictable nevertheless.. economics seems to be playing a larger role than the innovative utility of the empowered individual these days and I feel that answers the real question: In a market largely defined as an oligopoly, how do the platitudes of moral psychology interplay with the discretionary income of the target consumer in relation to game theory as that relates to the theories of both Stackelberg Competition(marginal cost of production is very low in an oligopoly, so WHEN one firm releases it's product matters as much or more as WHAT they are actually releasing since in an oligopoly products are very similar) and generalized innovation within big companies that have money to spend on future tech ..or in other words: how long are these companies willing to not show us what they've been working on before we stop buying their souped up decade old tech 😛 (this speaks nothing of efficiency I know, and that was your question; if you followed what I said it's not predicting if they can produce something that will last because they can, it's predicting when they will be able to do so and maintain their profit margins that will answer your question

..At this point it really is easier just to say your guess is as good as mine, because an equation is useless without numbers to plug into it.
 
One would have to wait until Haswell-E comes out, to know how well a system like this stacks up in the future. But for now, it's a very good system to do everything you desire. I know there are those that seriously hang their hats on the 4770k, and rightfully so. But there are still some things that the 4930k does well and it's still one of the fastest processors on the market to date....and you don't have to de-lid it to get more out of it.

For some reason, that remains a sticking point for me. The thought of taking the lid off to get more out of a chip......Ummmm.
 
Nice build, some hilarious comments (well answered Crash). What to expect on the mining, probably something like a the large mining crash of 2014 since what was profitable for few will get less and less profitable for many since more coins less value!
 
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