System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $1,250 Enthusiast Build

[Onus]

[citation][nom]jj463rd[/nom]...(jtt283 might like to see this since it uses a Phenom II X4 955 BE and a pair of 4890's)...
[/citation]

Very interesting. In the few CPU-intensive games where the 955BE wins, it's not by much, but the 4x4850 blows the 2x4890 out of the water in GPU intensive games.

 

[kraken18]

How do you have an RPG benchmark without Neverwinter Nights 2? And HAWX is not a flight simulator.

 

[hardwarekid9756]

Like everyone here, I want to see a competing system built on the same budget with an i5/i7 platform and 2x GFX cards (IMO, i think 2x 5870's or 2x 275's would trounce the 4x 4850's). I just don't see the AMD benefit past 150$/CPU.

 

[hardwarekid9756]

also:

Are you blind? the current SBM vs April SBM had NO benefit over ANY system. And the over-clocked SBM was bested by the April OC'd SBM. This weeks' SBM had NO GAIN. Period. Sorry. Check YOUR OWN numbers...
There was gains in gaming. I'll give you that. But at current prices, I'm sure a different set of GFX cards would net similar results.

IN the end: Intel had the better platform and the CPU/Platform choice for this run was poor and incorrect. The SBM money from graphics cards was squandered. It should have been allocated more efficiently in better-suited configurations, and not in a novel 4-card approach.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Kl2amer[/nom]All intel or all AMD is not the point. How 'bout doing one that offers the best performance for the decided amount of money.[/citation]

You mean, you prefer all-Intel? Because that's what the SBM was last winter, low-cost Intel processors chosen for their overclocking capability.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]kraken18[/nom]How do you have an RPG benchmark without Neverwinter Nights 2?[/citation]

By using Fallout 3, probably one of the most popular RPGs of 2009. If NWN2 sold anywhere even close to Fallout 3, I'd be pretty surprised.

[citation][nom]kraken18[/nom]And HAWX is not a flight simulator.[/citation]

Mreh, you're splitting hairs there. If it makes you feel better, call it a flight game.

 

[cleeve]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]Anyway, as for the article - why don't you do any noise measurements? I remember when I got my 4870 I was feeling very happy about the noise level compared to a friends 4850 (some rediculously loud asus part). I'd like to know the noise difference between 4 ati cards and 2 nvidia[/citation]

I'd like to, but we avoid that because our SBMs are made at 3 different sites and not everyone has a sound meter. We're working on that, BTW.

However, I can tell you the new system is way quieter. The four gigabyte 4850's are damn near silent, the aftermarket coolers on those things are really good.

 

[CHRISTLUBAS]

Phenom X4 955
Radeon 5870
That should be better.............

 

[Onus]

To avoid remarks such as the one from Christlubas (not just picking on him; many have made the same mistake), would it be useful to place a prominent call-out at the head of each SBM article indicating the date the parts were spec'ed and/or purchased? That way, people won't keep posting what you "should" have used, that wasn't even available yet.

 

[ominous prime]

Are the first two ram slots in this build usable? Does anyone know?

 

[ghoulsrulefools]

The only thing proved by the gpu setup is that 4 is just not efficient in a gaming setup.

 

[wintermint]

[citation][nom]gkay09[/nom]I would have preferred the i7 860 paired with 2x HD 4890s or 2x GTX 275s or even a single HD 5870 for this budget...[/citation]

Yes but these builds are specifically about AMD but yeah.. I think 2 4890 sounds better or even one of the 58xx series 😀

 

[phexac]

There's that retarded 4-way SLI system again. All I recently see on Tom's are retarded articles trying to sound sensational and now even their hardware stuff is turning retarded. What happened to this site?

 

[phexac]

There's that retarded 4-way SLI system again. All I recently see on Tom's are retarded articles trying to sound sensational and now even their hardware stuff is turning retarded. What happened to this site?

 

[Avro Arrow]

[citation][nom]cinergy[/nom]Totally idiotic configuration. One would think that you try to assemble an AMD configuration that looks as bad as possible with that money. 4x 4850, no sense at all. Scaling from 3 to 4 brings maybe 5% performance increase but in many games nothing at all. How about adding just one 5870? And why 945, and not 955 or even 965? Added cost would be minimal.[/citation]
I don't know where you got your info but CrossfireX on the 790FX and 890FX scales as follows:

3 = 40% increase over 2
4 = 30% increase over 3

ANY game that supports CrossfireX supports Quad-CrossfireX. There's no compatibility that says "ok but only 2" Jeez man!