System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $2,500 Performance PC

[Stardude82]

The $650 and the $1250 systems all had AMD? Why shouldn't the $2500 system have an i7? Also, the on board RAID on the AMD boards has been disappointing. An ICH10R southbridge again gives Intel an advantage here as well.

If I had the system I'd hock one of the vid cards for a decent RAID controler.

 

[nikaan]

wow
it`s a wonderful dragon

amd has a best recommendation every time (performance/cost)

 

[fudgeboy]

[citation][nom]masterjaw[/nom]"Happy birthday", "Happy Halloween", "Merry Christmas", and "Happy New Year" to the lucky one who would get his hands on this one.[/citation]

more like happy heart attack. seriously if i won this thing i'd be shitting bricks for the next month!

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]stardude82[/nom]If I had the system I'd hock one of the vid cards for a decent RAID controler.[/citation]

You wouldn't have to. Remember that the bottom slot supports x8 mode.

 

[verrul]

interesting that the 1250 system puts up nearly identical gaming numbers

 

[jerryt74332]

I just compared game benchmarks with this system and the 5870 review. This system runs almost same framerates as the i7@4.0GHZ with the 2x 5870 in crossfire. That is pretty impressive.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]Article[/nom]RAID 1 adds neither capacity nor performance. [/citation]
Not really true. Some raid controllers utilize both/all drives for read operations instead of just one. Yielding read speeds close to a striped raid set. I'm not aware of any software controllers doing so, but there's not really any technical restriciton to doing it.

 

[demodus]

Corsair HX850W Power Supply Reviewhttp://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/741

Understanding the 80 Plus Certificationhttp://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/742

Hardware Secrets Power Supply Test Methodology
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/522

Those Corsair PSUs can put out way more than its official certification. Great article, by the way, how does one enter the give-away contest?

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]Not really true. Some raid controllers utilize both/all drives for read operations instead of just one. Yielding read speeds close to a striped raid set. I'm not aware of any software controllers doing so, but there's not really any technical restriciton to doing it.[/citation]

That's the difference between theory and practice. Rather than comment on theory, the editor considered only the wide range of Tom's Hardware RAID controller reviews.

 

[vaker5]

Bah I'll never win the system. Most people that do are probably too busy to use it.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]That's the difference between theory and practice. Rather than comment on theory, the editor considered only the wide range of Tom's Hardware RAID controller reviews.[/citation]
Regardles of what a reviewer chooses, claiming that raid 1 doesn't provide performance is incorrect. Most of the time it won't show any performance increase, but that's dependant on the controller, not on the raid 1 marketing term. I've got a 16 drive eonstor system 4 meters away, which supports improved read speed on raid 1 setups. Though we admittedly utilize a raid with parity and spares instead, the feature does exist in practice.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

By the way, can't help but to wonder what'd happen with this system if the cooling system'd been used on the graphics instead of on the cpu - I know it would've been too expensive as the waterblocks don't come free of charge, but can't help but wonder anyway.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

With a budget of $2,500 you would have thought they would have gone for the best.... an i7.

 

[proro1974]

[citation][nom]ElectroGoofy[/nom]With a budget of $2,500 you would have thought they would have gone for the best.... an i7.[/citation]
another non-reader.

 

[ElectroGoofy]

With a budget of $2,500 you would have thought they would have gone for the best.... an i7.

Was looking forward to seeing what kind of i7 based computer they could put together for $2,500, but I guess they went with and AMD

But yea, I am happy for the AMD fanboys, there haven't been many AMD based computers lately

 

[ElectroGoofy]

P.S.

@proro1974

woops, accidentally hit the post comment... there was more to it.

 

[avatar_raq]

Very nice system, although the assembly was a little complex, but nothing an enthusiast can't handle.
When I started to read this article I thought amd won't suit such a high-end system, but seeing how the extra cash was diverted to a powerful GFX setup and storage and the gaming results it achieved, I changed my mind.

 

[pocketdrummer]

What about previous overclocked version vs new overclocked version?

Isn't the benchmark sort of skewed?

 

[dark_lord69]

Awesome build, I wish I had money to spare like that.
I can't even dish out $350 for upgrades.

I'm surprised it's an AMD system. (Although I do feel that the core i7 processors and motherboards are overpriced.)

RAID 0 Solid State!! OMG!
8GB of RAM!!
4890 X3!! WOW!!
I would do anything to win a pc like this!

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]pocketdrummer[/nom]What about previous overclocked version vs new overclocked version?Isn't the benchmark sort of skewed?[/citation]
There's a comparison article on the way comparing the builds, and I assume where applicable it'll include the last builds as well.

@ dark_lord69 : 8GB memory is quite affordable, and if you already have 2x2gb (I would assume any build from mid-end 2006 and now has that), it's very simple to upgrade. You may want to wait till october and get a win 7 64bit to go with it though - and then it's not so cheap anymore.

 

[skora]

Since the rational in the conclusion to spend this much is to enhance the gaming experience, here's a suggestion for next quarter. Build a system around Nvidia's 3D glasses. Include a monitor or HD TV in the cost since it needs the 120mhz refresh rate, and see what you can come up with. I think the debate is over for mainstream water vs big air, save the money and stick with the air.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

120mhz refresh? bloody hell! And I thought 200hz was fast!

 

[skora]

120mhz refresh? bloody hell! And I thought 200hz was fast!

LOL, thank you for pointing out my typo. Soon, your monitor will have windows 3.11 installed on it!

The principal behind needing 120hz is each eye has to see 60hz so it doesn't recognize a difference from a regular monitor. The glasses will close tiny shutters on one eye for 1 hz while the other eye sees the screen. Then the lens switch for 1 hz and the screen shows a slightly different picture so the brain will precieve depth. It does this back and forth, the brain never realizes the 1hz blackout for each eye, and your gaming experience is enhanced. Haven't done any research in a while, so I don't know if faster refresh rates effect performance or not.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

LOL, thank you for pointing out my typo. Soon, your monitor will have windows 3.11 installed on it!

The principal behind needing 120hz is each eye has to see 60hz so it doesn't recognize a difference from a regular monitor. The glasses will close tiny shutters on one eye for 1 hz while the other eye sees the screen. Then the lens switch for 1 hz and the screen shows a slightly different picture so the brain will precieve depth. It does this back and forth, the brain never realizes the 1hz blackout for each eye, and your gaming experience is enhanced. Haven't done any research in a while, so I don't know if faster refresh rates effect performance or not.

I know how they work. I see very poorly on one eye, and found out those kinds of hardware didn't work for me (back in 96 when matrox introduced similar ones), so I ofc tried to understand why.

In any event - I've actually got 3.11 in a vmware mashine on this pc, so it's already there

 

[jerreece]

[citation][nom]dirtmountain[/nom]The Corsair CMPSU-850HX is rated Silver, not Gold. Nice build, good results, great work.[/citation]
[citation][nom]dirtmountain[/nom]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139011Newegg says differently. I did check sources.[/citation]

Why are you people giving this guy thumbs down? He's spotted an error and is apparently right.

http://www.corsair.com/products/hx850/default.aspx

Corsair claims it is Silver. They made it, they are the ones who have to stand behind their claims. So I'd be most inclined to go by their information.