And this being one of the reasons we picked that price point. You can't have everything, so what do you do and what do you give up to get down to $1500?
You could go slightly over the $1500 limit and put in a HDD, but then games that end up on the HDD will suffer. Besides loading times, some games like MMOs dynamically load stuff from disk as you enter new areas. With a slow HDD, you see an empty area, and objects gradually load (sometimes in your face). It's much better with a SSD.
good point and that is the one metric where the corsair build falls behind a little, but it's much easier and cheaper to upgrade storage than to upgrade graphics cards, so i think the decision makes sense, even if i would have prefered a 512gb bx100.
Wow, I'm actually embarrassed by how completely imbalanced this is from AnandTech. You can get IDENTICAL performance, plus more storage, for under $1,000 by using parts that actually make sense.
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg) Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.98 @ Newegg) Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Newegg) Storage: Corsair Force LS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.00 @ Amazon) Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($329.00 @ Amazon) Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($44.88 @ Amazon) Power Supply: SeaSonic 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.98 @ Newegg) Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive ($19.99 @ Newegg) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($102.98 @ Newegg) Total: $989.28 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-31 11:50 EDT-0400
I mean, seriously? A $110 water cooler for a locked Intel CPU? An expensive Z97 board for a locked CPU? $100 for 8GB of RAM that add essentially nothing to performance? An overkill 750w PSu for an overkill $140? Tsk Tsk.
You do realise, from reading our previous Build-A-Rig articles, that the manufacturers in the competition picked the parts? We specifically interviewed both companies about their choices and the reasons behind them.
I would drop the water cooling, the elaborate ram, add a couple of TB of rust spinners, and perhaps a smaller SSD (60GB? 120GB?) for your specific game of choice. More specifically that game you play most.
@Ryan Smith: I disagree with your description of the PSU in p2. Tom's Hardware PSU List 2.0 has it classified as " Tier 3". QUOTE Some Haswell compatible, some not (maybe unconfirmed). Still safe to use and stable, just lower quality components. Some capacitors maybe Japanese, but can include Taiwanese capacitors. Not really ideal in serious overclocking or super-high load situations, such as a Bitcoin mining rig or a high end gaming system. UNQUOTE
So the "CS650M is" NOT "a capable PSU for a straightforward gaming system". It is just a short term solution until the owner of the said system can get a Tier 1 or Tier 2 PSU.
Can't really -still- blame Dustin however. Tier 3 PSU should be barely adequate for moderate overclocking (CPU+GPU).
you will have to do some _serious_ overclocking to even come close to the 650w of the corsair psu with a 88w cpu and a 250w gpu. i think the cm650m is will fare just fine.
I have to agree with fokka regarding the PSU as more than adequate for anything the system can demand in an overclocked scenario. PSUs are in the same domain as screen resolutions where the respective industries would like very much for us to purchase based on acquiring higher numeric values without realizing any actual benefit. Most of the power supplies I've used over the past 20 years have been ultra cheap, sub-400 watt no-name supplies generally included in crappy cases as a gimme and I've only owned one that failed. The PSU is one component that I think is very much skimp-worthy when you're managing a budget for a build as premium supplies really don't reward a buyer with much added benefit.
I don't understand the component selection for the zotac build. A quick build off from newegg using a the same case, motherboard, same gen graphics card (zotac 970, but a different, cheaper) model, and no water cooling or bling allowed me to significantly up the speed of the overall system. 16 GB of DDR3 1866 RAM, core i7 4790k, Samsung 850 EVO 500 Gb SSD and Windows 10 pro. All for $1431. I wasn't even trying, can probably do even better on Amazon since Amazon tends to be cheaper. You could even go to 32 gb of RAM and not be over budget.
i think it is very likely to exceed 60 watts and even the tdp of 84 watts, since it might use more than that in turbo mode. but as you said, in real life it will only turbo for short periods of time most of the time, so the 240mm cooler is completely over the top of course.
So for the Corsair machine, how would one know that the fan headers are running at a lower voltage? Does it show the value as a %? Otherwise, I would have no idea if they're lower than normal or not... if it's just showing a voltage amount, since I don't know the standard amount.
there might be something like a "silent" or "low" fan mode in bios with the option to override and customize the seperate fan speeds. you'll most likely see a percentage or some other number indicating the speed so it should be relatively straight forward to spot the culprit - if you know what to look for.
I agree with most other comments here.. IMO Corsair nailed it with proper priorities when working with a budget...CPU, Memory, Mobo, PSU and GPU performance are top priority over aesthetics. Performance per $$ should always take top priority over aesthetics when working within a limited budget. Add a cheap HDD to the Corsair build and you've got a heck of a lot of PC Gaming performance for your $$$.
Although to be fair, going by the rules Corsair was allowed to come in a little over budget. ;)
There's only so much routing and tucking that makes sense when the cables don't quite fit nicely in the first place, and the case doesn't have a window to see the diminishing returns.
It looks like the power cable for the mobo could have easily been routed to come out of the top tray slot rather than be snaked over from the hard drive cage, where it's impeding airflow between an intake fan and the GPU.
Sure, if it's your own PC and you just want to slap it together, giddyup. But if you're going to be displaying it online, and for a reader vote, none-the-less, spend the extra few minutes.
I am salivating over that Corsair build. I hope I win! Slap in a 512GB SSD and its good to go! I have acrylic windows on my computers and they are buried under my desk unappreciated. I'll take the power over the aesthetics any day.
Imho Corsair build leaves Zotac far back in the dust. I might have done a little bit different setup (cpu cooler down, psu+ssd up) but I am completely fine with the result. Having 240GB SSD myself I find it completely enough for my gaming needs.
Pretty much exactly what I did. It actually got picked up by the authors and mentioned on the last page of the previous build-a-rig article.
I ended up getting the same CPU and GPU as the Corsair build (complete with 600W PSU and Corsair H55 for overclocking the CPU/GPU) and put it in a Silverstone FTZ-01 case. The budget was tight, but I made it even with mini-itx.
I still prefer the Zotac build. Performance is certainly better with Cosair's box, but I wouldn't bother overclocking anything and I really have no desire to game at higher than 1366x768 so the difference in GPUs is pretty much a moot point. What appeals with the Zotac system is that it has a lot more storage so there's no need to add another form of mass storage right away. It also strikes me as quieter, cooler, and more power efficient with the nice touch of some reasonable lighting to make it pretty inside. Personally, I wouldn't have gone with a water cooler. Intel's whatever-comes-in-the-box HSF is good enough and the temperature difference in the CPU with the huge cooler is more academic than meaningful. If it were me doing this build, I would have opted for a micro ATX case, smaller and cheaper PSU, air cooling only, doubling the RAM (at least) and a GPU somewhere in the GT 740 range (with a mind for GDDR5 over DDR3 of course). Then the rest could have been tossed into more SSD storage space. I also probably would have looked pretty hard at installing an optical drive as well instead of going with a USB solution. Still though, Zotac got a lot closer to my ideal desktop computer.
With your target resolution I think you could consider running with a form of CPU integrated graphics. 1Mpx is pretty low resolution these days, almost everything can handle that decently (not saying perfect, but if you were after perfect you'd be on 2+Mpx resolutions anyway).
Yes, I agree that processor graphics are probably good enough in the majority of cases at that resolution. The only reason why I'd opt for adding a dedicated GPU is for an acknowledgement of some near future when whatever CPU is in the system wouldn't be quite enough to play things at that resolution with most settings turned up to their maximums otherwise.
On a side note, I did play around with NewEgg a little and came up with an idealized $1500 build for myself:
DIYPC MA01-G Black SPCC MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case - $27.99 Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply - Intel Haswell Fully Compatible - $39.99 ASUS H81M-K LGA 1150 Intel H81 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $54.99 Intel Core i3-4130 Haswell Dual-Core 3.4GHz LGA 1150 54W BX80646I34130 Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4400 - $116.99 Mushkin Enhanced Stealth 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 997069S - $86.99 MSI N740-2GD5 GeForce GT 740 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card - $98.99 SAMSUNG 850 EVO MZ-75E2T0B/AM 2.5" 2 TB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $799.99 LG Internal 24x Super Multi with M-DISC Support SATA Model GH24NSC0B - OEM - $19.99 Microsoft Windows 10 Pro - Full Version (32 & 64-bit) / USB Flash Drive - $199.99
Total - $1,445.91
It's a lot "better" for my wants from a desktop, though I really could have dumped the 2TB SSD in favor of a 2TB hard drive. In my personal experience, the benefits of increased storage performance don't outweigh the $640 price difference between the two.
For drive mounting, like in the Accelerator build, I use an 90 degree bend SATA cable. I plug the 90 Degree bend into the ssd, then I mount the drive backwards. This helps hide the extra slack of the cable.
My main is already very similar to the Corsair build as it has a 256G ssd. My games storage is an iSCSI LUN off my server in the basement. At this point in pricing I'm torn between 1 local SSD or a set in RAID to feed the 4 gaming systems in the house.
Thanks for the suggestions. You always have gaming rigs in your recommended setups. A lot of us are not gamers and need to build workstations for video rendering/encoding etc. How about an article targeted at such users. It would be very helpful. Thanks.
Pretty sure I entered first time around, but don't remember, so I covered my bases here and entered again. I know that if I enter twice, the 2nd entry will be discarded, but I don't want to miss out on this.
Overall, I'll take either one. I wouldn't use the power of the Corsair build, though more power is always nice, And the Zotac build is just nice looking!
Since we are mostly enthusiasts here, I know most people here lean towards the Corsair build, but the average computer user will go for looks every time, as long as the performance doesn't drag them down.
Funny little zinger from Corsair including the Zotac GPU in their build.....The Corsair rig is going to stomp the Zotac in performance measures. It's not even going to be close.
Personally, I'd take Zotac's build. Yes, the GTX970 is not as powerful as the GTX980Ti. However, I really dislike the GTX980Ti reference design cooler as it is single fan so higher fan RPM thus higher noise. Also, all I play is CSGO, DOTA2, LOL and I don't game in 4K. GTX980Ti not powerful enough for 4K max setting gaming anyways. Also with the given cost limitation, assuming no further products will be added having a visually pleasing system is just as important as the system performance, I feel Zotac did a great job on balancing this. It is not an "all show no go" nor "all go no show" system. Like the corsair. For us folks that are not looking for peak performance, and want a daily driver PC I would choose the Zotac system.
really, it'd be awesome to get either one. I purchased brand new parts 2 days ago and am awaiting everything to show up by next thursday. I spent right around $1400 for the build and it is going to perform probably around where the zotac will (i have faster ram, faster cpu, and a 970 SC).
Winning either one of these systems will simply pay for the computer i'm building. If i win one of these, I'll either sell my new system or sell theirs. Either way gonna be a nice free system =)
Terrible choices from Zotac TBH. I mean, a few months back I put together a rig that is faster, smaller and looks better (subjective I know, but I think most people would agree). Oh and it was under 1200$. Corsair went in a better direction, though they could surely cut some costs to improve the looks, if you spend more than a grand on a pc you probably don't want to think about it as a "big black box". I'm really surprised neither company decided to go into a smaller form factor, especially Zotac since they sacrificed performance for looks anyway.
I feel like the Zotac build is actually kind of better in many ways than what Corsair came up with. It may seem really silly because the Corsair build is obviously more powerful, but Zotac's build is probably the perfect stop gap between now and when 4k gaming can really take off. It seems to me like the 980ti is not really sufficient for 4k gaming of AAA title at a consistent 60+ frames per second. It's just think that if you can't do that with putting extra money into the GPU, then what is the point if you can get decent frames at 1080p with a 970 and spend more on components you can carry over to a next build, making your PC look flashy (if you are into that), or increasing storage. I think how Zotac finished their build really reflects that with the sleeved cables, 750 watt PSU, bigger SSD, DVD drive, lights, sexy RAM, and a better CPU cooler to reduce noise and heat. I also don't like Corsair's choice of CPU cooler. It's easy to tell they they were trying to promote their products with this build, but the h60 just isn't that good. You could easily pick up something like the Silver Arrow for around the same price and have a much better performance to noise ration and not run the risk of leaking. I'm not saying the risk of leaking is high, just merely that it is there as another point of failure along with the pump. I used an h80i for my girlfriend's rig and it's been great, but things tend to happen more often with water cooling than with air in my experience.
Unless you have the money to go SLI with high end graphics cards, I don't really feel it's worth it at this point to chase 4k and the Zotac build is more than good enough for 1080 right now. The only thing I wish they would have done is find a way to spend a bit more money on getting a better case. Maybe ditch the DVD drive and get a slightly lower wattage PSU to make room in the budget. It was a really solid build in my opinion.
It is interesting to see these two because in many a way they are opposite ends of the spectrum.
I feel I would have ended up somewhere in the middle. I used to build systems like the corsair but as i get older I try and build more balanced systems. Easily could drop back to a 980 and use that money for a bigger SSD. Or drop even further back to a 970 and get a nicer case as well.
Gaming interests me not at all, but video editing/rendering does. It's not clear to me how this kind of focus would be better served by either of these two builds, or something else altogether.
Those are stupid configs... Zotacs: - Too powerful and too expensive PSU. A 500W one for under $100 would have been more than enough. - Useless and too expensive cooler. An air cooler would have been quieter, wouldnt have much different temps and would have been $30 to $70 less expensive. - Weak CPU compared to the GPU. That CPU just doesnt fit this GPU. Either get a i7-4790k/i5-4690k or a GTX 960. - Too much useless bling bling.
The Corsair one is much better, but still could use some improvements. - Cooler is just useless. You dont need a CLC in that price range. I wont be better than a good air cooler, but it will be louder and more expensive. - Not enough storage. - Still too powerful PSU. - GPU and CPU dont really mix. The GPU is too fast for the CPU. Plus the mainboard is a very cheap one. Those 3 things just look stupid together, even if there was a limit of $1500.
The H100i is a complete waste of money. You'd be better off getting a K model chip that can be OC'd and use a 212+ evo cooler instead, and it would cost about the same. I don't even see why this build was showcased.
For $1500 you should be able to build a 980TI rig. A single 970 for a $1500 build is kinda weak. That's a 1k build GPU.
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53 Comments
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benjamin.mtzgr - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I entered, so I guess I might win.hojnikb - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Who in their right mind puts water cooling on a non OC cpu ?Why OC motherboard and non OC cpu ?
Overkill of overkill CPU of the given config.
Overkill and overly expensive ram.
Same gaming in game performance could be done for atleast 400-500$ less.
hojnikb - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Looking at the Zotac obviously. Corsair is much better, but its still open to some cost saving.chlamchowder - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
On the other hand, who builds a gaming PC with just 240 GB of storage? Game installs are huge, and that space is going to fill fast.extide - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Yeah obviosuly they were up against the $1500 limit there, but it would be really easy to toss in a big ol spinner for some local storage.Ryan Smith - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
And this being one of the reasons we picked that price point. You can't have everything, so what do you do and what do you give up to get down to $1500?chlamchowder - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You could go slightly over the $1500 limit and put in a HDD, but then games that end up on the HDD will suffer. Besides loading times, some games like MMOs dynamically load stuff from disk as you enter new areas. With a slow HDD, you see an empty area, and objects gradually load (sometimes in your face). It's much better with a SSD.fokka - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
good point and that is the one metric where the corsair build falls behind a little, but it's much easier and cheaper to upgrade storage than to upgrade graphics cards, so i think the decision makes sense, even if i would have prefered a 512gb bx100.nathanddrews - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Someone's always got to complain. LOLZak - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Seriously. Mismatched build. I'd use the stock CPU cooler, less expensive motherboard and RAM, drop the bling strip and save some bucks.Gigaplex - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Or go with a cheap, quiet cooler like the Coolermaster Hyper 212 range.HiTechObsessed - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Wow, I'm actually embarrassed by how completely imbalanced this is from AnandTech. You can get IDENTICAL performance, plus more storage, for under $1,000 by using parts that actually make sense.PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xVJ4TW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xVJ4TW/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Force LS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($329.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($44.88 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $989.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-31 11:50 EDT-0400
I mean, seriously? A $110 water cooler for a locked Intel CPU? An expensive Z97 board for a locked CPU? $100 for 8GB of RAM that add essentially nothing to performance? An overkill 750w PSu for an overkill $140? Tsk Tsk.
scotto330 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You can do better @ Micro CenterCPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.99)
Use the savings and upgrade the primary storage:
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III SSD ($104.99 @ Amazon)
I would also swap out the video card from the 970's 3.4GB for same money to:
Gigabyte AMD R9 390 GDDR5 8GB ($329.00 @ Amazon)
I own a Gigabyte G1 Gamming GTX 970....just sayin.
Ian Cutress - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
You do realise, from reading our previous Build-A-Rig articles, that the manufacturers in the competition picked the parts? We specifically interviewed both companies about their choices and the reasons behind them.http://anandtech.com/show/9417/build-a-rig-r1-1500...
Gonemad - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
I would drop the water cooling, the elaborate ram, add a couple of TB of rust spinners, and perhaps a smaller SSD (60GB? 120GB?) for your specific game of choice. More specifically that game you play most.Achaios - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
@Ryan Smith: I disagree with your description of the PSU in p2. Tom's Hardware PSU List 2.0 has it classified as " Tier 3".QUOTE
Some Haswell compatible, some not (maybe unconfirmed). Still safe to use and stable, just lower quality components. Some capacitors maybe Japanese, but can include Taiwanese capacitors. Not really ideal in serious overclocking or super-high load situations, such as a Bitcoin mining rig or a high end gaming system.
UNQUOTE
So the "CS650M is" NOT "a capable PSU for a straightforward gaming system". It is just a short term solution until the owner of the said system can get a Tier 1 or Tier 2 PSU.
Can't really -still- blame Dustin however. Tier 3 PSU should be barely adequate for moderate overclocking (CPU+GPU).
fokka - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
you will have to do some _serious_ overclocking to even come close to the 650w of the corsair psu with a 88w cpu and a 250w gpu. i think the cm650m is will fare just fine.BrokenCrayons - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I have to agree with fokka regarding the PSU as more than adequate for anything the system can demand in an overclocked scenario. PSUs are in the same domain as screen resolutions where the respective industries would like very much for us to purchase based on acquiring higher numeric values without realizing any actual benefit. Most of the power supplies I've used over the past 20 years have been ultra cheap, sub-400 watt no-name supplies generally included in crappy cases as a gimme and I've only owned one that failed. The PSU is one component that I think is very much skimp-worthy when you're managing a budget for a build as premium supplies really don't reward a buyer with much added benefit.Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Why spend $250 on power and cooling for a 60 watt cpu and a 120 watt video card? Hello? Pass that bong pls.fokka - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
exactly what i said when the first article came out. you would really expect more sensible choices from a hardware company.eek2121 - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I don't understand the component selection for the zotac build. A quick build off from newegg using a the same case, motherboard, same gen graphics card (zotac 970, but a different, cheaper) model, and no water cooling or bling allowed me to significantly up the speed of the overall system. 16 GB of DDR3 1866 RAM, core i7 4790k, Samsung 850 EVO 500 Gb SSD and Windows 10 pro. All for $1431. I wasn't even trying, can probably do even better on Amazon since Amazon tends to be cheaper. You could even go to 32 gb of RAM and not be over budget.atl - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Again - 240mm AIO water cooler on 84TDP non-overclockable CPU, which in RL will most likely not exceed 60 Wattsfokka - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
i think it is very likely to exceed 60 watts and even the tdp of 84 watts, since it might use more than that in turbo mode. but as you said, in real life it will only turbo for short periods of time most of the time, so the 240mm cooler is completely over the top of course.arnavvdesai - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Hope to WIN!!Scrote - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
So for the Corsair machine, how would one know that the fan headers are running at a lower voltage? Does it show the value as a %? Otherwise, I would have no idea if they're lower than normal or not... if it's just showing a voltage amount, since I don't know the standard amount.fokka - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
there might be something like a "silent" or "low" fan mode in bios with the option to override and customize the seperate fan speeds. you'll most likely see a percentage or some other number indicating the speed so it should be relatively straight forward to spot the culprit - if you know what to look for.barleyguy - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
Oh, there's a typo on page 2:"there aren’t any major sources of head in this build besides the CPU"'
Well, I assume it's a typo. It does read fine and make perfect sense the way it is. ;-)
MTDEW - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I agree with most other comments here..IMO Corsair nailed it with proper priorities when working with a budget...CPU, Memory, Mobo, PSU and GPU performance are top priority over aesthetics.
Performance per $$ should always take top priority over aesthetics when working within a limited budget.
Add a cheap HDD to the Corsair build and you've got a heck of a lot of PC Gaming performance for your $$$.
Although to be fair, going by the rules Corsair was allowed to come in a little over budget. ;)
wperry - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I'm all in on the Corsair build.....but dude, take 5 minutes to route and tuck the cables - it looks like butt.
Gigaplex - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
There's only so much routing and tucking that makes sense when the cables don't quite fit nicely in the first place, and the case doesn't have a window to see the diminishing returns.wperry - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
It looks like the power cable for the mobo could have easily been routed to come out of the top tray slot rather than be snaked over from the hard drive cage, where it's impeding airflow between an intake fan and the GPU.Sure, if it's your own PC and you just want to slap it together, giddyup. But if you're going to be displaying it online, and for a reader vote, none-the-less, spend the extra few minutes.
faster - Thursday, July 30, 2015 - link
I am salivating over that Corsair build. I hope I win! Slap in a 512GB SSD and its good to go! I have acrylic windows on my computers and they are buried under my desk unappreciated. I'll take the power over the aesthetics any day.HollyDOL - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Imho Corsair build leaves Zotac far back in the dust. I might have done a little bit different setup (cpu cooler down, psu+ssd up) but I am completely fine with the result. Having 240GB SSD myself I find it completely enough for my gaming needs.zodiacfml - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
No complaints on the Corsair build. For personal preference, I'd have it on a mini-itx build for more challenge. :)gamer1000k - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Pretty much exactly what I did. It actually got picked up by the authors and mentioned on the last page of the previous build-a-rig article.I ended up getting the same CPU and GPU as the Corsair build (complete with 600W PSU and Corsair H55 for overclocking the CPU/GPU) and put it in a Silverstone FTZ-01 case. The budget was tight, but I made it even with mini-itx.
BrokenCrayons - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
I still prefer the Zotac build. Performance is certainly better with Cosair's box, but I wouldn't bother overclocking anything and I really have no desire to game at higher than 1366x768 so the difference in GPUs is pretty much a moot point. What appeals with the Zotac system is that it has a lot more storage so there's no need to add another form of mass storage right away. It also strikes me as quieter, cooler, and more power efficient with the nice touch of some reasonable lighting to make it pretty inside. Personally, I wouldn't have gone with a water cooler. Intel's whatever-comes-in-the-box HSF is good enough and the temperature difference in the CPU with the huge cooler is more academic than meaningful. If it were me doing this build, I would have opted for a micro ATX case, smaller and cheaper PSU, air cooling only, doubling the RAM (at least) and a GPU somewhere in the GT 740 range (with a mind for GDDR5 over DDR3 of course). Then the rest could have been tossed into more SSD storage space. I also probably would have looked pretty hard at installing an optical drive as well instead of going with a USB solution. Still though, Zotac got a lot closer to my ideal desktop computer.HollyDOL - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
With your target resolution I think you could consider running with a form of CPU integrated graphics. 1Mpx is pretty low resolution these days, almost everything can handle that decently (not saying perfect, but if you were after perfect you'd be on 2+Mpx resolutions anyway).BrokenCrayons - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Yes, I agree that processor graphics are probably good enough in the majority of cases at that resolution. The only reason why I'd opt for adding a dedicated GPU is for an acknowledgement of some near future when whatever CPU is in the system wouldn't be quite enough to play things at that resolution with most settings turned up to their maximums otherwise.On a side note, I did play around with NewEgg a little and came up with an idealized $1500 build for myself:
DIYPC MA01-G Black SPCC MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case - $27.99
Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply - Intel Haswell Fully Compatible - $39.99
ASUS H81M-K LGA 1150 Intel H81 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $54.99
Intel Core i3-4130 Haswell Dual-Core 3.4GHz LGA 1150 54W BX80646I34130 Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4400 - $116.99
Mushkin Enhanced Stealth 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 997069S - $86.99
MSI N740-2GD5 GeForce GT 740 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card - $98.99
SAMSUNG 850 EVO MZ-75E2T0B/AM 2.5" 2 TB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $799.99
LG Internal 24x Super Multi with M-DISC Support SATA Model GH24NSC0B - OEM - $19.99
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro - Full Version (32 & 64-bit) / USB Flash Drive - $199.99
Total - $1,445.91
It's a lot "better" for my wants from a desktop, though I really could have dumped the 2TB SSD in favor of a 2TB hard drive. In my personal experience, the benefits of increased storage performance don't outweigh the $640 price difference between the two.
khanikun - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
For drive mounting, like in the Accelerator build, I use an 90 degree bend SATA cable. I plug the 90 Degree bend into the ssd, then I mount the drive backwards. This helps hide the extra slack of the cable.alaricljs - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
My main is already very similar to the Corsair build as it has a 256G ssd. My games storage is an iSCSI LUN off my server in the basement. At this point in pricing I'm torn between 1 local SSD or a set in RAID to feed the 4 gaming systems in the house.experttech - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Thanks for the suggestions. You always have gaming rigs in your recommended setups. A lot of us are not gamers and need to build workstations for video rendering/encoding etc. How about an article targeted at such users. It would be very helpful. Thanks.laday2 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
The 90-Day average "Hey Good Lookin'" is off by about $20, should be $1512.72. Both builds take a different approach and I appreciate their diversity.jardows2 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Pretty sure I entered first time around, but don't remember, so I covered my bases here and entered again. I know that if I enter twice, the 2nd entry will be discarded, but I don't want to miss out on this.Overall, I'll take either one. I wouldn't use the power of the Corsair build, though more power is always nice, And the Zotac build is just nice looking!
Since we are mostly enthusiasts here, I know most people here lean towards the Corsair build, but the average computer user will go for looks every time, as long as the performance doesn't drag them down.
monkeydelmagico - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Funny little zinger from Corsair including the Zotac GPU in their build.....The Corsair rig is going to stomp the Zotac in performance measures. It's not even going to be close.I'd still enjoy the Zotac if it was free
nismov35 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Personally, I'd take Zotac's build. Yes, the GTX970 is not as powerful as the GTX980Ti. However, I really dislike the GTX980Ti reference design cooler as it is single fan so higher fan RPM thus higher noise. Also, all I play is CSGO, DOTA2, LOL and I don't game in 4K. GTX980Ti not powerful enough for 4K max setting gaming anyways. Also with the given cost limitation, assuming no further products will be added having a visually pleasing system is just as important as the system performance, I feel Zotac did a great job on balancing this. It is not an "all show no go" nor "all go no show" system. Like the corsair. For us folks that are not looking for peak performance, and want a daily driver PC I would choose the Zotac system.benjamin.mtzgr - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
really, it'd be awesome to get either one. I purchased brand new parts 2 days ago and am awaiting everything to show up by next thursday. I spent right around $1400 for the build and it is going to perform probably around where the zotac will (i have faster ram, faster cpu, and a 970 SC).Winning either one of these systems will simply pay for the computer i'm building. If i win one of these, I'll either sell my new system or sell theirs. Either way gonna be a nice free system =)
I wonder what the odds are of winning...
Barilla - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Terrible choices from Zotac TBH. I mean, a few months back I put together a rig that is faster, smaller and looks better (subjective I know, but I think most people would agree). Oh and it was under 1200$.Corsair went in a better direction, though they could surely cut some costs to improve the looks, if you spend more than a grand on a pc you probably don't want to think about it as a "big black box".
I'm really surprised neither company decided to go into a smaller form factor, especially Zotac since they sacrificed performance for looks anyway.
Cautionfire - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
I feel like the Zotac build is actually kind of better in many ways than what Corsair came up with. It may seem really silly because the Corsair build is obviously more powerful, but Zotac's build is probably the perfect stop gap between now and when 4k gaming can really take off. It seems to me like the 980ti is not really sufficient for 4k gaming of AAA title at a consistent 60+ frames per second. It's just think that if you can't do that with putting extra money into the GPU, then what is the point if you can get decent frames at 1080p with a 970 and spend more on components you can carry over to a next build, making your PC look flashy (if you are into that), or increasing storage. I think how Zotac finished their build really reflects that with the sleeved cables, 750 watt PSU, bigger SSD, DVD drive, lights, sexy RAM, and a better CPU cooler to reduce noise and heat. I also don't like Corsair's choice of CPU cooler. It's easy to tell they they were trying to promote their products with this build, but the h60 just isn't that good. You could easily pick up something like the Silver Arrow for around the same price and have a much better performance to noise ration and not run the risk of leaking. I'm not saying the risk of leaking is high, just merely that it is there as another point of failure along with the pump. I used an h80i for my girlfriend's rig and it's been great, but things tend to happen more often with water cooling than with air in my experience.Unless you have the money to go SLI with high end graphics cards, I don't really feel it's worth it at this point to chase 4k and the Zotac build is more than good enough for 1080 right now. The only thing I wish they would have done is find a way to spend a bit more money on getting a better case. Maybe ditch the DVD drive and get a slightly lower wattage PSU to make room in the budget. It was a really solid build in my opinion.
doggface - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
It is interesting to see these two because in many a way they are opposite ends of the spectrum.I feel I would have ended up somewhere in the middle. I used to build systems like the corsair but as i get older I try and build more balanced systems.
Easily could drop back to a 980 and use that money for a bigger SSD.
Or drop even further back to a 970 and get a nicer case as well.
All, just a bit of fun though.
MAM2 - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - link
HIi want pc like this one but the problem is shipping and where i live
is there anyone can help ?
Ben Derdunnet - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - link
Gaming interests me not at all, but video editing/rendering does. It's not clear to me how this kind of focus would be better served by either of these two builds, or something else altogether.Beaver M. - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Those are stupid configs...Zotacs:
- Too powerful and too expensive PSU. A 500W one for under $100 would have been more than enough.
- Useless and too expensive cooler. An air cooler would have been quieter, wouldnt have much different temps and would have been $30 to $70 less expensive.
- Weak CPU compared to the GPU. That CPU just doesnt fit this GPU. Either get a i7-4790k/i5-4690k or a GTX 960.
- Too much useless bling bling.
The Corsair one is much better, but still could use some improvements.
- Cooler is just useless. You dont need a CLC in that price range. I wont be better than a good air cooler, but it will be louder and more expensive.
- Not enough storage.
- Still too powerful PSU.
- GPU and CPU dont really mix. The GPU is too fast for the CPU. Plus the mainboard is a very cheap one. Those 3 things just look stupid together, even if there was a limit of $1500.
chaotic0ne - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
The H100i is a complete waste of money. You'd be better off getting a K model chip that can be OC'd and use a 212+ evo cooler instead, and it would cost about the same. I don't even see why this build was showcased.For $1500 you should be able to build a 980TI rig. A single 970 for a $1500 build is kinda weak. That's a 1k build GPU.