Introduction

–The purpose of this ongoing “value” series is to pinpoint the CPU/platform “sweet spot” for upper midrange graphics performance with both GTX 280 & HD 4870-X2 class of video cards at both 1920×1200 and at 1680×1050 resolutions as they are the popular widescreen gaming resolutions for DX10 games.

This editor has always emphasized bang for buck even though there has been no compromise so far. We have continually upgraded our PC to get even the slightest performance advantage for gaming at 1920×1200 and 1650×1080 resolutions. We started out benchmarking last Summer with a Core2Duo E4300 (1.8 GHz stock clock), which we managed to overclock to 3.3 GHz with AMD’s HD 4870 TriFire, on a PCIe 1.0 P35 motherboard with 16x+4x PCIe CrossFire lanes. We got great framerates in a lot of modern games that we benchmarked here at ABT for you in this review. However, by simply upgrading to the newer Core2Duo E8600’s architecture at the same 3.3 GHz, we netted some nice performance gains and a further overclock to 3.99 GHz (and later on to 4.25 GHz) gained some more framerates for us in a few critical games as we reported in this article.

We weren’t completely content with our PC as we also found out that by using a 512MB vRAM HD 4870 paired with a 2 GB HD 4870-X2 in TriFire, it held us back in a few games and so we upgraded to HD 4870 1GB to pair with our HD 4870-X2 GB video card. Upon further testing, we upgraded our P35 Intel chipset motherboard to our current X48 ASUS Rampage Formula because we found a game or two where the 16x+4x PCIe CrossFire lanes restricted our bandwidth so as to be noticeable and we now have 16x+16x PCIe lanes for Crossfire. We even noted that in a few cases, PCIe 1.0/1.1 limited the bandwidth for a single-GPU video card, compared to PCIe 2.0 as this review pointed out.

Further, we tested Intel’s engineering sample of Q9550s (2.83 GHz stock) at 4.0 GHz against our E8600 at 4.25 GHz and found the dual core to be lacking in a few games in this article that was most notable with CrossFire. Clearly the faster core speed of the dual core could not compensate for the “extra” two cores of our Q9550S. As a result, we have been benchmarking exclusively with quad core.

We even ran Vista 32 against Vista 64 and picked the 64-bit operating system for our continued benching in this review – but not for gaming reasons; rather we will eventually utilize more than 4GB of system RAM. We examined CrossFireX here and determined that it is sometimes financially and/or performance wise to pair a stronger card with a weaker one, especially if the slower card can be overclocked. And we revisited our earliest benches in our latest review to finally conclude that the top video cards of the last two generations and the midrange cards of today are no match for maxed-out DX10 gaming at higher resolutions; especially if filtering is used. We learned a lot along the way from our hardware upgrading adventure in PC gaming and graphics, and we have especially enjoyed sharing our findings with our readers as we upgraded our Intel Penryn platform to about as far as it can go. The only further logical upgrade for our PC is to Core i7 when we have faster graphics than our current HD 4870-X3 Tri-Fire.

The Value Gamer

We are deep in a world-wide financial recession, and although most gamers would love to upgrade regularly and have Tri-Fire or SLi graphics systems powered by the most expensive overclocked quad core CPU to play their DX10 PC games, most of us must be pragmatic. For the first time, we are going to be dealing with the word, BUDGET. We want to see how close to our Q9550S at 4.0 GHz that we can come performance wise, while building a completely new PC that is not only a competent gaming performer at 1920×1200, but one that won’t break our bank.

The Hardware and Conditions for our value gamer

We want a handsome PC in a nicely cooled case, a quality CPU cooler and a solid power supply unit (PSU) that will handle a multi-core CPU and CrossFire – one certified by AMD/ATi for 4870 Crossfire. We expect you are probably upgrading from your current PC and will migrate your keyboard, mouse, optical drives, hard drives, LCD and operating system to your new build. If your PSU and case are already acceptable, you can spend considerably less money than we are spending on this build. You also might consider using Windows7 to save some money for a few months by using the pre-release builds offered by Microsoft.

Since no 32-bit games benefit from more than 4 GB of system RAM, we will also pick the cheaper DDR2 over DDR3 and we also will chose a CrossFire motherboard as we are going to explore AMD’s value CPU and GPU choices. Perhaps we will get lucky and unlock a Phenom II from a dual or tri core into a quad core! We will also examine the stock and overclocked gaming performance of the Athlon II X2 vs. the Phenom II X2 vs. Phenom II X3 (and if we get extremely lucky with unlocking cores, against Phenom II’s X4). We will match our new gaming build against our current maxed out, and much more expensive, Intel Penryn Core2Quad system – at stock, clock for clock and then at each CPU’s max OC.

When we started out, we had modest goals. We had a budget of just over $200 for our motherboard and CPU combo, and we got them both from NewEgg.com. All we were going to attempt, was to match AMD’s Phenom II’s dual core 550 X2 against Q9550S – both at 3.1 GHz and then at each CPU’s maximum overclock. Q9550S will be tested at 4.0 GHz as its known maximum overclock on maximum recommended voltage against 550 X2’s nearly 3.9 GHz overclock, as it turned out. We also hoped to have a chance to unlock two of the Phenom II’s cores for a very cheap quad core CPU.

Of course, we benched our Q9550S in preparation for this last month with the latest drivers then available to us – Catalyst 9-6 for our HD 4870-X2 and GeForce 186.18 for our GTX 280. Our testing goals seemed simple enough until AMD surprised us by sending AlienBabelTech their new Athlon II 250 X2 which is a budget or value CPU with 2 cores (and with no ‘extra’ ones like the Phenom II’s tri and dual cores have that may have a chance of being successfully unlocked by the end user with the right motherboard).

We also were very curious about the tri core Phenom II 720 X3 and wanted to see where it sits in relationship to dual and quad core CPUs in gaming. We also realized that we would also have a second chance to unlock the 4th core if we failed with unlocking our 550 X2. At the time we purchased it from NewEgg.com, it was $119 shipped; at the time of writing this article it is $99, a good price and an excellent value indeed. Soon, we shall soon see how good.

The Test Setup

To be completely fair in our benchmarking for both Intel and AMD platforms, we will benchmark with two graphics cards each – Nvidia’s GTX 280 and ATi’s HD 4870-X2 and use identically configured PCs and identical hard drives in comparing them. We chose GTX 280 because it represents Nvidia’s upper midrange – just below GTX 285 and very close to GTX 275 and HD 4890 performance – in about the $250 price range. We also picked the Radeon HD 4870-X2 because it is in the $350 price range and represents HD 4870 CrossFire; faster than GTX 285 and perhaps close to next generation’s single fastest GPU. Both of these video cards have proven to be competent performers at our chosen resolutions of 1680×1050 and 1920×1200 for playing DX10 games and we have been benching them against each other for nearly a year.

The Video Cards

-$250 & $350

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, this is going to be a very long series and there are literally hundreds of benchmarks to run so as to give a fair comparison between expensive and value; and also to pick among value CPUs. We have already built our first Phenom II 550 X2 based PC successfully and have compared it clock for clock with Q9550S and are overclocking it now. But much of the surprise is yet to be discovered and shared with you in the coming weeks as we compare Athlon II X2 with Phenom II X2 and X3 for PC gaming.

The Value Series:

We plan to break this series into several parts – although we may combine or expand the categories along the way (and the benchmarks will be published as soon as they are finalized):

1. The case
2. The power supply
3. The CPU and CPU Cooler
4. The motherboard and system RAM
5. The video cards and setting up
6. Overclocking and fine-tuning performance
7. The Benchmarks
   

Why Cooler Master?

We have come to appreciate Cooler Master during the 10 months that ABT has been reviewing hardware. They stand out as a company that is dedicated to creating great cooling solutions and their innovations are impressive. What this editor finds to be especially refreshing is that they are so responsive to comments and even constructive criticism from the end user. As an example, when I suggested that their entry-level cooler Hyper N520 was time consuming to change out in this review because you had to remove the motherboard – and I said I was even considering cutting a hole in the motherboard tray to allow access – they actually did this with their newer series of cases, including Gladiator 600 reviewed in this series!

The Case: Cooler Master’s Gladiator 600

-$70

The first thing we note about this Cooler Master design is its classic look. This is not a kid’s PC, nor is it cheap in any way. It complements any décor. I was in total shock when I opened the Gladiator 600 box; I thought surely that Karan had made a serious mistake when I asked him to get me a “value” case from Cooler Master. I even argued with him about the price – as it was not available yet – as there was no way I imagined they could make such a great value for under $70. It took a very thorough examination to find out the differences between this awesome value case and their much more expensive line of cases. Cooler Master did an incredible job of saving money in the right places – without compromising style, cooling or quality. We will tell you their secret in that part of our series and I believe you will also be impressed with Gladiator 600 in providing a great value in a superb mid-tower case.

The second thing that a PC builder will appreciate – besides Gladiator 600’s reasonable price – is its attention to detail. The very worst thing is sharp edges inside a case and there were none in this one. The other thing that is important to consider when building a PC is not to grab the cheapest budget case you can find. Technically, you don’t even need a case; you can set everything up on a workbench. However, a well-designed case properly holds the components in exact relationship to each other; there is no mismatch or straining anything anywhere to add or remove hardware. In addition, if designed properly – a good case will help to keep cool air circulating around your expensive components and help to prolong their life by keeping them as cool as possible. Heat is an enemy of your hardware and Cooler Master understands this. All of this became critical to our project where we must overclock our budget CPUs to perhaps attain the performance of those many times their price.

Gladiator 600 comes packed well in a tough cardboard box that also advertises its features. Although it looked like UPS used it for target practice for training their drivers, the precious contents were perfectly preserved. We give ‘thumbs up’ for minimal but effective packing – and much less to recycle and/or reuse. The case guarantee is 2 years. We have been using Gladiator 600 for nearly a month – switching hardware in and out almost daily – and we love it! There are some time saving features that make us very happy. We will justify the “Value” and “Editor’s Choice” awards that we are giving it when we get to it in our review shortly as the case review is first. In fact, we like Gladiator 600 so well that we are creating a new “Kick Ass” award category for it!

The Power Supply: Cooler Master 600 M

–$100

This editor believes that a choice of a power supply (PSU) is critical to any PC build. The power supply should never be cheap or generic. Too much depends on it to go bargain bin or generic hunting. I would recommend that you instead look for sales and perhaps even rebates to save money. Just remember that your PSU will likely last through several builds if you plan ahead. Another thing to consider is “noise” – ideally you do not want your power supply’s cooling fan adding any.

We are not out of order by insisting on Cooler Master’s Silent Power 600M. Although we are planning a budget build, we must plan for at least 4870-X2 or perhaps a later CrossFire configuration and we require absolute stability from our power supply unit (PSU). We also plan a test of this PSU’s stability that will blow your mind; something that we do not recommend that you attempt for yourself. Stay tuned for part 2 of our value series.

For us, a 5 year warranty is important. Cooler Master’s Silent Power 600M is installed with rubber fittings on the sides to keep it from conducting vibrations to the case and it really works to keep noise down. This is an extraordinarily quiet PSU and gets an “Editor’s Choice” Award which we shall justify in our upcoming review of it.

We note that the PSU can be installed so that the intake fan can be up or down. There are advantages and disadvantages either way. We have dropped screws inside the PSU when the fan faced up.

If the fan is down, it draws air in from below the bottom of the case and exhausts it out the back of the PSU – outside of the case airflow completely. If the fan is facing up, it draws warm air from inside your PC and exhausts it out through the PSU back grille. The Silent Power 600’s supplied dust filter only works properly with the PS fan facing downward. Facing downward with the fan drawing air in, the screen does not allow the PSU to become clogged with dust; however to keep the PS cool and with good air flow, the dust filter itself may need to be cleaned – especially if you are in a dusty environment. There is an easy way to clean it that we will be glad to share with you.

The Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P

-$100

Of course, the right motherboard is crucial to any successful build and a decision that requires a bit of thought to get right. You can spend a lot of money for features you will never use. On the other hand, you may regret skimping on features after you build your PC if you do not do your research beforehand. Also, there are only a handful of AMD motherboards that offer an option in the BIOS to potentially unlock the locked Phenom II cores in the 550 X2 and 720 X3 that we purchased. Of course, the unlocking is not at all guaranteed but it is a nice bonus if one gets lucky with a CPU that has locked stable cores. And it does depend on luck.

We picked Gigabyte’s GA-MA790X-UD4P and also chose the 8x + 8x Crossfire PCIe lanes it offers. We have always had a great experience with Gigabyte personally. In fact, the last Intel P35 CrossFire motherboard we upgraded from to get the PCIe 2.0 Specification and the full 16X + 16X CrossFire lanes was a superb overclocker and full-featured product. It went to our political editor for his first Intel system.

This motherboard is not the very cheapest. We needed a motherboard whose BIOS could potentially unlock Phenom II’s locked cores in X2 and X3 CPUs. We could have also saved a few bucks and eschewed CrossFire but then we would have no further upgrade path for our video card. It has become a fact of life for many ATi video card owners that it is sometimes very wise to add a second ATi card as a cheap upgrade when the price falls before their new series of GPUs are available.

We also did not pick the most expensive motherboard as that would add many dollars to get more than the 8x+8x PCIe CrossFire lanes that this motherboard provides. However, when we run a single videocard, the bandwidth is the full 16X PCIe. We noted from our testing of 16X+4X PCIe motherboards, that 4X PCIe barely restricts the performance of a fast video card in the second slot. Since 8X is twice the bandwidth of 4X PCIe, we feel it should not make any practical performance difference to this or even to the next generation of GPUs in CrossFire.

SYSTEM RAM – 4GB PC 8500: OCZ Fatal1ty

$40-$50

RAM, especially DDR2 is inexpensive. One of the reasons to pick OCZ PC 8500 partly is because it will make a closer “apples-to-apples” with our OCZ PC 8500-equipped Intel PC.

Make sure that the RAM you are getting goes well with your motherboard/CPU combo and do not be afraid to ask about user experience with it on our forum. Another reason to pick PC 8500 is because we are overclocking our CPU and do not not want to be as limited by RAM speeds and dividers as we would be stuck with by using even cheaper and slower RAM. Yet mostly, we picked 2 x 2 GB OCZ RAM because it was on sale – $39.99, free shipping after mail in rebate – from NewEgg. OCZ has a lifetime warranty on this PC 8500. G.Skill is also highly recommended for quality RAM.

Finally, always make sure you follow the mail-in-rebates exactly and keep copies of what you submit on time!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227364

OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2F10664GK – Retail – $39.99 after $10.00 MiR

We have been quite pleased with this value PC 8500’s performance.

CPU: Athlon II X2 550/ Phenom II 550 X2 & 720 X3

-$80-$120

When we started out, we planned to compare only two CPUs – our Q9550S against the budget Phenom II 550 X2 in much the same way as we did long ago with E8600 vs. Q9550S. But this time we were ”shopping” and NewEgg had two nice promotions of $20 off $100 each; what better way to explore than to get two AMD Phenom II CPUs to also compare with the Athlon II 250 X2 that AMD sent us?

Here is what we purchased from NewEgg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor – Retail $102.99

Model Brand AMD Series Phenom II X2 Model HDZ550WFGIBOX CPU Socket Type CPU Socket Type Socket AM3 Tech Spec Core Callisto Multi-Core Dual-Core Name Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Operating Frequency 3.1GHz Hyper Transports 4000MHz L2 Cache 2 x 512KB L3 Cache 6MB Manufacturing Tech 45 nm 64 bit Support Yes Hyper-Transport Support Yes Virtualization Technology Support Yes Voltage 0.85V – 1.425V Thermal Design Power 80W Cooling Device Heatsink and Fan included

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor – Retail $119.00

Model Brand AMD Series Phenom II X3 Model HDZ720WFGIBOX CPU Socket Type CPU Socket Type Socket AM3 Tech Spec Multi-Core Triple-Core Name Phenom II X3 720 Operating Frequency 2.8GHz Hyper Transports 4000MHz L1 Cache 128KB+128KB L2 Cache 3 x 512KB L3 Cache 6MB Manufacturing Tech 45 nm SOI 64 bit Support Yes Thermal Design Power 95W Cooling Device Heatsink and Fan included Manufacturer Warranty Parts 3 years limited Labor 3 years limited

 

The same Athlon II 250 X2 that AMD sent us for review is only $80.00 at NewEgg!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103681

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor – Retail – $80.00

Model Brand AMD Series Athlon II X2 Model ADX250OCGQBOX CPU Socket Type CPU Socket Type Socket AM3 Tech Spec Core Regor Multi-Core Dual-Core Name Athlon II X2 250 Operating Frequency 3.0GHz Hyper Transports 4000MHz L2 Cache 2 x 1MB Manufacturing Tech 45 nm 64 bit Support Yes Hyper-Transport Support Yes Virtualization Technology Support Yes Voltage 0.85V – 1.425V Thermal Design Power 65W Cooling Device Heatsink and Fan included

 

Q9550S is the Intel CPU that we are comparing our AMD value CPUs to. Our engineering sample of Q9550S was sent to us by Intel a few months ago and it is our fastest processor at 4.0 GHz. The regular Q9550 has been spotted at Microcenter.com for as little as $169. However, there is no online shipping and Q9550 is regularly $240; the “S” spec Q9550 commands a premium and it is primarily used by rack mount system builders looking for a lower wattage and cooler running CPU. No one knows yet if the “S” spec overclocks better or not.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115210

Intel Core2 Q9550S Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Quad-Core Processor – Retail $349.00

Model Brand Intel Series Core 2 Quad Model BX80569Q9550S CPU Socket Type CPU Socket Type LGA 775 Tech Spec Core Yorkfield Multi-Core Quad-Core Name Core2 Q9550S Operating Frequency 2.83GHz FSB 1333MHz L2 Cache 12MB Manufacturing Tech 45 nm 64 bit Support Yes Virtualization Technology Support Yes Voltage 0.85V – 1.3625V Thermal Design Power 65W Cooling Device Heatsink and Fan included

–~~~~~~~~~~~~–

CPU COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper N212

-$30

Purchasing a CPU cooler is another area that it is never wise to “save” money by going stock or cheap. What is extraordinary, is that Cooler Master has raised the bar for cooling performance while also lowering the price at the same time! Your CPU cooler, if picked properly, will not only reward you by allowing you to more safely overclock your CPU past many higher-clocked models priced way above it, you will likely use it for several CPU upgrades and perhaps for many cool-running years. This is another innovative new universal CPU cooler from Cooler Master and Karan also had real difficulty convincing me that it was only $30.

Hyper N212’s quality is evident and its performance is outstanding partly due to it’s excellence balance of quiet, cool and budget! The rest of the reason Hyper N212 works so well is largely due to the design where the four copper heatpipes come into direct contact with the CPU, as pictured below:

As an warning to not be cheap when chosing your CPU cooler, I used the stock AMD cooler to get my Phenom II 550 to over 3.7 GHz – up +600 MHz over stock 3.1 GHz frequencies. But I would not keep it there 24/7 as the temperatures started to rise dangerously after 3.6 GHz, and 50s C – although certainly not “dangerous” in the short term – certainly is not an optimum temperature for any long running reliable overclock.

That same 50s C dropped to mid-35s C with the CoolerMaster Hyper N212 with its included stock single fan – and we were able to overclock to almost 3.9 GHz!

What was impressive was that temperatures with the much more expensive Thermalright/Scythe 120 MM HS/fan combination were nearly identical to those achieved with the Hyper N212. As a bonus, my Phenom II 550 X2 now gained another +200 MHz over using the stock cooler and my CPU core was now also over 20C cooler! With Hyper N212, I was able to achieve the highest overclock possible with the amount of extra voltage that was applied to the core.

Of course, this is just one example of a dual core CPU’s heat tamed by a high-quality cooler. We will also explore Hyper N212’s ability to cool a tri core and perhaps even a quad. The universal design of Hyper N 212 makes it a very decent choice for cooling any CPU and there are only a couple of caveats that we will cover in that part of our value series. There is no doubt that Cooler Master wins a “value” award for this inexpensive yet effective CPU cooler.

We also want to let you know that we found a very ghetto – but effective use – for super glue in attaching a fan to a cooler very quickly when the clips are hard to attach! There are also a tool that makes gluing completely unnecessary and one that we will also share with you to perhaps save you time and frustration on your next PC build.

The Video Cards, Overclocking and Benching

As we mentioned earlier, we will be testing our PC with GTX 280 and HD 4870-X2 and using 16 benchmarks – 2 synthetic FutureMark tests and 14 games. We have added a new game, ARMA2‘s official benchmark, and it is a beast for PCs to run on maxed out settings. We are testing our videocards with Cat 9-6 and GeForce 186.18 so that you may directly compare benches with HD 4870-X2 and GTX 280 that were run on our Intel PC with the driver set before it – Catalyst 9-5 and GeForce 185.85 – in our last review.

Of course, we are going to compare the stock clocks of our 4 CPUs. However, we feel that it is very important for us to find the maximum overclock for each AMD CPU so as to compare overclocked performance with our Q9550S at 4.0 GHz. Naturally, these overclocks may be higher or lower than what you will get, but it should give you an idea of the relative gaming performance of these CPUs, and perhaps something to aim for.

After we overclock, we will explore further tweaking of CPU in the BIOS to achieve even more performance than what we could get by a simple FSB (HTT) increase. We will also see how increasing the voltage raises the temperatures and we will explore the limits of each overclocked CPU core. We will also take a look at AMD’s “all-in-one” benching utility, Overdrive.

Finally, we will have the results of our extensive testing of AMD’s Athlon II 250 X2 vs. Phenom II 550 X2 and 720 X3 shortly; and we will chart their performance right next to Intel’s more expensive Penryn PC and Q9550s with 16 gaming benchmarks at 1920×1200 and 1680×1050. Stay tuned. There is a lot coming in our value series and we think you will be pleasantly surprised. We certainly were.

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