CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 8500: How Far Can SLI 450's Go?
by Dustin Sklavos on September 16, 2010 12:15 AM ESTBut is the Performance "Xtreme?"
CyberPower shipped our review unit with a large overclock on the very capable i7-875K CPU, but what will really be interesting is seeing how the "SuperClocked" GeForce GTS 450's fare. Since the review of the iBuyPower Paladin XLC we've streamlined our benchmarking suite for desktop machines so that moving forward we have a better reference point. Unfortunately, that means that we're starting fairly fresh. To help even the odds a bit I've also included the benchmark results from another system from a forthcoming review, AVADirect's Nano Gaming Cube. It's not particularly fair to the Cube: that unit is a Mini-ITX gaming machine running an i7-750S overclocked to 3GHz and a Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870. That's a hell of a lot of power for a tiny machine (so stay tuned to learn more), but it's still competing with bigger systems with more aggressive configurations.
We'll start with the system-based benchmarks. There should be no huge surprises in how the 8500 places, but remember that the processor is faster than any of the other chips listed while the GeForce GTS 450 SLI configuration is still brand new.
Generally speaking, the 3.85GHz clock speed on the i7-875K leaves the competition in the dust. Remember that the iBuyPower's processor is only overclocked to 3.5GHz; the triple-channel memory configuration in that system just isn't enough to pick up the slack. The odd outlier is PCMark Vantage, where AVADirect's decision to use a Corsair Nova SSD seems to have paid off in spades. While all of these test units are using SSDs as their system drives, the Nova is the fastest (and most expensive) of the lot, and PCMark Vantage has historically skewed wildly towards fast SSD-based systems.
When we move on to 3DMark, the XLC with its GTX 470's in SLI should destroy the competition; what you're really going to want to look at is the difference between the GTS 450's in the CyberPower unit and the Radeon HD 5870 in the AVADirect machine. It does bear mentioning that 3DMark results can still skew towards higher CPU clocks, however.
As you can see, 3DMarks 05 and 06 both favor the increased clocks on the processor in the CyberPower machine, putting it ahead of even the SLI 470-based iBuyPower unit. In 3DMark Vantage, that ranking disappears, but the "slow" 3GHz i5 in the Cube can't pick up the slack and seems to be limiting the Radeon HD 5870 somewhat.
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alephxero - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
Umm.... top of the page, directly above the headline. Unless you mean as part of the menu buttons common to all pages on the site. But really, is it that hard to bookmark http://www.anandtech.com/tag/systems ?flipmode - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
Yes, I meant as part of the standard menu buttons.You want me to bookmark it? I have a bookmark for Anandtech already.
Even if I did want to bookmark it, what about all the people that come here that don't know there is a "System" section or don't know how to find it? Some people just remember seeing a real cool article on Anandtech about a Dell computer that Anandtech says they were impressed with. Since the "Search" feature of Anandtech sucks crusty balls, that's of little help.
Drewoid13 - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
While its nice to see anandtech reviewing a working rig, the one I bought from them I've had to get the mobo replaced three times, and now its randomly dropping HDDs on my newest one.I can't recommend this company.
Schrodinger's Lolcat - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
Given the horror stories I've read about this company, I have to wonder why anyone would risk buying from these guys. Is the price premium worth it if they still botch your system and you have to pay for repairs?http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/dctag/maki...
Toms83 - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
1700 dollars for 4GB of system memory? did i read that right? my system from gateway has 8GB of system ram and it cost me just under a grand minus the monitor and the frame rates are comparable to those seen in this systems graphics tests.JarredWalton - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
You know you can actually spend an extra $100 to get another 2x2GB in the system if that's what you're after. Anyway, more RAM isn't inherently better, but it's not bad either... it might make overclocking a bit more difficult at worst.Pricing all the components used in this system on Newegg, I came up with a total of $1500, and another $90 or so to find the Asetek 570LX (not at Newegg). So, even at $1700 for this system it would be a very good deal, and $1499 would be a steal. Except we're not at all sold on the dual GTS 450 setup.
Does your $1000 Gateway have a CPU anywhere near the speed of a 3.83GHz i7-875K? Does it have graphics power anywhere near the dual 450 SLI setup? The best $1000 Gateway FX that I can see right now is the FX6840-01e, which comes with:
Core i7-860
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
8GB DDR3-1333
1TB 7200RPM SATA hard drive
ATI Radeon HD5570 1GB
16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive
500W Power Supply
If that's your system, your claim that "frame rates are comparable to those seen in this system's graphics tests" is downright laughable. A single GTS 450 is already slightly faster than the HD 5750, and that GPU has 720 stream processors clocked at 700MHz with 73.6GB/s of bandwidth. Your HD 5570 on the other hand comes with a stellar 400 SPs at 650MHz and 25.6GB/s of bandwidth. So roughly half the performance of a single 5750, which a single GTS 450 already surpasses. The only area where it comes out ahead is RAM, which is as I mentioned a $100 upgrade.
quibbs - Thursday, September 16, 2010 - link
I ordered a Black Mamba system from CP. It should arrive this coming Monday. Liquid cooled gtx 480 sli gpu(s) and liquid cooled cpu. The case I chose was the Xion 970. It seemed from the video (released by CP) and the Xion's website to be well laid out and spacious for a mid-tower (which I require since my box sits in a built-in cubby hole in my desk). Looked comparable to the CM 690 II.Curious to see if the Xion will be a let down or not. For anyone interested in the Xion 970 I'll post my thoughts in this thread when once my pc arrives.
sulu1977 - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
I've got a radical idea: how about developing a fast pc that's totally quiet and doesn't act like an electric room heater! You think that's too much to ask for? You think we have the technology and intellectual genius to accomplish such a feat? Could it be done within 5 years? ... or perhaps 10?Ninjahedge - Friday, September 17, 2010 - link
You mean you are asking for something that can play all the games at excellent detail levels, a constant and humanly perceptable framerate, and is PRACTICAL in terms of space, power and noise levels?C'maaaahn! ;)
Seriously though, I agree with you. There are many out there that would like to find that $1000 rig that would be able to do these things and not worry about gettingthe fastest test results. As many may claim this, few can see the difference between a 60fps and a 120fps performance (if both are kept constant and you experience no tearing or artifacts.).
Getting a rig that can play on a Sony JumboTron at 300FPS while in a mass explosion level on "Where's my Shorts III" isn't exactly the bet thing to keep constantly, well, shooting for.
Dustin Sklavos - Saturday, September 18, 2010 - link
Easy: Get an Antec P183. Put an i7-870 and a Radeon HD 5850 in it, and put a halfway decent air cooler on the processor.My desktop's actually pretty quiet. I'm using an Antec P182, and I have five hard disks and an SSD, a Radeon HD 5870, a GeForce GTS 450, and an i7 930 OC'ed and undervolted to 3.6GHz cooled with a Xigmatek Dark Knight.
Sure, it's big and heavy, but it's damn quiet.