CINEBENCH R10
CINEBENCH places a heavy load on the CPU during the rendering tests, and can utilize a single CPU or multiple cores. The video subsystem has no bearing on the CPU rendering portion of this benchmark.
There's no denying that CINBENCH loves the Core i7; it performs incredibly well for rendering. Performance here is good but lags behind some of our other Core i7 systems (including an i7-920) with higher than stock base clocks.
PCMark Vantage
Our new standard for general platform performance is the PCMark Vantage suite that provides a wide series of tests, some of which focus on the CPU while others also utilize the video subsystem, and include digital photo manipulation, webpage loading, video transcoding, High Definition content playback, and so forth.
The Paladin does well here, scoring in the middle of the pack. In our look at the CyberPower system, we said that the WD "Green" hard drive was the main component holding back performance. This system scored very similarly to that one in most individual areas, with a large (1200 point) increase in the Hard Drive suite, raising the composite score as predicted.
SPECviewperf 10
Though these systems are intended for gaming, often the high-end hardware is useful for other purposes as well, such as CAD, artistic rendering, and medical software (though purists will tell you that professional graphics solutions are the only way to ensure that the driver packages will be completely accurate and stable). SPECviewperf is a set of benchmarks that measure the OpenGL performance of packages such as 3D Studio Max, Pro/Engineer, Solid Works, and other professional applications used daily by many individuals and companies. The software is free to download and test on your own system, but running all the tests will take several hours to complete. We ran all tests at a resolution of 1280x1024, and highlight two of these in our comparison chart.
Results can also be compared at the SPECviewperf website. We see the Paladin do much better than the Reactor due to the Core i7's rendering performance, but in turn it's handily beaten out in 3D Studio Max by the CyberPower system due to its higher GPU horsepower.
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7Enigma - Wednesday, April 15, 2009 - link
I think these 2 things are a really poor decision. The DVD burner is a complete joke as I just built a system with a 22X SATA DVD burner...I think it was $25 shipped from NewEgg. And the stock cooler on a $2 grand system also seems like a poor decision. There are a large number of people that do not feel comfortable building their system, but do feel comfortable trying to overclock (moderately). Even a $25 less than fantastic cooler would have decreased the temps and given some headroom to OC, but more importantly would have brought that idle/load noise level down significantly as it's the diameter of the fan that really makes the biggest difference in noise levels.Maybe they'll get it next time, but I'm not sure. Overall seems like a low margin product that just has some critical flaws that make it not very attractive when compared to the 920 system you referenced in the article for....$500 less.
7Enigma - Wednesday, April 15, 2009 - link
Wanted to also add I think with this being a "gamer" system the 4870 seems a bit weak. You could definitely build a significantly better gaming system with the cheaper 920 and a better video card (or 2). With the 4890 now out, it would be a bit better, but you will still be GPU limited in most cases.Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
Do people really still spend 2 grand on computers without an SSD?Hxx - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
It comes with a free game, you cant beat that lol, people spend over $500 on watercooling, 2k seems pretty reasonable for an upper mid range box.vol7ron - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
I've configured a system from iBuyPower in the past and basically found it cheaper than some other sites, until it came to the shipping. Other sites might do $20-$40 on shipping, whereas iBuyPower seemed to knock it up to $80+Does the $1720 include shipping?
Matt Campbell - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
No it doesn't, but neither does the $1975. That system ships for about $85, which is a little steep, but this is a very large case and box. Others we've seen in this range cost about $60-65 to ship, so the margin isn't too large.jmekelb - Wednesday, April 15, 2009 - link
As far as shipping goes... If you start with one of their "Free Shipping" builds, you can build it however you like and it still ships for free. I built an i7 rig on IBuy and they actually came in about $40 less than my build on Newegg with the exact same parts. Coincidentally, that's almost exactly what the shipping charge was from Newegg.vol7ron - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
I haven't tested iBuyPower, but I was really looking at it for the low-end midrange gaming-like system as this seems to match pretty well with price points.I don't know if this has changed, as I haven't been to their site in a while, but I also noticed their SSDs were way overpriced compared to the market. If you want an SSD in your system it seems best to just buy off newegg.
Souka - Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - link
"All of the components in this system price out for just about $1720 on Newegg.com. With a sticker price of $1975, iBUYPOWER has a margin of about 13% to cover a 3-year labor/1 year parts warranty, 30-day money back guarantee (not including shipping) and lifetime technical support"$255 isn't bad considering the system is already built, tested, and has a warranty behind it...
Yes I know many of you are enthusiasts and wouldn't consider this...ok fine...go buy the parts then build it yourself.
However...if you have a kid, or kid-relative, and need a gift...systems like this would make them quite happy...and keep you from having to build or perform tech support for the little brat! :)
My $.02
mariush - Monday, April 20, 2009 - link
if you don't have experience on building computers, then yes, it's a good investment.Otherwise, that 10-15% can be invested in better hardware or on other things. It's just not worth paying 250$ for the three hours of your time, required to build the computer and install the operating system.
The 3 year warranty you already get for parts, separately, 3-5 years for hard drive, 3 years for processors, 2 years for motherboards, 1-5 or even lifetime for video cards, lifetime for memory modules and so on.
Besides, you'll probably get replacement much faster from NewEgg on individual parts, instead of sending the whole computer to be repaired and waiting for it to come back.
In the extreme case when something breaks after warranty, you can prepare for that by setting aside 150$ out of those 250$ in a bank account. If you no longer have warranty on that specific item, you'll be simply able to buy a much better part straight from NewEgg.
I doubt their "lifetime technical support" means taking free calls from brats, it's probably some basic email support or forum.