Quad Core i5 gaming/rendering system @ 4.2ghz, for less than a grand?

Review Score:
Zardon

For as long as I can remember enthusiasts around the world have been keen to see how their systems perform with many commercially available benchmarks from such companies as Futuremark. While these applications are extremely useful to a wide audience sometimes it can be helpful to focus on a ‘real world’ application which many of us use on an almost daily basis.

When I was in charge of DriverHeaven I wrote a scripted benchmark which was not only used to help users ascertain system specific performance levels but was useful in reviews to accurately measure performance in key areas. Leading tech sites such as Madshrimps, Benchmark Reviews and Hardocp used my benchmark in their reviews also.

You can get the KitGuru Photoshop Benchmark 1(4) here. Please note lower times are better as this means less time is taken by the system to process the commands.

KitGuru PS Bench 1(4) 760 2.80ghz 760 4.2ghz
1. Texturiser (1) 2.2 1.8
2. CMYK 2.1 1.7
3. RGB 2.0 1.6
4. Ink Outlines 32.1 27.7
5. Dust & Stratches 3.2 3.1
6. Watercolor 29.1 26.1
7. Texturiser (2) 2.1 1.9
8. Stained Glass 25.7 22.8
9. Mosiac Tiles 15.6 12.9
10. Extrude 168.2 158.8
11. Rough Pastels 14.7 12.1
12. Smart Blur 99.7 93.8
13. Underpainting 38.4 32.8
14. Mosiac Tiles 16.1 12.8
15. Spherize 3.4 2.7
16. Palette Knife 25.1 22.5
17. Sponge 42.7 49.6
18. Smudge Stick 14.7 12.9
Total 537.1 497.6

The overclock means that 40 seconds is saved with our benchmark, leading once again to a considerable amount of saved time over the course of a week.

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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)
Quad Core i5 gaming/rendering system @ 4.2ghz, for less than a grand?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

37 Comments
  • Blood Red
    August 26, 2010
    #1
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    That is a great idea for an article Zardon. that Core i5 processor is brilliant value for money. Well impressed.

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  • Sam
    August 26, 2010
    #2
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    Overclocking is really easy now. I dont overclock but it really tempts me to get a mobo like this at some stage.

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  • Tri Color
    August 26, 2010
    #3
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    4.2ghz with a few bios changes. long gone are the days or playing with a series of voltages to get any overclock at all. I remember my FX processor was a nightmare to get 200mhz out of it.

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  • Frank
    August 26, 2010
    #4
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    Intel processors are so easy now to overclock. no effort at all. it surprises me however that they don’t sell them faster out of the box. 2.8ghz? surely this would sit at 3.5ghz without even any effort from intel.

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  • Ramjet
    August 26, 2010
    #5
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    Great idea and an entertaining twist on how to get a good value system. 4.2ghz is surely sexy.

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  • Terry
    August 26, 2010
    #6
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    This is exactly why this site is my home page now. Zardon tests all the hardware, then keeps the best stuff for articles like this, which save people so much time when trying to build a system. I have this stored for future reference.

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  • Tim
    August 26, 2010
    #7
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    Very entertaining read kitguru – great performance for such a modest outlay. ive seen systems 3 times this price in PC world with half the performance.

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  • Clueless
    August 26, 2010
    #8
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    I never knew the new motherboards had such great settings all preconfigured for specific processors like this. what a fantastic idea. I cant see the ASROCK board for sale anywhere however.

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  • Raymond Souree
    August 26, 2010
    #9
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    I just bought the 760 CPU, thanks. I need an upgrade for my dual core and this was well priced.

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  • Yinith
    August 26, 2010
    #10
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    That frio is a great price. I always thought it was closer to 50 quid, not 38. what a bargain.

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  • Rosemarys Navel
    August 26, 2010
    #11
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    I like the system, not sure about the chassis, wouldnt the thermaltake armor A90 be better ?

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  • Tech Head
    August 26, 2010
    #12
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    Of course it would be better, but it wouldn’t be a system for under a grand, it would be a system for over a grand ;)

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  • David H
    August 26, 2010
    #13
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    Great find, love it. I am going to spec this very system next week. Might even pop into yoyotech myself.

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  • Sajih
    August 26, 2010
    #14
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    I wonder would it be better to include an AMD board like 5850? they cost more however so it might push it over 1000. still might opt for it instead.

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  • Modest Beaver
    August 26, 2010
    #15
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    I love the I5 processors. and that was a great idea to compensate for dual channel by using 2000 modules. they dont cost much more either which is surprising.

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  • Terrance Giblets
    August 26, 2010
    #16
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    Good job resting and showing the results. I like that power supply its a very good price point. half the price of the AX850.

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  • Doctor No
    August 26, 2010
    #17
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    Good system, id have opted for AMD graphics though and maybe the HD5770

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  • Tech Head
    August 26, 2010
    #18
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    HD5770 would be much slower, makes no sense.

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  • Sil
    August 26, 2010
    #19
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    Frio is rubbish, who would use that?

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  • Paul
    August 26, 2010
    #20
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    I dont agree, the Frio should not be used. id have opted for the HD5770 and got the corsair H70 instead of GTX460 and poorer cooler.

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  • Joseph
    August 26, 2010
    #21
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    Why not two HD5670s in Crossfire instead of that power hogging card?

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  • Brad
    August 26, 2010
    #22
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    Good all round system, ive no idea why people are complaining about the Frio, its an awesome cooler for the price.

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  • Florence in the machine
    August 26, 2010
    #23
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    good piece of work, very helpful for people. I tend to stick to AMD cpus and graphics cards, but this is useful for many.

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  • Starcraft Pimp
    August 26, 2010
    #24
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    would the 1055T not be better for the price, extra 2 cores?

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  • Iniom
    August 26, 2010
    #25
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    That motherboard is very good, went and read the full review. seems like a great release from ASROCk.

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  • Gerty
    August 26, 2010
    #26
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    It is very difficult getting a system built for 1k without compromising somewhere. for 1,500 you can get a much better build. that 500 quid helps with a monitor, better case.

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  • Rotweiller
    August 26, 2010
    #27
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    nicely worked out, right to 995 ! for the price its pretty much spot on.

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  • Stephen
    August 26, 2010
    #28
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    This was good timing, I was looking around tonight for reviews of the 750 processor and this has just been released at the right time. I probably dont need all the bits here as I already have a H50, and lian li case, but the monitor, CPU and memory. motherboard all appeal to me. seems like great combination. if I can get it to 4ghz ill be chuffed.

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  • Colin
    August 26, 2010
    #29
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    Good review, thumbs up :)

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  • Brian Johnston
    August 26, 2010
    #30
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    760 is a boring clock increase but this is a nice idea to present it. good value if they all hit 4.2ghz like this one

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  • Gibby Morrow
    August 26, 2010
    #31
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    How far can the i5 760 be pushed Zardon with manual ocing?

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  • Zardon
    August 26, 2010
    #32
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    Around 4.5ghz with insane voltage 4.4ghz if you are playing it safe. It doesnt overclock quite as good as the K series, but its still good enough.

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  • Norman Salam
    August 26, 2010
    #33
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    Good gaming performance. GTX460 is a really good card, really rate em.

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  • Dastardly and Nutty
    August 26, 2010
    #34
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    155 quid for a quad core which hits 4ghz easy is a hell of a price. 1055T is still £30 and has 2 extra cores, but it wont overclock as hell.

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  • Gadich
    August 26, 2010
    #35
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    Kingston memory? really?

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  • David Harrington
    August 27, 2010
    #36
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    only complain is that the yoyotech website is really hard to get to work for me, it keeps crashing and the links sometimes dont load, even though I know they are working. I ended up finding all the parts I could on dabs today and working out how much it will cost me. I hope you can use other stores in future instead of yoyotech. scan is ok, but I prefer dabs

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  • Bruce Hinton
    September 3, 2010
    #37
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    I did something similar with my “SuperBudget” home-build at 3.5GHz. Under $450.00 U.S.

    Parts are dated, but as the wisest Native American once said, “wat-ta-hey”.

    Intel E-5300, Crucial DDR3, MSI MSi P43-C51, GeForce N8400GS/512Mb, ThermalTake 600W, Cooler Master Case and HSfan 212+.

    4.2 GHz is nice, but when I build again, I will want more than another 700.

    So I’ll be shooting for high 4′s or low 5′s, -if I find a “SuperBargain” way to do that, I’ll let ya’ll know the mix!

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