The use of stock photos with an SLI configuration is a bit weird. I'm not a fan of these big cases anymore. Look at all the wasted space inside. This configuration could have been done with an ITX motherboard and corresponding case that fits the radiator. Or at the very max mATX if you want to have some expandability. I'd also rather see a beefy CPU heatsink instead of the middle of the road H60. If you go CLC in such a big case, at least get a 240 / 280mm radiator. Shipping issues of an attached 1kg+ heatsink might have prevented going down that road. The only thing this large case is used for is to hide all those cables in a really messy way.
I've got to agree about the stock photos. 1 vs 2 GPUs is just too different. If it was just a different mobo and 2 vs 4 dimms I wouldn't've cared even if I noticed (and if just the mobo I probably wouldn't).
How much expandability will someone do, that buys a pre-configured PC? Ease of use, I give you that. But again, if someone buys a ready made PC, I doubt he will do a lot of work on it. At least that is my experience. I've personally used three non GPU PCIe expansion cards in the last 10 years. One soundcard, one ethernet card and one NVME SSD adapter. I've also never seen someone use more than three PCIe cards in one PC. So I still maintain that ATX cases and motherboards should be considered the niche these days, not mATX or ITX. If you need more than the motherboard offers you, mATX gives you two to three non GPU PCIe slots and if you need more than that, you are likely using some exotic things.
I have a double width Corsair Carbide case and, aside from the size occasionally getting in the way, it makes it loads easier to work inside and you just never even have to consider the size or number of components. Also gives loads of space to mount radiators and have large, slow spinning fans rather than smaller noisier faster ones. I can however see the use for smaller cases and why people would want them. I just can't be arsed fiddling.
Big cases are awesome. Better airflow, more space to route the cables and keep them hidden...more space for further upgrades / additions. All this nanoscaling in everything is just crazy.
Well prepare yourself, because soon upgrading wont be a think at all. All-in-ones are going to be the norm sadly. If business and gaming is what drives upgrades, then the way the games and businesses are going to reason to upgrade much anymore. The most popular PCs for business are cheap $200 hubs with built in everything. Gaming the most popular games fot years now dont require anything special.
No, desktops are niche these days. For those of us that are enthusiasts, a larger case is easier to perform maintenance and upgrade. You're right about today's motherboards have more on-board features and quality parts. However, you may not need be as much of as enthusiast as you once were. I remember putting in all video cards, tv tuner cards, sound cards, ethernet cards, usb cards, firewire cards, etc. Whenever you want to do more than what your motherboard came with you have to use expansion cards if you want to keep it all inside the case. I also upgraded my P6T Deluxe v2 a few years ago with updated USB and SATA expansion cards. Can't do that without expansion slots.
For an 'average user' desktop, you're certainly correct. For an enthusiast, the amount of airflow alone makes a larger case worthwhile in terms of noise. I have two 140MM intakes on 'low' and another 2 140mm as exhausts, also on 'low', ML fans all of them. Coupled with a 115i I can NOT hear my system unless the graphics card goes under high load. A small case would have maybe 1/2 the airflow, MAYBE, and then the fans would have to spin much faster and be louder.
Well, you should certainly use care taking it out, and (at minimum) discharge static, or better yet, ground yourself first.
I'm not sure if that's Styrofoam or not--it's pretty cool: expanding foam that will shape itself to the insides of the case it's put in. I bought a CyberPowerPC last year that had the stuff. I don't remember it being staticky when I took it out.
Aside: I took the computer back because of some issues I had with it. One thing I did not like was it was a mid-range Ryzen, and CyberPowerPC had replaced the stock Ryzen HSF with a cheap combo that included a 3-pin fan that ran at something like 3000RPM all the time, even when the PC was idle. As you can imagine, it was pretty annoying. I don't know why they would've put an inferior component in that case.
OEMs buy CPUs by the tray without heatsinks, there was nothing to replace. They probably got that cooler cheap. That's exactly the sort of cost-cutting I'd expect in a white-box system like this.
Why am I seeing stock photos/renders when there's a physical product being tested and ample time to take photos of it? I don't care about fake marketing version. I want to see what was shipped and reviewed.
We actually use stock photos fairly frequently. Sometimes it's hard to get a great photo of a product, especially something this glossy with integrated lighting. Those $5K DSLRs and professional photo editors definitely make a difference.
That's perfectly reasonable for a motherboard or some other non-changing single component where one will be identical to another. In the case of a system where the actual hardware configuration is different from the stock photos, it leads to a jarring experience.
Also, take a read through the visual inspection and unboxing page. It's got some awkward wording here and there and could use some editorial massaging.
The goal of the photo should be accurately communicating the product info, not looking as pretty as possible at the expense of not being as accurate, shouldn't it?
That's a little like a wedding photographer returning outstanding photos with great backgrounds and lighting of another couple, saying the top effects weren't possible at their wedding.
The difference is that wedding photographers are supposed to be experts at taking pictures with high end cameras. Product reviewers are supposed to be experts at the product category they write about; unless that's reviewing cameras pro level photography isn't a job requirement.
Indeed. We aim for great photos regardless, but there is a practical limit to what a guy working out of his home office can do versus a pro photographer with dedicated studio space.
I gotta agree with the nit pickers here. The stock photos don’t really represent the product review. I’d think even a few cell phone pics would have been acceptable.
For shooting pc hardware you don’t need a lot of space, or a lot of lighting. A small home office could easily accommodate the set up ( even with a metric ton of hardware benches everywhere). I know, my wife has a set up in my office for just that. A white box, couple of over head lights, and reflectors ( or whatever). All picked up on Amazon for basically nothing. And you don’t need a $5k dslr to shoot those. D750 or canon equivalent will run you $1500 with a good lense. Can’t tell me Anandtech doesn’t make enough for that kind of equipment? :)
Love the article, though. Don’t want to leave that out. IMO it was well written, and as always well laid out. And when was the last time a prebuilt was reviewed? Cool segment, again, IMO.
Yes, it was extremely difficult to get good pictures with all of the reflections. I would have had to purchase black sheets and string them up all around my office to prevent reflections (amount of room isn't the problem, its the other surfaces constantly reflecting off the glass). so I went with the stock photos in parts. If you will notice, The stock photos used were the only ones available at the website which showed a 'max' config. I see I should have been more clear but figured the as configured specs table immediately below the the images would clarify things.
Yeah.. but the few real pics in the article, show a product that is nowhere that of the stock renders - highlighting the importance of why it is important to include even mediocre real pictures.
Pretty much this stuff. AT is a hardware review site. We'd be remiss were we to expect or even want professional photography. Get the point across accurately, which stock photos in this case simply do not do, and that's good enough.
Again, please accept my apologies. Next time, I will not take for granted readers know that iBP can build different systems including using multiple GPUs. I assumed, apparently incorrectly, readers would look at the as configured specs table, found on the first page, and see there is a difference. Moving forward I will strive to take better photos of difficult subjects (I do have a lightbox, lights, etc) and when using stock photos to be even more clear they are stock and the internal configuration may not match.
Good lord, the amount of ridiculous comments here is #toodamnhigh! They did a review and there are nothing but complaints. Go outside guys, go for a run or something. Your attitudes are crap.
I see a lot of valid responses to the article and to the tested product. Your comment, however, offers nothing to the review or the discussions. Better follow your own advice, matey.
You complained about stock photos... Another whined about possiboe static electricity from foam packing. Another said he likes not having so many rbg lights. Lol get a clue
From the article: "So where does that leave us? As someone who has built PCs with my own hands for well over 20 years, it can be difficult to find a lot of value in any system builder." ---
Like you I've been building systems for over 20 years now, and personally find it rewarding and your right it can be hard for people like that to find value in systems like this.. However I ran into a interesting problem this spring.
Building my own system would have cost me $275 more than buying a ibuypower or alienware computer. The parts would be better overall in the system if i built it myself but i couldn't get anything comparable due to high memory and video card costs. I eventually went with the Alienware as Im going to really look forward to tearing it down and rebuilding it in 4-5 years..whereas the Ibuypower is something more in line with what I'd build.. First time in a very long time I've actually purchased a (non laptop) system.. They have come a long way and certainly add value in the right areas these days.
I could build something that performs identically and is way less flashy for *way* less than $1950 estimated in the article.
Hell eBay has been doing those 20% off sales like twice a month. Get your GPU one week and your CPU another, Newegg bundle whatever you can, check Slickdeals for SSDs, maybe put up with a rebate for your PSU. You could build this thing for like $1500.
Pleasantly surprised by this offering, actually; not everyone builds their own, and, $250 markup over all parts ordered individually is not a horrible deal, and, at least all parts seem 'brand name', although I'd sure skip the 8086K over a standard 8700K, refusing to pay another $150 for 200 more MHz or so....
It may be $250 markup on parts, but you have to also factor in which parts you wouldn't even include if you made the thing yourself. Like LEDs, closed loop cooler, you could get different parts that perform almost identically for way way less than $250 less. I'm sure that case is >$100 by itself, you can definitely good cases for cheaper. This doesn't even take into account the amount of savings you would see switching to AMD Ryzen 2 with probably a non-noticeable drop in frame rates.
It's just a disingenuous claim that exists to make the value proposition of a prebuilt seem reasonable when in reality you can save way way way more than that.
It's disingenuous to say you could do it cheaper by switching or omitting parts when you could also modify the build from the system builder and come up with a comparable, cheaper system. The reality is if you need to build a system with these vendors using identical or near as possible components you would likely save less than 10% on a DIY. These companies will also include the necessary items to redeem manufacturer rebates. If you could wait for special deals you could save more but that's not always practical or convenient. Here's the system reviewed using PCPartpicker: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HxQx9J with the only change being the case which is available at same price on Ibuypower. As of this post you save $134 on the DIY. Do the same for your build and the same at Ibuy or Cyberpower and show me the way way more savings.
I would say that it's not disingenuous at all to state the following: You can get the same performance and save way way more than $250. I'm not talking about same parts, I'm talking same performance. I'm also talking about intelligently taking advantage of coupons and specials as they come up. Taking those points away from my argument is moving the goalposts a hell of a distance.
If you watch eBay and Google Express for site-wide coupon codes, you can get your CPU and GPU at 15-25% discounts. You can check Slickdeals for the history of those coupons, they come up twice a month. EXTRA25 gets you 25% off Google Express orders (up to $100 savings) which include orders from Fry's *right now*.
No I'm not going to build some machine that adheres explicitly to the parts used on iBuyPower's website, that was never my point and would be a waste of my time. If you want to have the argument I'm trying to have, then go ahead and respond, but if you want to keep moving the goalposts, don't even bother.
Cool beans. The Taichi seems to be a decent board. I look forward to the review....and it would be great if you have the chance to delve into the whys and hows on DPC Latency for the two most recent reviews jumping into the awesome range from the last year's worth of mediocre results.
Until now I had lumped the 3xx series chipsets into the 'every few years Intel drops the ball on DPC latency" bucket.
The changes we've seen in DPC latency on this platform have come after we started testing with Spectre/Meltdown patches installed and active as well as an OS update.
I need to eventually go back and test other boards to confirm, but outside of the board(s), no other changes were made outside of what i mentioned above.
What a joke of a system. They used the bottom tier Asus “Tuf” line which used to be good, but now is crap. I only purchase Falcon Northwest computers. Period. No other company does it as well as they do. Period.
What was said there is an average room is around 22C/~72F. If it is any warmer, that could tip things. But it depends on the CPU sample, cooler chosen etc. Overclocking a i7-8700K to 5 GHz all cores without an AVX offset isn't really a task for most 120mm radiators.
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Death666Angel - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
The use of stock photos with an SLI configuration is a bit weird.I'm not a fan of these big cases anymore. Look at all the wasted space inside. This configuration could have been done with an ITX motherboard and corresponding case that fits the radiator. Or at the very max mATX if you want to have some expandability. I'd also rather see a beefy CPU heatsink instead of the middle of the road H60. If you go CLC in such a big case, at least get a 240 / 280mm radiator. Shipping issues of an attached 1kg+ heatsink might have prevented going down that road. The only thing this large case is used for is to hide all those cables in a really messy way.
DanNeely - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
I've got to agree about the stock photos. 1 vs 2 GPUs is just too different. If it was just a different mobo and 2 vs 4 dimms I wouldn't've cared even if I noticed (and if just the mobo I probably wouldn't).WasHopingForAnHonestReview - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
For those of us who like expand-ability and room to work, these larger cases are a must.Death666Angel - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
How much expandability will someone do, that buys a pre-configured PC? Ease of use, I give you that. But again, if someone buys a ready made PC, I doubt he will do a lot of work on it. At least that is my experience.I've personally used three non GPU PCIe expansion cards in the last 10 years. One soundcard, one ethernet card and one NVME SSD adapter. I've also never seen someone use more than three PCIe cards in one PC. So I still maintain that ATX cases and motherboards should be considered the niche these days, not mATX or ITX. If you need more than the motherboard offers you, mATX gives you two to three non GPU PCIe slots and if you need more than that, you are likely using some exotic things.
philehidiot - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
I have a double width Corsair Carbide case and, aside from the size occasionally getting in the way, it makes it loads easier to work inside and you just never even have to consider the size or number of components. Also gives loads of space to mount radiators and have large, slow spinning fans rather than smaller noisier faster ones. I can however see the use for smaller cases and why people would want them. I just can't be arsed fiddling.3ogdy - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
Big cases are awesome. Better airflow, more space to route the cables and keep them hidden...more space for further upgrades / additions. All this nanoscaling in everything is just crazy.imaheadcase - Wednesday, July 11, 2018 - link
Well prepare yourself, because soon upgrading wont be a think at all. All-in-ones are going to be the norm sadly. If business and gaming is what drives upgrades, then the way the games and businesses are going to reason to upgrade much anymore. The most popular PCs for business are cheap $200 hubs with built in everything. Gaming the most popular games fot years now dont require anything special.bigboxes - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
No, desktops are niche these days. For those of us that are enthusiasts, a larger case is easier to perform maintenance and upgrade. You're right about today's motherboards have more on-board features and quality parts. However, you may not need be as much of as enthusiast as you once were. I remember putting in all video cards, tv tuner cards, sound cards, ethernet cards, usb cards, firewire cards, etc. Whenever you want to do more than what your motherboard came with you have to use expansion cards if you want to keep it all inside the case. I also upgraded my P6T Deluxe v2 a few years ago with updated USB and SATA expansion cards. Can't do that without expansion slots.hansmuff - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
For an 'average user' desktop, you're certainly correct. For an enthusiast, the amount of airflow alone makes a larger case worthwhile in terms of noise. I have two 140MM intakes on 'low' and another 2 140mm as exhausts, also on 'low', ML fans all of them. Coupled with a 115i I can NOT hear my system unless the graphics card goes under high load. A small case would have maybe 1/2 the airflow, MAYBE, and then the fans would have to spin much faster and be louder.DigitalFreak - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
" The PC sits in styrofoam shell protecting the PC inside. "Wouldn't static electricity be a concern?
1_rick - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Well, you should certainly use care taking it out, and (at minimum) discharge static, or better yet, ground yourself first.I'm not sure if that's Styrofoam or not--it's pretty cool: expanding foam that will shape itself to the insides of the case it's put in. I bought a CyberPowerPC last year that had the stuff. I don't remember it being staticky when I took it out.
Aside: I took the computer back because of some issues I had with it. One thing I did not like was it was a mid-range Ryzen, and CyberPowerPC had replaced the stock Ryzen HSF with a cheap combo that included a 3-pin fan that ran at something like 3000RPM all the time, even when the PC was idle. As you can imagine, it was pretty annoying. I don't know why they would've put an inferior component in that case.
Flunk - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
OEMs buy CPUs by the tray without heatsinks, there was nothing to replace. They probably got that cooler cheap. That's exactly the sort of cost-cutting I'd expect in a white-box system like this.PeachNCream - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Why am I seeing stock photos/renders when there's a physical product being tested and ample time to take photos of it? I don't care about fake marketing version. I want to see what was shipped and reviewed.Ryan Smith - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
We actually use stock photos fairly frequently. Sometimes it's hard to get a great photo of a product, especially something this glossy with integrated lighting. Those $5K DSLRs and professional photo editors definitely make a difference.PeachNCream - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
That's perfectly reasonable for a motherboard or some other non-changing single component where one will be identical to another. In the case of a system where the actual hardware configuration is different from the stock photos, it leads to a jarring experience.Also, take a read through the visual inspection and unboxing page. It's got some awkward wording here and there and could use some editorial massaging.
Craig234 - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
The goal of the photo should be accurately communicating the product info, not looking as pretty as possible at the expense of not being as accurate, shouldn't it?That's a little like a wedding photographer returning outstanding photos with great backgrounds and lighting of another couple, saying the top effects weren't possible at their wedding.
DanNeely - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
The difference is that wedding photographers are supposed to be experts at taking pictures with high end cameras. Product reviewers are supposed to be experts at the product category they write about; unless that's reviewing cameras pro level photography isn't a job requirement.Death666Angel - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
At least give us a picture caption or a mouse over text that tells us if it is a stock photo or one of the tested configuration.Ryan Smith - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Indeed. We aim for great photos regardless, but there is a practical limit to what a guy working out of his home office can do versus a pro photographer with dedicated studio space.wolfemane - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
I gotta agree with the nit pickers here. The stock photos don’t really represent the product review. I’d think even a few cell phone pics would have been acceptable.For shooting pc hardware you don’t need a lot of space, or a lot of lighting. A small home office could easily accommodate the set up ( even with a metric ton of hardware benches everywhere). I know, my wife has a set up in my office for just that. A white box, couple of over head lights, and reflectors ( or whatever). All picked up on Amazon for basically nothing. And you don’t need a $5k dslr to shoot those. D750 or canon equivalent will run you $1500 with a good lense. Can’t tell me Anandtech doesn’t make enough for that kind of equipment? :)
Love the article, though. Don’t want to leave that out. IMO it was well written, and as always well laid out. And when was the last time a prebuilt was reviewed? Cool segment, again, IMO.
Joe Shields - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Yes, it was extremely difficult to get good pictures with all of the reflections. I would have had to purchase black sheets and string them up all around my office to prevent reflections (amount of room isn't the problem, its the other surfaces constantly reflecting off the glass). so I went with the stock photos in parts. If you will notice, The stock photos used were the only ones available at the website which showed a 'max' config. I see I should have been more clear but figured the as configured specs table immediately below the the images would clarify things.Cellar Door - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
Yeah.. but the few real pics in the article, show a product that is nowhere that of the stock renders - highlighting the importance of why it is important to include even mediocre real pictures.Joe Shields - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Yes, I understood that point already. Just explaining the method to the apparent madness. Your input is appreciated.PeachNCream - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Pretty much this stuff. AT is a hardware review site. We'd be remiss were we to expect or even want professional photography. Get the point across accurately, which stock photos in this case simply do not do, and that's good enough.Joe Shields - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Again, please accept my apologies. Next time, I will not take for granted readers know that iBP can build different systems including using multiple GPUs. I assumed, apparently incorrectly, readers would look at the as configured specs table, found on the first page, and see there is a difference. Moving forward I will strive to take better photos of difficult subjects (I do have a lightbox, lights, etc) and when using stock photos to be even more clear they are stock and the internal configuration may not match.Sttm - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Doesn't look too bad. Though I don't really like these cases with front fans and very limited front air intakes.Of course the real sticking point is that we are a few months out from new GPU's, so buying any system is rather silly.
Thunder 57 - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Wait, was this an ad, or a review?Ryan Smith - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
A review.WasHopingForAnHonestReview - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
Good lord, the amount of ridiculous comments here is #toodamnhigh! They did a review and there are nothing but complaints. Go outside guys, go for a run or something. Your attitudes are crap.Death666Angel - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
I see a lot of valid responses to the article and to the tested product. Your comment, however, offers nothing to the review or the discussions. Better follow your own advice, matey.WasHopingForAnHonestReview - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
You complained about stock photos... Another whined about possiboe static electricity from foam packing. Another said he likes not having so many rbg lights. Lol get a clueNotmyusualid - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
@ WasHopingForAnHonestReview- Thanks for saying out loud what was screaming inside of my head.
Go outside - the graphics are great!
just4U - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
From the article: "So where does that leave us? As someone who has built PCs with my own hands for well over 20 years, it can be difficult to find a lot of value in any system builder."---
Like you I've been building systems for over 20 years now, and personally find it rewarding and your right it can be hard for people like that to find value in systems like this.. However I ran into a interesting problem this spring.
Building my own system would have cost me $275 more than buying a ibuypower or alienware computer. The parts would be better overall in the system if i built it myself but i couldn't get anything comparable due to high memory and video card costs. I eventually went with the Alienware as Im going to really look forward to tearing it down and rebuilding it in 4-5 years..whereas the Ibuypower is something more in line with what I'd build.. First time in a very long time I've actually purchased a (non laptop) system.. They have come a long way and certainly add value in the right areas these days.
lazarpandar - Friday, July 6, 2018 - link
I could build something that performs identically and is way less flashy for *way* less than $1950 estimated in the article.Hell eBay has been doing those 20% off sales like twice a month. Get your GPU one week and your CPU another, Newegg bundle whatever you can, check Slickdeals for SSDs, maybe put up with a rebate for your PSU. You could build this thing for like $1500.
Yvonne M. Miller - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
niceMDD1963 - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
Pleasantly surprised by this offering, actually; not everyone builds their own, and, $250 markup over all parts ordered individually is not a horrible deal, and, at least all parts seem 'brand name', although I'd sure skip the 8086K over a standard 8700K, refusing to pay another $150 for 200 more MHz or so....lazarpandar - Saturday, July 7, 2018 - link
It may be $250 markup on parts, but you have to also factor in which parts you wouldn't even include if you made the thing yourself. Like LEDs, closed loop cooler, you could get different parts that perform almost identically for way way less than $250 less. I'm sure that case is >$100 by itself, you can definitely good cases for cheaper. This doesn't even take into account the amount of savings you would see switching to AMD Ryzen 2 with probably a non-noticeable drop in frame rates.It's just a disingenuous claim that exists to make the value proposition of a prebuilt seem reasonable when in reality you can save way way way more than that.
P2C - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
It's disingenuous to say you could do it cheaper by switching or omitting parts when you could also modify the build from the system builder and come up with a comparable, cheaper system. The reality is if you need to build a system with these vendors using identical or near as possible components you would likely save less than 10% on a DIY. These companies will also include the necessary items to redeem manufacturer rebates. If you could wait for special deals you could save more but that's not always practical or convenient. Here's the system reviewed using PCPartpicker: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HxQx9J with the only change being the case which is available at same price on Ibuypower. As of this post you save $134 on the DIY. Do the same for your build and the same at Ibuy or Cyberpower and show me the way way more savings.Arbie - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
@P2C - excellent comment; thanks for laying it out.lazarpandar - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
I would say that it's not disingenuous at all to state the following: You can get the same performance and save way way more than $250. I'm not talking about same parts, I'm talking same performance. I'm also talking about intelligently taking advantage of coupons and specials as they come up. Taking those points away from my argument is moving the goalposts a hell of a distance.If you watch eBay and Google Express for site-wide coupon codes, you can get your CPU and GPU at 15-25% discounts. You can check Slickdeals for the history of those coupons, they come up twice a month. EXTRA25 gets you 25% off Google Express orders (up to $100 savings) which include orders from Fry's *right now*.
No I'm not going to build some machine that adheres explicitly to the parts used on iBuyPower's website, that was never my point and would be a waste of my time. If you want to have the argument I'm trying to have, then go ahead and respond, but if you want to keep moving the goalposts, don't even bother.
casteve - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
Thanks for the article.The DPC latency result, while great, is way lower than previous Coffee Lake results
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12634/gigabyte-h370...
which also don't map into the 101us number in this article's table....
Joe Shields - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
The 101 value, and that 'i7-8700K system' is based off results from a yet to be published motherboard review of the Z370 Taichi.casteve - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Cool beans. The Taichi seems to be a decent board. I look forward to the review....and it would be great if you have the chance to delve into the whys and hows on DPC Latency for the two most recent reviews jumping into the awesome range from the last year's worth of mediocre results.Until now I had lumped the 3xx series chipsets into the 'every few years Intel drops the ball on DPC latency" bucket.
Joe Shields - Tuesday, July 10, 2018 - link
The changes we've seen in DPC latency on this platform have come after we started testing with Spectre/Meltdown patches installed and active as well as an OS update.I need to eventually go back and test other boards to confirm, but outside of the board(s), no other changes were made outside of what i mentioned above.
casteve - Tuesday, July 10, 2018 - link
Thanks!Arbie - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
I think it's valuable to look at pre-built offerings occasionally. Even somepne who can build may not have the time or inclination.I agree that in this case the front page photos were confusing. I kept reading the results wondering where the dual-GPU came in.
Vanguarde - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
What a joke of a system. They used the bottom tier Asus “Tuf” line which used to be good, but now is crap.I only purchase Falcon Northwest computers. Period. No other company does it as well as they do. Period.
catavalon21 - Sunday, July 8, 2018 - link
"...it was already at the limits so a warmer than average room (my office is kept at ~22C) it may be a tipping point."In much of the US, 22C / 71.6F is not warmer than average for an office or for a home computing environment.
I guess your point is that for most of us, system temps would be an issue?
Joe Shields - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
What was said there is an average room is around 22C/~72F. If it is any warmer, that could tip things. But it depends on the CPU sample, cooler chosen etc. Overclocking a i7-8700K to 5 GHz all cores without an AVX offset isn't really a task for most 120mm radiators.catavalon21 - Monday, July 9, 2018 - link
Thanks. It was late...