Gaming Desktop Shootout - September 2012

With modern game consoles and gaming-capable laptops, there’s little reason to buy a full-sized desktop gaming PC unless you want to ‘dial it up to 11’ for the highest graphical quality.

We rounded up and tested gaming PCs from major local system-builders. Our goal: to help you understand what you get for your money, what you should be looking for in a gaming desktop, and what you should expect in terms of build quality, components and configuration when you pay someone else to build a gaming PC for you.

The request was simple – send us a machine geared towards 3D gaming which costs approximately $3,000 excluding monitor and peripherals.

Four machines came back from Auckland-based retailers, whilst a fifth came from Acer’s Australia/New Zealand catalogue. Dell were unable to supply a suitable Alienware gaming desktop in time for our roundup, or for this online follow-up.

We put each machine through a gruelling suite of gaming and processing tests with most graphical settings on ‘maximum’ to really test their mettle. We also threw in our hardware reviewer’s hand-assembled home rig for a point of reference.

In addition to performance, we looked at aspects such as build quality, cable management, component choice and overclocked settings to really determine what you get for your money.


Machines Tested: Specifications

Make	Computer Lounge	PlayTech	Mighty Ape	Acer	PB Technologies
Model	Gen-X Special Ops	Hunter	PC World Monkey	G5920	PB Extreme 7105W
PCW Rating	4.5	4.0	3.5	2.5	3.5
RRP incl GST	$3,499	$2,973	$2,999	$4,999	$2,599
CPU	Intel Core i5-3570K	Intel Core i7-3770K	Intel Core i5-3570K	Intel Core i7-3770K	Intel Core i5-3570K
Overclocked?	Yes, 4.5GHz	Yes, 4.5GHz	No	No	Yes, 4.5GHz
Cooling	XSPC Rasa 750 RS240 240mm WaterCooling Kit	Corsair H80 120mm Watercooling Kit	Intel 120mm Watercooling Kit	Heatsink/fan (OEM)	Cooler Master X6 Heatsink/fan
RAM	8GB (2x4GB) Patriot Viper Xtreme DDR3-1600 CL8	8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3-1600 CL8	8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1600 CL9	16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1333 CL9 (OEM)	16GB (4x4GB) G.Skill RipjawsZ DDR3-1866 CL9
GPU	2 x EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX670 2GB in SLI	Gigabyte Overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX670 2GB	Asus Overclocked AMD Radeon HD7970 3GB	Nvidia GeForce GTX670 2GB (OEM)	Leadtek Nvidia GeForce GTX680 2GB
HDD1	120GB Intel 330 Series SATA3 SSD	60GB Intel 520 Series SATA3 SSD	128GB OCZ Vertex 4 SATA3 SSD	120GB SSD (OEM)	128GB OCZ Vertex 4 SATA3 SSD
HDD2	1TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM	1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM	1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM	2TB 7200RPM SATA3 (OEM)	2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM
ODD	LG DVD-RW	Asus DVD-RW	Asus BD-RW	BD-RW (OEM)	LG BD-R/DVD-RW
Mobo	Asrock Extreme4 Z77	ASUS P8Z77-V	Asus Deluxe Z77	Intel Z77 chipset (OEM)	Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
Case	Corsair Vengeance C70 Mid-Tower	Corsair Vengeance C70 Mid-Tower	Cooler Master Silencio 550	Acer Aspire G5 Predator	Cooler Master HAF XM
PSU	760W Seasonic X-Series	750W FSP AU-750M	650W Cooler Master GX	OEM	750W Seasonic M12II
O/S	Windows 7 Home 64bit	Windows 7 Home 64bit	-	Windows 7 Home 64bit	Windows 7 Home 64bit
Other	NZXT White sleeved cables + LED kit	BitFenix White sleeved cables	-	Logitech MK260 Keyboard and Mouse combo	TP-Link TL-WN781N PCI-E WiFi adaptor

Machines Tested: Benchmarks

Benchmark	Settings/Details	Computer Lounge	PlayTech	Mighty Ape	Acer	PB Technologies
		Gen-X Special Ops	Hunter	PC World Monkey	G5920	PB Extreme 7105W
PCMark 7 (Score)	Overall	6094	6021	4992	4936	6048
	Productivity	6171	6053	4589	4495	6481
	Creativity	5841	5577	5322	5081	5740
	System storage	5382	4927	5090	4664	5201
Cinebench R11.5 (FPS)	Multi-threaded	7.48	9.28	5.43	7.41	6.26
	Single-threaded	1.89	1.95	1.45	1.63	1.91
3DMark 11 (FPS)	Performance (720p)	13386	9210	7435	8110	9238
	Extreme Preset (1080p)	5463	3173	2468	2880	3325
Unigine Heaven 3.0 (FPS)	Tessellation Normal(1080p)	153.3	90.4	80.7	81.8	99.6
	Tessellation Normal(1440p)	104.3	60.3	55.2	54.4	64.9
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat (FPS)	Ultra 4xAA, HBAO High + Tess. (1080p)	177	109.3	100	104.8	115.8
	Ultra 4xAA, HBAO High + Tess. (1440p)	122.1	67.9	60.4	64.4	71.2
Battlefield 3 (FPS)	Ultra Preset (1080p)	110	60.4	62.7	57.4	63.9
	Ultra Preset (1440p)	70.4	38.1	43.1	36.8	40.7
DiRT3 (FPS)	Ultra + 8xAA (1080p)	118.2	101.3	85.9	94.9	108.7
	Ultra + 8xAA (1440p)	109.2	68.5	62.7	65.1	75.4
Trackmania Nations Forever (FPS)	Very high, 8xAA, 16xAF (1080p)	111	127	83.3	115	137
	Very high, 8xAA, 16xAF (1440p)	64.6	102	68.7	92.3	105
Anno 2070 (FPS)	Very High (1080p)	132.9	86.7	77.4	77.2	96.2
	Very High (1440p)	92.2	56.5	47.9	50.3	64.7
Average FPS	1080p (1920 x 1080)	133.7	95.9	81.7	88.5	103.5
	1440p (2560 x 1440)	93.8	65.6	56.3	60.6	70.3
System power draw (W)	Idle (desktop)	124	69	106	50	74
	Load (Furmark 1080p burn-in)	428	294	349	220	320

Conclusion

It is quite obvious that at certain price-points the PC component market lacks a little bit of competition. Every machine we tested featured either the Core i5-3570K or Core i7-3770K CPU from Intel, and four out of five featured either the GTX670 or GTX 680 from Nvidia. AMD has not regained a footing in the high-performance arena, if system-builder preferences are anything to go by.

Despite this, we still had quite a wide range of performance and value from this line up. The cheapest machine (PB Tech’s PB Extreme 7105W) ended up beating three of the more expensive machines (four if you count my home rig), however it suffered from some quality issues.

Conversely, the most expensive PC (the Acer Aspire Predator G5920) had the least desirable components, terrible cable management and finished second-to-last on the benchmark table, only narrowly beating the significantly cheaper PC World Monkey from Mighty Ape.

Honourable mention goes to the Playtech Hunter. If you have a strict budget of $3,000 for a gaming PC (excluding monitor and peripherals) then hands-down this is a winner. Top shelf components combined with skilled cable management and overclocking result in a powerhouse PC that looks the business.

For just a few hundred dollars extra, however, you can crank things up by several notches and go for the Computer Lounge Gen-X Special Ops. We feel it is disproportionately better than all the other machines, despite costing a little bit more than most of them, which is why we have given it the Editors’ Choice award in this year’s roundup.

Every aspect of the Special Ops is spot on and the attention to detail is astounding, particularly the foam packing to protect the components during shipping. So before you buy that next gaming PC don’t just check the specifications; pop the panels off and really try and get to grips with what exactly you are getting. When it comes to quality, the benchmark has most definitely been set.