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Cost VS Performance:
As you saw in our 3DMark Vantage test the system performed well but certainly not as high as the high end system featured at the time of the test. We considered that it would be interesting to provide a cost vs performance demonstration for our readers:
Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme Test Rig
Component |
Brand |
Cost |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 | |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-EP45T-Extreme | |
| Graphics Card | Palit 4870 X2 | |
| Memory | PQI 4GB PC3-1600 DDR3 | $94 |
Click on the Images for Realtime Pricing and Purchasing |
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Total Cost: ~1000
3DMark Vantage High End
Component |
Brand |
Cost |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Extreme | |
| Motherboard | EVGA 790i FTW SLI | |
| Graphics Card | Nvidia GTX 280 (x2) | |
| Memory | 2GB (DDR3 2000) | $87 |
Total Cost: ~ 1800
As you can see the 3DMark Vantage high end system comes in at least $800 more than our test system based on pricing at the time of this publishing. It is worthy to note that the extra Nvidia GTX 280 adds an additional $400+ to the cost of the 3DMark system. The motherboards compared here are competitively priced with the GA-EP45T-Extreme coming out ahead at approximately $30 cheaper than the EVGA 790i. The benefit of a super high end setup vs the lower cost test system we have reviewed here is a personal judgement but given the current marketplace and economic conditions we feel that most consumers are interested in saving as much money as possible.