The Clarkdale Experiment
I’ve been waiting for Intel’s 32nm CPUs to arrive on the scene, because I’ve been wanting to build a small, but relatively potent, gaming system. Now, Anand wasn’t all that impressed with the price/performance ratio of the Intel Core i5 661, suggesting that Intel had priced the CPU too high relative to the competition.
Interestingly, Anand also found the power consumption to be a little iffy, noting that his system idled at around 110W (though he did suggest it was high partly due to the particular Asus motherboard he used in the CPU review.)
I saw an opportunity with Clarkdale to do a little experimenting. I wanted to build a small gaming system with low idle power, but capable of running high end games at high frame rates. The $205 Core i5 661 looked to be just the CPU for that – two cores, two more virtual cores seemed like a good fit for even modern game titles. All you need is a better GPU… and maybe a few other things.
For example, I’d need a good discrete graphics card. Storage was relatively important, but I could get by without dropping in a terabyte drive. This system wasn’t intended to be a repository for digital video. Even though modern PC games take up a lot of space, there even a 250 or 320GB drive is ample enough to hold quite a number of games. For example, I probably have a dozen current generation games installed using Steam, and my Steam folder is just 131GB.
So in my mind, Clarkdale can enable a different class of system. Right now, I’ve got a system running a different Asus motherboard (the P7H55D-M EVO). It’s also got a discrete graphics card in it. After I build a system, I always run 3DMark Vantage as a kind of sanity check to see if it's all working properly. This little monster generates a 3DMark Vantage score of 12,738.
Did I mention that it idles at just under 70W?
Let’s see exactly how I built this thing.
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Nfarce - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
+1Yeah, no kidding. WTF *is* the point of this?
"Loyd builds a small form factor, high performance, low power gaming system. Is it worth the effort..."
Dunno, you tell me AT - there is nothing to see here currently.
stromgald30 - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
+1Seriously, this is just a summary of somebody's build. Isn't there a forum for this somewhere?
Articles on the front page should be evaluating something objectively like the case design or benchmarking some components. These articles lack a control/standard (i.e. it's hard to compare the built system / relevant component with a similar or dissimilar build with the same component).
This seems to do very little to help anybody building a SFF other than to make the obvious subjective comment that "it's cramped" and everything is a tight fit. The additional comments about the push pins and motherboard layout seem better suited for motherboard or HSF specific reviews.
tjaisv - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
Agreed.What was the point of this article again? lol
And if somebody had $2000 to spend on a new system i highly doubt they'd be using a core i5 in it anyway.
Griswold - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
For people, such as you, who either buy pre-built machines or ask for a shopping list on the forums, there is nothing (yet) to see there.Why not read the last sentecne of the article again?
Flunk - Friday, January 29, 2010 - link
My desktop is a small formfactor high performance system in a similar Silverstone case that I build over 2 years ago, I know several people with similar systems. They're not unusual enough for an article like this, certainly not "experimental".Penti - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
This should be posted as a blog post.therealnickdanger - Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - link
"Why not read the last sentecne of the article again?"Why not just wait a couple weeks and give us a real review when it's over? AT has built a reputation for being thorough and objective - this preview provides neither. How about compiling benchmarks on the system he built compared to the $900 version he suggests building? As it stands, the article offers no compulsive evidence of any kind, ultimately serving no purpose as an Anandtech review... not even a preview, really.
jamesadames12 - Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - link
http://www.asdpoolsupply.com/pages.php?pageid=11">http://www.asdpoolsupply.com/pages.php?pageid=11mcbowler - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
There is no reason for a large case anymore. I built a micro-atx PC, however, not quite as small as the silverstone. I put a 5870 and some cheaper AMD AthlonII X3 in it and the thing handles games like a champ. Would have loved to put the SSD in it but its not needed. Here is the case I used. I think a 5970 will fit too.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
Can't wait to see AMD's vision of its Black Fusion PC come to life.
kondor999 - Monday, May 10, 2010 - link
I built a similar system, but much more powerful:- Same Case.
- Antec Quattro 1000w ($139 after rebate at Fry's).
- EVGA P55 Micro SLI mobo ($84 after rebate at Newegg).
- Core i5-750 OC to 4.0 Ghz using Corsair H50 water cooler (top 120mm fan used for radiator).
- 2 GTX 480's in SLI (yes, they fit and run cool enough - barely).
- Replaced bottom 120mm fan with a speed-adjustable MFDB one, and attached a Zalman Fan-mate to control speed.
- Used card slot at top of case for an exhaust fan (very helpful, given that heat rises and would otw accumulate at the top of the case).
- Intel G2 SSD 80gb boot drive.
- WD Velociraptor WD6000HLHX 600gb game drive.
If I get more ambitious, I may water-cool the 480's with Danger Den waterblocks and mount a 2-fan rad on the back using a Swiftech radbox-mounted DRIVE heat exchanger/pump/reservoir.
This gives me a complete state-of-the-art system that is actually luggable to LAN parties (or, in my case, to work when I feel like closing my office door and goofing off).
It also happens to blow the doors off the "experimental" system described in the article. Mainly because, in a gaming system, $1000 worth of videocards beats an $850 SSD any day. I spent the money where it really counts.
Yay ;-)