Build-A-Rig Round 2, SilverStone vs. Crucial: The $800 PC Showdown
by Daniel Williams on November 12, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Build-A-Rig
- Systems
- Crucial
- SilverStone
Build-A-Rig Round 2: The Conclusion
As we wrap up the second round of the Build-a-Rig contest, both SilverStone and Crucial's back-to-school computers gave us significantly different configurations. With a budget of $800 we have builds that more people may be able to relate to, and with both machines happening to be Mini-ITX builds both are much more portable than a traditional machine which will be much more convenient for the college lifestyle theme that these were designed around.
We got to see from our performance numbers that while SilverStone's Mighty Milo can pull a substantial lead in graphics heavy games, in other cases where the CPU is the bottleneck there’s a definite difference between the Pentium in that system and Cruicial’s choice of a more powerful AVX and Hyper-Threading capable Core i3. That said, thanks to its ability to overclock, Milo can close much of this gap in more lightly threaded or single threaded workloads, falling behind on any remaining HT-sensitive workloads.
On the other hand, Crucial's Ballistix Bantam maintains itself as a more balanced machine and does a better job of keeping its GPU fed and happy. Aside from performance other factors such as a larger Boot SSD and faster WiFi will make the Bantam a nicer machine to use day to day when browsing the web and doing work.
With performance covered we found that the Ballistix Bantam pulled more power thanks to a less-efficient PSU, and that Mighty Milo was quieter at stock thanks to its larger aftermarket CPU cooler. When overclocked Milo does give up that noise advantage though, so as performance equalizes so does noise.
Finally, in the grab bag category we have a lot revolving around the cases themselves. The Mighty Milo uses a fairly narrow case with a handle on top, which is great for actually toting the system around. On the other hand the Ballistix Bantam uses a wider cubic case, but it manages to work in a window so that it can show off just what it’s made of.
And with that, we wrap up the second round of the Build-A-Rig Challenge. The systems have been speced, built, and tested, and now all that remains is for many of you what will be the most fun part of this series, the giveaway. Today is the final day to enter the Build-A-Rig Round 2 giveaway, so be sure to submit your entry before midnight tonight in order to earn a chance to win either Mighty Milo or Ballistix Bantam.
Lastly thanks go out to SilverStone and Crucial for participating in this giveaway and configuring these builds for us. And of course additional thanks go to Newegg for providing parts for these systems.
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Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, November 12, 2015 - link
So in other words, use the Milo build, but replace the cpu and gpu with the i3 and the 950, since the pentium and the 960 dont have enough threads to make proper use of the added gpu power.dsraa - Thursday, November 12, 2015 - link
finally, a DIY project that a regular person can afford!! I'm sick of those 'dream' systems that no-one buys, or has the money to even think about.nguyendot1 - Friday, November 13, 2015 - link
Does that ASROCK board have the latest bios? I have the latest on mine and the non-z overclocking is now disabled.Daniel Williams - Saturday, November 14, 2015 - link
No the ASROCK motherboard does not have the latest BIOS. Luckily for my schedule it had overclocking enabled out of the box.Unfortunately I do not know off hand how far back one has to go to regain overclocking, though I was warned that it may be necessary.
nguyendot1 - Tuesday, November 17, 2015 - link
So I had to downgrade from the latest bios to the last one (august?) and it brought back overclocking. Unfortunately it also bricked my motherboard for a few hours until I could tear the mini-itx case apart (Lian Li Q25) and hit the reset CMOS jumper. After multiple lacerations from the tight clearance I was able to reset it and force it to F6 - quick bios flash from a USB drive. Yay 4.4ghz is back.isaac12345 - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
Both the builds are unnecessarily stiffled. Just take the first one's case, the Milo, and put the second build's components except for the gfx card and psu. Retain those components and I'm pretty sure the winner will be far happier. Overclocking reduces reliability and increases heat. The winner should not be expected to fiddle to OC the system.Or simply take out the SSD in the first one and spread the money across a better CPU and a motherboard with better wifi. 120GB is hardly anything after formatting, installing the OS, apps and games.
isaac12345 - Monday, November 16, 2015 - link
Not to forget, get the 7200rpm version of the HDD. The build will be a lot more futureproof.ayejay_nz - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
Cool series!I thought the i3 would help a lot more than it did ^^ It seems the 960 had a bigger impact :o
tipoo - Monday, November 23, 2015 - link
Keep in mind that's only an average - Techreport and Digital Foundry frame time testing show the i3 is a big upgrade from the Pentium for frame time averages. Two extra threads help a lot.erotomania - Friday, November 20, 2015 - link
Crucial may not appreciate being called Corsair (right after 3DMark graphs I believe)