Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart January 2012

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart January 2012

source:www.tomshardware.com

Swiftech Unveils A Host Of New Products For Q1 2012

Introducing Swiftech

Built by Swiftech® to showcase several of its upcoming products for the first quarter of 2012, this high-end gaming system featured some of the best and latest enthusiast hardware the industry has to offer; it was demonstrated at the Xtremesystems.org Poker Tournament Event.

Specs

• Case
  • Cooler Master CM Storm Trooper
• Power Supply
  • Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 1300W
• Motherboard
  • Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 LGA 2011
• Processor
  • Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2 Ghz Overclocked at 4.5Ghz
• Graphics
  • (2) EVGA GTX590 Hydro Copper cooled
• Memory
  • Kingston HyperX (2) x 16GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
• Storage
  • OCZ (2) x Vertex 3 SSDs in Raid 0 for OS and applications
  • Western Digital
  •  
    • 1Tb 7200 RPM for storage and games
• Tubing
  • Danger Den Dreamflex UV blue ¾” x ½”
• Operating system
  • Microsoft® Windows 7 64 bit

Swiftech® featured cooling components & accessories

• Apogee™ Drive II CPU water block with built-in MCP35X pump
• EVGA Hydro copper GTX590 full cover VGA water blocks
• MCR220 Drive™ dual 120mm radiator with built-in MCP35X pump
• MCR220 XP dual 120mm radiator
• MCR240 QP dual 140mm radiator
• Lok-Seal™ compression fittings
• Helix™ 120mm fans
• TIM-Mate™ thermal compound
• HyDrx™ PM coolant       

Our thanks go to the following Companies for sponsoring this build:

• COOLER MASTER®
• EVGA®
• GIGABYTE®
• KINGSTON®
• nVIDIA®
• OCZ®

The Apogee™ Drive concept was first introduced by Swiftech mid-2007, and was the first high-end waterblock to ever incorporate a built-in pump. Coming up for the first quarter of 2012, the Apogee™ Drive II is a complete re-design of the original, and it squarely targets the extreme enthusiast market with such features as:

1. Unequaled thermal performance to date: superior thermal performance even to our flagship Apogee HD waterblock.
2. First waterblock ever to increase the system flow rate instead of restricting it, resulting in massive system flow rate.
3. Unparalleled Reliability (redundant pumps).
4. Fully speed adjustable (PWM).
5. Adjustable port fittings, G1/4 compatible, compression fittings compatible.
6. Multi-port technology compliant (dual outlet option available).
7. Compatible with all modern desktop CPU’s.
8. Additional pump cooling heatsink to increase pump lifespan and reduce heat dump into cooling loop.
9. Cool looks (diode lit logo).

Compression fittings have been gaining great momentum in the enthusiast community because they are somewhat simpler to use than the traditional barb-and-clamp fittings, and they look more streamlined once installed.  Outside of the PC industry, this type of fittings is used in high pressure applications, and known for its reliability.  But in an effort to simplify their utilization even further for DIY users, vendors in our industry have adapted these products for tool-free usage, and we found during extensive testing of these fittings that such designs could easily lead to unsafe installations.

In 2012, Swiftech will be introducing the Lok-Seal™ line of compression fittings:  specifically designed to eliminate the safety issues found in current market offerings.

1. Easier and safer installation:  the base of the fitting features a combination of hand grip and hex-nut so that it can be started by hand, and then safely locked in place with a standard tool (adjustable wrench, flat wrench or socket), instead of just “finger-tight”.  Without this feature, competing fittings risk either being unsafely tightened (finger-tight), or almost always damaged by the use of pliers, even when the plier jaws are protected by cloth or tape. 
2. Easier on the fingers: to ensure that fingers have a positive grip on the fitting, most competing products feature a diamond pattern on the compression nut, and many users complain of sore fingers after a while. User fatigue may lead to neglecting safety essentials, and result in catastrophic leaks. Lok-Seal fittings feature a simpler groove pattern which is gentler on the fingers but still offers a very good grip; more importantly, the compression nut features flats so that one can also use a tool to finish off tightening the nut, if desired or needed.
3. Lower flow restriction than any of our competitors: the Lok-Seal™ fitting’s base features the largest internal diameter of any G1/4 compression fitting.
4. A complete range of fittings will be introduced, including rotary (swivel), 45°, 90°, SLI extensions, for ¾” OD x ½” ID, 5/8” OD x 3/8” ID, ½” OD x 3/8” ID, in durable black electrophoresis coating, or true chrome plating.

• Excellent contact-resilience (ability to perform well even with poor or medium contact).
• Outstanding overall performance (superior to PK1 in our tests), in “great contact” applications.
• Reasonable cost.
• Will be packaged (1 g syringe) with all Swiftech waterblocks
• Will be sold separately in 5g syringes
• Samples will be distributed at CES

Best PCIe Card January 2012 : $100 To $180

Best PCIe Card For ~$100:

Radeon HD 5750/6750
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, some with lowered detail

The Radeon HD 5750 (also available re-badged as the Radeon HD 6750, with the added bonus of Blu-ray 3D decode support) is the most powerful $100 option available, with the added bonus of a relatively low 86 W power requirement. We used to skip this model in favor of the $115 Radeon HD 5770/6770. But now that the Radeon HD 6790 can be found within $10 of that price, we're passing it over in favor of the more powerful option.

Best PCIe Card For ~$125:

Radeon HD 6790
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games, some with lowered detail

 

AMD's Radeon HD 6790 delivers DirectX 11 support, multi-display connectivity via Eyefinity, and HD audio bitstreaming capabilities in a modestly-priced gaming card. It runs circles around the similarly-priced GeForce GTX 550 Ti, and now that the GeForce GTX 460 768 MB is missing in action, we're giving the sole recommendation to AMD's solution. This would have been a shared honor previously. 

Best PCIe Card For $150:

Radeon HD 6850
Good 1920x1200 performance in most games

 

With GeForce GTX 460 1 GB 256-bit prices rising above $220 and Radeon HD 6850 prices dropping to $150, the AMD option looks particularly attractive when it comes to choosing between both similarly-performing competitors. This card delivers a solid gaming experience given the asking price. If you're playing at 1080p resolutions, you really can't go wrong here. 

Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart January 2012 
source:www.tomshardware.com

Best PCIe Card January 2012 : $100 And Under

Best PCI Express (PCIe) Card For $75: 

Radeon HD 5670  
Exceptional 1680x1050 performance in most games, 1920x1200 in most games with lowered detail

The Radeon HD 5670 offers best-in-class performance and DirectX 11 compatibility, along with all of the other Radeon HD 5000-series features, such as multi-display support and high-def audio bitstreaming. 

The problem is, this card becoming hard to find as it is being phased out to make way for the similarly priced DDR3-equipped Radeon HD 6670. While the newer model does have a slight advantage when it comes to raw GPU capability,  the memory bandwidth is much lower. As a result, we'll recommend the Radeon HD 5670 as long as we can find it available.

Best PCIe Card For ~$95: None

Honorable Mention:
Radeon HD 6670 GDDR5
Exceptional 1680x1050 performance in most games, 1920x1200 in most games with lowered detail

The Radeon HD 6670 isn't really much of an upgrade over the Radeon HD 5670, and it's definitely slower than the similarly-priced Radeon HD 6750. However, we're going to give it an honorable mention for being the fastest card (at least compared to reference versions from AMD and Nvidia) that doesn't require an auxiliary PCIe power cable. That is to say its power requirements are entirely satisfied by a second-generation PCI Express x16 slot.

Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart January 2012 

source:www.tomshardware.com