Build-A-Rig Round 1, Zotac vs. Corsair: The $1500 PC Showdown

We’re back again for the final phase of our inaugural Build-A-Rig Challenge, the performance showdown.

For this first round we are starting with a subject near and dear to our hearts, higher-end gaming systems. For around $1500 we believe you can put together a rather nice system, so for the first Build-A-Rig we decided to put this to the test, creating a contest to see how our friends in the PC components industry would do at picking parts for a $1500 system. Competing in this first round are Corsair and Zotac, with Chinny Chuang from Zotac and Dustin Sklavos from Corsair taking on the challenge for their respective companies.

Last month we kicked things off with the interviews, talking to Chinny and Dustin about their choice in parts and design goals, and looking at their submitted parts lists. Then last week in our Build Logs for this round, we put the systems together for testing, documenting the build process, how easy the systems were to assemble, and collecting various thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the respective builds.

Now for the final phase of this round of Build-A-Rig Challenge we have run the assembled Zotac and Corsair systems through our benchmark suite in order to document their performance and crown a winner. With a $1500 price tag and a loosely defined goal of putting together a solid gaming system, Zotac and Corsair have submitted designs that are both alike and divergent at times, an excellent showcase of the many different ways one can build a gaming system.

Last but certainly not least of course is the giveaway. At the end of the Build-A-Rig challenge we will be giving these systems away, and that means today is the last day to enter. Two lucky winners within the United States will be receiving these completed systems for their gaming pleasure. So if you have yet to enter, you will want to do so before midnight tomorrow, August 6^th.

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2209797/AnandTech-Newegg-Build-A-Rig-Challenge-Sweepstakes-Q2-2015

The Builds So Far

Last week we took a look at the assembled Corsair and Zotac designs. So before jumping into our benchmarks, let’s quickly recap the systems and their parts.

Zotac’s Hey Good Lookin

The first system out of the gate is Zotac’s Hey Good Lookin’. A design focused on blending performance with aesthetics, the Zotac system looks significantly better for looks and cleanliness, Aside from the near-black internals accentuated by the lights from the GPU and the DRAM, cable management removes some of the more garish ends of the power supply should someone decide to shine a light in (or the eventual winner uses the LED kit also included in the bundle). A minor concern comes from the extra cable space behind the motherboard tray due to the large extension cables to improve the look, however once installed it becomes a relative non-issue.

Corsair’s The Accelerator

Our second system, Corsair’s The Accelerator, is the quintessential black-box PC designed to be used, not seen or heard. Featuring near top of the line components from Intel and NVIIDA, it can be quite hard to argue with the performance components under the hood, and as we’ll see it delivers monster performance results. However as the quintessential black-box PC, The Accelerator has nothing to show off if the winner wants to take it to LANs or ends up with it on their desk.