Maximum PC’s Dream Machine 2012
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Each year, Maximum PC magazine builds their “Dream Machine” and this year the system looks sweet. Maximum PC has selected the Intel Xeon E5-2687W, ASUS P9X79 motherboard and a pair of EVGA Hydro Copper Geforce GTX690 video cards to power this eye-catching beast. To top off the build the Dream Machine 2012 PC build uses Corsair Dominator Platinum memory, OCZ Vertex 4 SSD’s and a ton of other slick hardware. The custom cooling loop that is stuffed inside the Silverstone TJ11 case is also killer, but it better be as just the cooling loop cost $926. The total cost of this build was $14,482! You better have deep pockets to buy this system!
Not to be disrespectful, but in some ways Sandy Bridge-E is a eunuch. After all, the Core i7-3960X is an eight-core CPU with two of the cores permanently switched off. The Xeon E5-2687W is full processor. All of the eight cores it was born with are ready and willing to work those threads for you. Such multicorism isnt new to this years Dream Machineweve had DMs with eight cores and even 12 cores before, but never have we done it with a single-socket machine. Still, our choice of processor wasnt without controversy. Intel has reversed policy by locking down overclocking features on its Xeon CPUs, so our E5 cant hit the clocks we would have hoped for. That gave us pause and made us consider running a Core i7-3960X instead, even if two of its cores are walled off. But our desire to see all eight cores run free won outwith the E5 we no longer have to wonder what the original Sandy Bridge-E would be like if Intel had left well enough alone.
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