Just completed $2500 system build

[SUOrangeman]

1 ASUS Motherboard P4P800 Deluxe Retail
1 Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 512k 800MHz FSB RETAIL
4 Apacer 512MB DDR PC3200 RAM 32X8 CL=3
1 Guillemot Hercules ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB DDR - OEM
1 SONY 1.44MB 3.5 INCH INTERNAL FDD DRIVE - OEM-BLACK
2 MAXTOR 250GB 7200RPM Hard Drive Model 7Y250P0 8MB OEM
1 LITE-ON XJ-HD166/XJ-HD 165H 16X DVD ROM Drive BLACK- OEM
1 Plextor 8X DVD-RW +RW DVD Recorder - Model PX-708A/SW-BL Black
1 ROUND, 10-Inch, Floppy( SILVER/CLEAR)
2 Ultra ATA-133 IDE 18" 3H Round Cable Transparent Silver
1 ANTEC SOHO File ServerTower ATX Case Model SX1040BII
1 Microsoft Black Multimedia Keyboard & Wheel Mouse Optical Bundle - OEM

(At the time of purchase, I could have easily knocked $500 or more off the price by going to 3.0GHz and 128MB on the video card. Wasn't my final call and $2500 was a hard limit. Now that the prices have dropped, I could've saved a few hundred just by waiting two or three weeks.)

Oh yeah, we've already got a 15K RPM SCSI drive (and appropriate controller) to house the OS.

I booted up KNOPPIX on it yesterday and this thing already ready rocks. It's pretty darn quiet too. Too bad I can't take it home.

Although this PC will ultimate run some Terrex terrain modeling software, what benchmarks should I run and post?

Not bad for an AMD/nVidia guy, eh?

-SUO

 

[EGBTMagus]

From what I have seen and read the Hercules Radeon 9800pro's are running at a slower clock rate then the OEM and Sapphire Radeon's. I also think they cost more...

I would look more into that...

 

[JBT]

From what I have always seen Hurclues ussually run FASTER clock speeds The 9800 Pro from them runs at 380 core 340 memory. I think that is on par with others.

 

[SUOrangeman]

I think that's the only 9800 +256MB card NewEgg had, so that's why it's in this system. I'll install Windows later today (certainly not with CAT 3.8s!) and see what it says.

-SUO

 

[KingT]

Why didnt you just spend $45 more and get a Radeon 9800 XT 256 OEM? lol

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: KingT
Why didnt you just spend $45 more and get a Radeon 9800 XT 256 OEM? lol

I would of gone with a combo drive as the second drive instead of "just" a dvd.

That is one STOUT rig, 2gb of ram....

 

[fkloster]

wow sou, very very stong system.... i'm impressed with your choices...

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: fkloster
wow sou, very very stong system.... i'm impressed with your choices...

I'm not.



Apacer ram? So I'm assuming no overclocking is planned, should have gotten Intel 875 chipset board so you can have CSA and PAT enhancements. I would have gotten a cheaper $404 Athlon 64 2GHZ, but thats just me.

Nice rig tho!

 

[Corporate Thug]

2 gigs of ram? :Q

 

[lordtyranus2]

I also question Apacer RAM and the lack of an XT card.

 

[Futher]

I think that nice system deservs a much better case than what it's in

 

[MDE]

Apacer 512MB DDR PC3200 RAM 32X8 CL=3 (Mosel or Powerchip Chipset) - OEM

Buffalo PC3200 is only about $10 more and will run better timings. I've never even heard of Mosel or Powerchip! /rant

 

[JimRaynor]

cl3 ram??

 

[virtuamike]

Nice choice on the Plextor, I would've went with the Lite-on combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW instead of the XJ-HD166 though. The Plextor doesn't have as many features on the CD-RW side, it's kickass for DVD+R though.

I question the Apacer too, at the very least you should've gone with some Buffalo BH-5. And for the price you paid, you should've picked up an XT. Nice stuff, curious to see how it'd benchmark.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Machine is for work and everything will be running at stock speed.

Max RAM was a must (NewEgg doesn't carry 1GB PC3200 DIMMS yet) and $2500 was the hard limit. Apacer was indeed the cheapest and the Radeon XT wasn't on sale at the time of purchase (I don't recall seeing it at NewEgg).

But here is the kicker. I think this thing is sucking wind as far as benchmarks go. I can't break 6000 in 3DMark01SE or 2000 3DMark03 with default settings. AquaMark is well over 24K with all setting on (as far as I could tell). With Win2K SP4, I initially ran the tests with HT enabled (I know Win2K and HT aren't a perfect pair) and I used an LCD. Framerates never got over 60. I turned off HT and used a CRT, but the 3DMark scores did not improve astronomically. Seeing folks tout 3DMarks in the tens of thousands, I figure that I must be doing something wrong.

With four DIMMs in the system, the memory bus does drop to 320MHz but it is still dual-channel. I'm also wondering if the 15K SCSI drive (a few years old, I understand) may play a factor. I may just ghost it onto one of the 250s. Could anything else be the weak link?

Oh yeah, I did spec an AMD64 system. I was just wasn't as comfortable ordering it at this time for this particular system.

-SUO

 

[SUOrangeman]

I dumped the SCSI drive (it must've been really old ... or dying) and the benchmarks rose accordingy. 16K+ in 3DMark2001SE, 5K+ in 3DMark03, blah, blah, blah. So, everyone will be pleased now.

I've already been asked to spec a similar system, so I've already stepped up to Canterwood, the 9800XT, and some better RAM. If only I could do something about that hard dollar limit, I'd through in a nice LCD!

By the way, given the work environment, what's so wrong with the Antec case?

-SUO