Rig 3 - Daughter's PC
Rig 3 - Daughter's PC
Uses?
Gaming, playing music, and homework.
Cost?
£900
Components?
P4 478 3.0ghz Prescott (clocked @ 3.45ghz, FSB 230 x 15 Multi)
ASUS P4S800D Motherboard
1GB PC3200 TwinMOS (@ 460mhz @ 2.5-3-3-6, 3.4v using DDR Booster)
1 x 40gb Samsung 5200rpm HDD
1 x Gainward NVIDIA 6800 (running @ 425/820 stock cooling)
Generic 48x CDRW/DVD Combo
Diabolic Minotaur Case (incl 350W Power Supply)
JBL Creature 2.1 Speakers
15 TFT Proview Monitor
Why Ati or Nvidia? Why AMD/Intel?
Chosen purely because the processor was £50 from a mate ! I love NVIDIA graphics cards, and I was looking for a card good enough to play modern games but, was also good looking ! My daughter helped me choose it, and her major input was its red !!! Plus for £180, the overclocking potential was very good. Default on the card is 325/700, Ive had it upto 428/840 which is a bloody good overclock. I could also mod it if I felt like it (which I never did)
Works as expected?
Yes, copes well with the amount of SIMS 2 gameplay and surfing that a 10 year old does ! I am even more impressed with its ability to handle modern games. Its the real surprise of the bunch. The temps are kept down by the silent 120mm fan in the back, and the P4 is pretty nippy. The TwinMOS is decent RAM aswell. To keep the timing low, I had to push the volts upto 3.4v using the OCZ DDR Booster, as the mobo maxed out @ 3v.
The best part?
The Gainward 6800. Monster overclock.
What sucks?
The 40GB Samsung HDD. Its only 5400rpm, and slows the whole thing down. It was free, so I thought what the heck
3DMark Scores?
3Dmark01 19562
3Dmark03 10991
3Dmark05 NEVER RAN IT
Aquamark 50012
Future Upgrades?
She will get a new hard drive, the spare 74gb Raptor I will have when I upgrade to 4 x 36gb RAPTORS. Shes also looking to have a new monitor. She thinks that 15 is too small ! I tell her monitor size is in relation to age, and as she is only 10, then she has a 15 one. When she reaches 15, she gets a 17, and 18 she gets a 19 one. This theory just doesnt work with her, and currently, she mentions weekly her desire to have a bigger one. Shell ultimately win this duelAnyway, at the end of 2005, shes due for a complete overhaul of her components. I think shell have to go AMD unless Intel do something amazing with their chips gaming capacity.
