ME BIGGD01
05-30-2006, 03:44 PM
Well I just received the package and inside was a new board and processor. Ordered from Outpost who I must say has changed their way with me after I flipped on them and reported them to BBB. For the past year I will say they have got a lot better but with their service but I do know better never to pay for the extra shipping charges to get package sooner. With that I must say they have some pretty good deals weekly for anyone looking to buy or upgrade a system.
Ok, package contains ATI rs482-m amd64 939 with integrated video and the option for a pci express card with the pci xpress 16x slot. A bit shocked to see that it had firewire onboard as well along with the video connector out s and composite. The cpu was a 3500 and also was happy after looking up the revision that it is a rev e and runs at stock 1.35 volts. This was where I was a bit concerned because I did not want a 130 nm chip as they runn higher voltage and become a bit more warmer. Not that much warmer but the main purpose for this is a simple media center along with very low noise which I hate. It is not really going to be designed for gaming but could be if I decide to add a more powerful graphic chip. Too bad I have to many gaming units:) .
Ok so why would I buy this? Well Outpost runs pretty good combo deals which I have mentioned before. This one particular was pretty good and I saved around 70-100 bucks. The chip also was a PIB which is always a plus if I want to OC. All of this for 199. plus shipping.
Although I am not that familiar with this chipset and have read some bad reviews early in it's release I do see many of the major OEMs using this chipset. I have also looked and tested HP units with this chipset and never had any problems. I would be lying if I said I have built a system using it so you can be sure I am going to give this biatch a true work through. I would like to inspect every aspect of it and see how good this chipset is for others if they wanted to get one for themself. When I was at goobers house when I went to Tenn, he was using this chipset and I was extremely unimpressed with his system. Not that his system was slow by any means but it was not performing up to my spec and while I was looking at his small form factor unit, it seemed to have some problems that caught my eye such as memeory running at 333 and 1600 ht which should have been at 400 and 2000 ht. This ofcourse could of been that he needed a bios update and he may have had one of those first revisions. I did not have the time to fool around with it as I was about to head home but I plan on looking at it closer when I see him at the DS lan party in less then 2 weeks. It could be that his system will need a bios update which we can do there and or his memory was not true 400 mhz ddr. Going into his bios and setting the specs correctly did not resolve this problem.
So some time this week maybe tonight I will throw this thing together and give it a real burnin and test the hell out of it along with compare it with other boards I have in my arsenal. I am liking the ability to put a smaller than usual system together with the same sort of performance/power I am use to playing with. To be honest, I just love putting these systems together and seeing how well they perform. After that, it's like shooting your load and I being done. I can't wait to one of the company's I consult for gets a Nforce5 chipset so I can test that also. I still prefer a 939 chip but I want to see what the future looks like.
If there is any sort of test anyone wants me to run on this let me know. I am putting this system in a budget range and will test it as a budget system for people to see what they can get for a few hundred bucks. I will be running a few tests like Sandra 07 which is new (Jim--Sandra07 is out so update your software) and dome 3d mrk tests. Also will be testing sorrencon squeeze encoding some media files. My review will be done soon.
Ok, package contains ATI rs482-m amd64 939 with integrated video and the option for a pci express card with the pci xpress 16x slot. A bit shocked to see that it had firewire onboard as well along with the video connector out s and composite. The cpu was a 3500 and also was happy after looking up the revision that it is a rev e and runs at stock 1.35 volts. This was where I was a bit concerned because I did not want a 130 nm chip as they runn higher voltage and become a bit more warmer. Not that much warmer but the main purpose for this is a simple media center along with very low noise which I hate. It is not really going to be designed for gaming but could be if I decide to add a more powerful graphic chip. Too bad I have to many gaming units:) .
Ok so why would I buy this? Well Outpost runs pretty good combo deals which I have mentioned before. This one particular was pretty good and I saved around 70-100 bucks. The chip also was a PIB which is always a plus if I want to OC. All of this for 199. plus shipping.
Although I am not that familiar with this chipset and have read some bad reviews early in it's release I do see many of the major OEMs using this chipset. I have also looked and tested HP units with this chipset and never had any problems. I would be lying if I said I have built a system using it so you can be sure I am going to give this biatch a true work through. I would like to inspect every aspect of it and see how good this chipset is for others if they wanted to get one for themself. When I was at goobers house when I went to Tenn, he was using this chipset and I was extremely unimpressed with his system. Not that his system was slow by any means but it was not performing up to my spec and while I was looking at his small form factor unit, it seemed to have some problems that caught my eye such as memeory running at 333 and 1600 ht which should have been at 400 and 2000 ht. This ofcourse could of been that he needed a bios update and he may have had one of those first revisions. I did not have the time to fool around with it as I was about to head home but I plan on looking at it closer when I see him at the DS lan party in less then 2 weeks. It could be that his system will need a bios update which we can do there and or his memory was not true 400 mhz ddr. Going into his bios and setting the specs correctly did not resolve this problem.
So some time this week maybe tonight I will throw this thing together and give it a real burnin and test the hell out of it along with compare it with other boards I have in my arsenal. I am liking the ability to put a smaller than usual system together with the same sort of performance/power I am use to playing with. To be honest, I just love putting these systems together and seeing how well they perform. After that, it's like shooting your load and I being done. I can't wait to one of the company's I consult for gets a Nforce5 chipset so I can test that also. I still prefer a 939 chip but I want to see what the future looks like.
If there is any sort of test anyone wants me to run on this let me know. I am putting this system in a budget range and will test it as a budget system for people to see what they can get for a few hundred bucks. I will be running a few tests like Sandra 07 which is new (Jim--Sandra07 is out so update your software) and dome 3d mrk tests. Also will be testing sorrencon squeeze encoding some media files. My review will be done soon.