Ultimate Gaming System - September 2006
Ultimate Gaming System
The best choice in hardware when looking for a gaming configuration
Configuration
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Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | Processors |
| For a long time the AMD Athlon 64 X2 was the processor of choice for high-end and gaming systems, until Intel recently introduced their new line of Core 2 Duo processors. This brand new generation of chips is much faster than all other CPU's on the market and proves to be very energy efficient. Even AMD's ultra high-end Athlon 64 FX processors are crushed by the performance of Core 2 Duo. Although AMD reduced their pricing radically, the Core 2 Duo still offers the best price/performance ratio. The Core 2 Duo E6700, our choice for the ultimate gaming, surpasses AMD's Athlon 64 FX-62 in almost all of our benchmarks, and for a much lower price. With the introduction of the Core 2 Duo Intel has reclaimed the gaming crown, which is why we use it in this ultimate gaming system. | ||
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Zalman CNPS9500 LED | CPU coolers |
| What is more annoying than a very noisy PC? Zalman has proven to be a true expert on silent CPU coolers. Their CNPS-9500 cooler is based on three heat pipes with numerous copper fins attached. Whereas Zalman's older models blow downwards at the mainboard, the CNPS-9500 has a tilted design that blows the air towards the back of the case. Our tests prove that the CNPS-9500 offers great cooling performance while the fan is extremely quiet. For casemodders Zalman offers a version with LEDs in the fan. The ultimate CPU cooler when you demand both excellent cooling performance and low noise production. | ||
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ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (Intel 975X chipset) | Mainboards |
| With the launch of the Core 2 Duo processors, all major mainboard manufacturers have introduced a new series of boards based on Intels 975X chipset. The ASUS P5W DH excels through various special features, like integrated WLAN, external SATA ports and more. The Intel 975X chipset offers support for DDR2-800 memory and ATI Crossfire setups. For overclockers the P5W DH has some great BIOS features. | ||
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2 GB (2x 1 GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 8500 | Memory modules |
| A Core 2 Duo system uses DDR2, we have established that the best speed to use is DDR2-800. In Hardware.Info magazine #2/2006 we tested high end memory, and the TwinX XMS2 8500 came out on top. Not only was it possible to run this memory at 1170MHz with timings 5-5-5-15, and we could run 882MHz on timings 3-3-3-9. In the ultimate gaming machine we use a total of 2GB of this memory, not the cheapest, but we think it is the best out there at the moment. | ||
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ATI Radeon X1900 XT + ATI Radeon X1900 CrossFire Edition | 3D chips |
| As graphics is the most important part in a gaming machine, we chose a ATI CrossFire setup with two X1900XT cards. The X1900XT is already one of the fastest cards out there, when used in CrossFire gaming becomes ppossible in the highest resolutions. We use the ATI cards for two reasons; firstly the motherboard we use does not support an SLI setup, and secondly the ATI cards are still the only ones that support Anti-Aliasing and HDR at the same time. We have not picked the recently introduced X1950XTX, as the availability of these cards and the CrossFire edition is very low. | ||
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3,5 inch diskdrive | Diskdrive |
| A 3.5" diskdrive is a necessity in our system, as we have to setup a RAID combination with Windows XP. You could use a cardreader-diskdrive combination, but we do not think a cardreader is a must-have item in this system. | ||
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2x Western Digital Raptor 150 GB in RAID 0 | Hard disks (internal) |
| There can only be one hard drive in a ultimate gaming system; the Western Digital Raptor 150GB. The drive is already very fast on its own, but we decide to give the system an extra speedboost by placing two of these drives in a RAID 0 (striping) configuration. | ||
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Samsung Spinpoint P120 250 GB | Hard disks (internal) |
| next to the RAID 0 setup we opt for a extra data or backup disk, and use the Samsung Spinpoint P120S. In our test in Hardware.Info magazine #2 2005 this disk proved to be the best all-round performer, and as a bonus the price is very reasonable. | ||
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Samsung SH-S182D | Optical drives |
| The Samsung SH-S182 is one the first DVD writers that can burn DVD discs at a maximum speed of 18x. According to our tests the avarage writing speed of this drive surpasses 13x. Only a few types of DVD+R and DVD-R discs can be written at this high speed, but the Samsung drive still proved to burn all other DVD+R and DVD-R discs we have tested at 16x. When we average all our benchmarks, the Samsung SH-S182 turns out to be the fastest DVD writer currently available. With an average quality score of 58.6 points in our tests, the drive performs better than most other DVD writers. To make your choice even easier, the price tag of the SH-S182 is very low, which means that the Samsung drive has an unbeatable price/performance ration. | ||
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Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty | Sound cards |
| The X-Fi series from Creative is one of the most powerfull soundcards at the moment. We tested these cards in Hardware.Info magazine #4 2005 and concluded that the sound quality and possibilities of the cards are the best. It does not matter whether the PC is used for gaming, multimedia or music; the X-Fi offers possibilities for all. For the gaming system we chose the Fatal1ty card, as it comes with a front box to easily attach headphones. The card also sports a coaxial and an optical speaker connection. The Fatal1ty card has 64MB of X-RAM that is beneficial when playing 3D games. Developers can use the RAM to cache certain sounds that are used often in the game, like gunfire. As this sound does not have be loaded again and again, the framerates in the game are positively affected; Creative promises an average of 5 frames per second difference when games use the X-RAM. | ||
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Logitech Z-5500 Digital | Speaker sets |
| De Logitech Z-5500 Digital puts out a whopping 506Watts RMS, can be connected coaxial, optical and through minijacks, has a S/N ratio of 94dB and is a 5.1 set. The most important reason to buy the set however is the subwoofer, thsi has a 10 inch driver and can tear teh house down with its 188Watts RMS. The speakerset can also be connected to an Xbox360, Playstation 2 or DVD player, as it sports a Dolby Digital and DTS decoder. | ||
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Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard | Keyboard |
| A Gaming PC has to have a gaming keyboard; we chose the Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard. It has 18 programmable keys and a small display that can show all relevant information while gaming. The keyboard looks good, and has the option to light the keys, the intensity of the lighting can be adjusted as well. When a game starts, the keyboard will automatically disable the keys that are not used, so you do not strike the wrong key while playing. As we are used from Logitech the board is a pleasure to type on due to its "zero tilt" design. | ||
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Razer Copperhead | Mouse |
| The Razer Copperhead is the gaming mouse, it has a 2000dpi resolution, a framerate of 7000fps and 32 kB onboard memory. The specifications promise a movement speed of over 50 inches per second and a response time of 1 millisecond. Because of the onboard memory you can save five different configurations in the mouse itself, making the use of drivers virtually unnecessary. | ||
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Samsung SyncMaster 205BW | Monitors |
| A gaming system is not complete without a monitor that can show off the games like they are supposed to look. We choose a 20 inch widescreen monitor, as more games nowadays do offer support for widescreen gaming. The Samsung 205BW offers a 1680 x 1050 resolution, much higher than a conventional 19 inch TFT, and in our tests showed response times, contrast and brightness levels that are ideal for gaming. | ||
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Cooler Master Stacker 830 | Cases |
| The Cooler Master CM Stacker is the ultimate case for hardware enthusiasts. The casing combines a great design with virtually unlimited space for extra hardware. Besides this the case features excellent cooling possibilities and is already prepared for BTX mainboards. The ideal case for this gaming system systems! | ||
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High Power Plus+ Power 620W | Power supplies |
| A gaming system with CrossFire setup demands a very powerfull PSU. The High Power Plus+ Power 620 Watt was tested as one of the best in our PSU test in Hardware.Info magazine #2 2005. | ||
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3D chips
All-in-ones
Barebones
Case fans
Cases
CPU coolers
Game controllers
Graphics cards
Hard disks (external)
Hard disks (internal)
Keyboards
Mainboards
Memory cards
Memory modules
Mice
Monitors
Mouse pads
NAS devices
Notebooks
Optical drives
Power supplies
Powerline adapters
Printers
Processors
Routers
Servers
Sound cards
Speaker sets
Storage controllers
Systems
USB flash drives
Video card coolers
Webcams
