Review, as requested.

J

jcll2002

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 28, 2006
Messages
3,655
I recently got a new rig from monarchcomputer.com (for the pwn). I highly reccommend them and would like to say thanks before the review.

First off. I spent months researching each individual part down to the fans I wanted. I heavily considered waiting for am2/conroe but decided to screw it and buy this rig. Here's what I came up with:

AMD Opteron 165
DFI Ultra D
2x 1gb OCZ Gold DDR 500
74gb Raptor HDD 10k RPM
EVGA 7900GT CO
Antec P160W
Antec Truepower II 550w
Zalman 9500 HSF
Coolermaster 120mm Led Fans

$1300

I will review each component in the order I listed.

I ordered and everything came very well packaged (dont have a pic because I threw it away :LOL: ). All original packaging of each individual product came also. Shipping was about a week from Georgia (monarch) to LA. Also, there is no california tax buying from them. :bow: :eek: :dude:

The CPU: 12/10

I was fortunate enough to recieve a very good stepping, CCBBE 0610. This processor runs at 1.8ghz @ stock. Who would ever let it run that slow ;) ? So, I installed the zalman 9500 (will review later on) in a snap and was off to my ocing. I run this every day at 2.7ghz on stock voltage of 1.35. That is +900mhz on the same voltage! Now, lets get to the fun part and see how fast this baby can go. I was able to boot up at 3ghz using 1.5v. See? It owns duke. It wasnt prime stable though :(. Next, I tried adding more vcore. At 1.6, I was able to boot up @ 3.15ghz! Again, it wasnt prime stable and I didnt want to over volt any more than that. I dont really have pics of it because 1) what is there to see? 2) im too lazy to take off the hsf.

Oh, and dual core owns.

Motherboard: 9/10

Again, I carefully researched this area. I was torn between DFI, Epox, asus, and abit. After a LONG time, i decided to with the Ultra D. This choice has worked out great for me. This can do 340+ HTT very nicely. Looks pretty nice. What else is there to test? (Im not THAT hardcore ;)) The only gripe I have is the chipset fan is alittle loud.
 
RAM: 10/10

I decided to go with the OCZ 2GB Gold Edition. This ram is for overclockers like me with its guarenteed ability to go to 250mhz, DDR 500. On stock voltage of 2.6, I was able to get rock solid stability at 275mhz 3-4-3-8! :bow: So far, all the products I selected own duke. And yes, they really do.

The gold colored heat sinks look awesome I have to mention.

Hard Drive: 9/10

After choosing between a raptor and a regular 7.2k RPM drive, I decided to go with the raptor. This was a personal choice for me because of the following reasons: 1) I use up a tiny bit of space (10gb right now) 2) I want the fastest performance without completely going over my budget. This thing is FAST. It booted up in around 6 seconds (windows load) when i first got it. Now, after a couple months of use and alot of start up apps installed, it takes ~10seconds. Not bad. I have yet to play BF2 so I dont know how load times will be affected for that game. Everything is nice a snappy when loading big files. The only gripe I have is it can be loud AT TIMES. People are constantly saying how loud this thing is but unless you are water cooling, you wont notice it that much but you will still notice it.
 
Graphics: 9/10

I chose the eVGA 7900GT CO, by nVidia. This things clock settings come pre-overclocked at 500/750 (1.5ghz). I have yet to push it farther because Im still using stock cooling. Running 3dmark05, I get a score of 9904. I could probably clock the card higher and/or volt mod it but I dont want to with this cooling (or lack there of). The fan on this thing is by far the loudest thing in my computer. Its pretty annoying. Its going to go soon. CS:S, basically the only game I play, runs great. I run at everything maxed at 1680x1050 with great FPS.

EDIT: I just tried alittle overclocking and set the rates to 576/856 and got a 3dmark score of 10124!


Case:10/10

I chose the antec p160w. This thing is very sexy IMO. There are leds on the front to light up the case, but it is not over done. The silver finish is nice, with chrome accents. Also, the temp monitor is pretty accurate. This case is light. Light. Also, the side window is easily removed and looks nice. A better review is located here.


Power Supply: 10/10 (as far as i can tell)

I chose the antec truepower II 550watt. This thing easily handles everything in my rig. I dont really know how to test it lol.
 
Heat Sink: 10/10

I chose the zalman 9500 over the scythe ninja and others. I never installed a HSF before, so I was pretty nervous when doing so. With the help of mr. roboto, I was able to do it. The process was extremely simple. I used arcticlean to clean off the old grease and as5. It looks very very sleek. It lowered my load temps by 7c when i am overclocked to 2.7ghz.


Fans: 10/10 (dont know why i included them :LOL: )

I chose the coolermaster LED 120mm fans. I have one as an intake and one as an exaust. they are quiet and push a decent amount of air. They look great. Nuff said.


Thats about all I can think of.

If you want more pics or a better explanation/review of something, just say! ;)

Oh, and thank you Zallan, for hosting my pics :D

-jcll2002

PS- Im a noob at reviewing as you can see
 
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You reviewed the components- how about doing a [H] review and reviewing your experience with the company? :)
 
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