| Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Client Login |
 |
|||||||
|
|
|||||||
System Specifications
- Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo Wolfdale 45w CPU
- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R System Board
- MSI nVidia 9600GT 512MB PCIe Graphics Card
- 2GB Kingston Hyper-X DDR2 800 System Memory
- Western Digital 500GB 16Mb cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
- Samsung SATA 20X DVD-R/W
- Thermaltake 500 watt PurePower Power Supply
- Thermaltake Black ATX Mid-Tower Chassis
- All-In-One USB 2.0 Media Card Reader
- Windows XP Home
Core Components Arrive
)
System Board
)
Rear Panel Connections
As usual, there's a veritable plethora of connections on the rear I/O panel.
Gb Network, 8 channel audio, dual 1394 (one mini- Nice!), SPDI/F and 8 USB. Sweet!
)
Intel E8400 Wolfdale Core2 Duo CPU
An excellent choice for extreme performance.
)
CPU Installed
)
CPU Heatsink Installed
)
System Memory
2 GB of Kingston Hyper-X DDR2 System Memory.
)
Memory Installed
)
MSI nVidia 9600GT 512MB Graphics Card
For this build, we've chosen the nVidia 9600GT graphics card. Ben is sure
to be happy with the performance of this card. It is a bit...um...red, though.
)
System Installed on Test Stand
How does it look so far Grumps?
)
First Boot!
The moment of truth.... First power on. Perfect!
Setting the CMOS
Torture Testing The System Memory
As usual, we run Memtest overnight to ensure the system stability. In this case, the system ran for over 9 hours without errors. The system ran for another 2 hours after this pic was taken. At about the 11.5 hour mark, we saw memory errors. Although we could probably tweak the memory timing and voltage to eliminate the errors, we opted to replace the Kingston Hyper-X memory with Corsair XMS memory. We'll repeat the process to ensure the new memory is stable, and rule out the possibility of another problem.
Loading up the System Chassis
A good looking WingRS200 chassis from Thermaltake will house the system components.
)
Loading up the System Chassis
We've chosen, yet again, the Thermaltake Purepower 500w power supply for this build.
We've found this model to be a very reliable power supply for a very reasonable price.
)
Power Supply Installed
)
System Board Installed
)
Wiring Installed
The system wiring is installed and at the point, the system could be shipped. BUT, we will never allow a system to leave our shop in this state. While the system is perfectly functional, sloppy cabling will never be tolerated. We initially assemble the components to verify connections and afterward, we re-route and secure all the cables. This makes for a neater system, improves air flow and facilitates easy upgrades.
)
Wiring Completed
Ahh...much, much better. Everything is where it should be. All cables secured and located to logically for easy upgrades. Notice the only cables that are loose, are 1 SATA power cable in the 5 1/4" bay and 1 SATA power cable in the 3 1/2" bay. Perfect.
)
Memtest - 2nd run
After 12 1/2 hours of memory testing with the new Corsair XMS2 memory, all look stable.
Time to install Windows.
)
Installing Windows XP Home SP3
)