PCI Express will please serious power junkies
By DWIGHT SILVERMAN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Computer shoppers who want and can afford the fastest machines face a dilemma as they decide just how to spend all that cash.
Desktop PCs using the new PCI Express design — a faster way of moving information around — are now widely available online and in stores. Those who want to build their own machines can find motherboards and PCI Express components to pop in those shiny new slots (see www.chron.com/pciexpress).
You'll pay a premium for PCI Express now because it's new. Even if your wallet's fat, you'll notice the difference.
I've gotten my hands on a pair of PCI Express-based systems, from Compaq and Dell.
If you're shopping at the high end of the spectrum, must you have one?
The answer is a qualified yes.
• PRESARIO SA4000T — $2,524, Compaq/HP. Processor: Intel Pentium 4 550 3.6 GHz. Memory: 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz. Hard drive: Dual 160 GB Serial ATA drives, RAID. Optical: DVD+RW, CD-ROM. Removable drive: 160 GB Personal Media Drive. Graphics: ATI Radeon X600 256 MB. Audio: Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Monitor: 15-inch LCD. Ports: 56k fax modem, Ethernet, memory-card reader, USB 2.0, FireWire.
HP continues to market its Compaq name at the "serious" computer user and hobbyist. Packaged in a black and silver case that's easy to get into and work in, it has lots of room for expansion.
The Compaq system has an interesting feature aimed at fans of digital music and video, a removable 160-GB hard drive called the HP Personal Media Drive. You can store tons of digital media files here, yank it from the PC and connect it to any other PC via a USB 2.0 port. It's a little pricey, adding $219 to the package, or about $30 more than similar products, but being able to plug it into the front of your main PC is handy.
The Presario SA4000T comes with an ATI Radeon X600 graphics card that uses the PCI Express bus. This is not ATI's fastest card — that's the X800 — but this one is still impressive. A recent driver release for all of ATI's Radeon cards helps boost performance a little more, as well.
The machines come with a little too much "free" software that is little more than advertisements for commercial programs. One window kept appearing asking me if I wanted to keep seeing "Internet deals" — and it wasn't being generated over the Web. As if pop-up ads at Web sites aren't maddening enough, now PC makers are starting to put them right on the machines!
The built-in benchmark that comes with id Software's game Doom 3 — currently considered the most challenging program for testing PC performance — gave me a little over 50 frames per second on the Compaq. It might be possible to do a little better with a more powerful graphics card. The Radeon X600 is a midrange PCI Express card; using the higher-end X800 would give a significant boost, as we'll see in the competition's machine.
• DIMENSION 8400 — $2,264, Dell. Processor: Intel Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz. Memory: 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz. Hard drive: Dual 160 GB Serial ATA drives, RAID. Optical: CD-RW, DVD-ROM. Graphics: ATI Radeon X800 128 MB. Audio: Integrated 5.1 surround. Speakers: Dell 5.1 SurroundSound. Monitor: 19-inch LCD.Ports: 56k fax modem, Ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire.
The Dimension 8400 is not Dell's highest-end system. That's the Dimension XPS, a box specifically aimed at gamers. But the 8400 is no slouch and is a good choice for mainstream users who don't feel the need to show off a pretty case at the next LAN party.
And speaking of the case — Dell continues to use a clamshell design that opens after you push buttons on the top and bottom of the case. It's easy to get into, but a little hard to work in. In some of the machines, wiring from one side of the case crosses to the other, and it's easy to knock one of these wires loose.
The model Dell sent was tricked out with ATI's highest-end graphics card, the X800, though with 128 MB, it has less memory than the Presario's X600, which had 256. But this is an interesting case because, while the Presario's processor is faster and there's more memory in its graphics card, the Dell outperformed it in the Doom 3 test. It got about 65 frames per second, a significant boost on a system to the Presario.
The card, in combination with a 19-inch LCD monitor, produced an exquisite display.
Dell shipped this with a nice set of 5.1 speakers that take up minimal space but deliver maximum sound. The controls for them are placed on the center speaker, which sits atop a stylish silver stand, making it easy to do quick adjustments.
While those who just want machine for everyday uses — a little Internet surfing, playing some games, watching a movie or two, burning music CDs — computers with the older PCI standards will do just fine, and you'll be happy with one for a long time to come.
As an example, my personal machine — which has a 2.26-GHz Pentium 4 chip, a gigabyte of memory and an nVidia GeForce 6800 XT graphics card with 256 MB of video RAM — got 40 fps per second in Doom 3's benchmark. That's not too shabby for a PC that's almost 3 years old (although the new graphics card gets a lot of credit for those numbers).
But if you are a gamer, edit home video or work with computer-aided design programs, you'll want PCI Express. The performance increase in these systems is significant enough to warrant consideration from serious power junkies.
And you'll really want it if you like to upgrade your machine over time, because that's where higher-end components — especially graphics cards — are headed. It may cost a little more, but it will be an investment in your computing future.
HoustonChronicle.com - Computing
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Computer shoppers who want and can afford the fastest machines face a dilemma as they decide just how to spend all that cash.
Desktop PCs using the new PCI Express design — a faster way of moving information around — are now widely available online and in stores. Those who want to build their own machines can find motherboards and PCI Express components to pop in those shiny new slots (see www.chron.com/pciexpress).
You'll pay a premium for PCI Express now because it's new. Even if your wallet's fat, you'll notice the difference.
I've gotten my hands on a pair of PCI Express-based systems, from Compaq and Dell.
If you're shopping at the high end of the spectrum, must you have one?
The answer is a qualified yes.
• PRESARIO SA4000T — $2,524, Compaq/HP. Processor: Intel Pentium 4 550 3.6 GHz. Memory: 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz. Hard drive: Dual 160 GB Serial ATA drives, RAID. Optical: DVD+RW, CD-ROM. Removable drive: 160 GB Personal Media Drive. Graphics: ATI Radeon X600 256 MB. Audio: Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Monitor: 15-inch LCD. Ports: 56k fax modem, Ethernet, memory-card reader, USB 2.0, FireWire.
HP continues to market its Compaq name at the "serious" computer user and hobbyist. Packaged in a black and silver case that's easy to get into and work in, it has lots of room for expansion.
The Compaq system has an interesting feature aimed at fans of digital music and video, a removable 160-GB hard drive called the HP Personal Media Drive. You can store tons of digital media files here, yank it from the PC and connect it to any other PC via a USB 2.0 port. It's a little pricey, adding $219 to the package, or about $30 more than similar products, but being able to plug it into the front of your main PC is handy.
The Presario SA4000T comes with an ATI Radeon X600 graphics card that uses the PCI Express bus. This is not ATI's fastest card — that's the X800 — but this one is still impressive. A recent driver release for all of ATI's Radeon cards helps boost performance a little more, as well.
The machines come with a little too much "free" software that is little more than advertisements for commercial programs. One window kept appearing asking me if I wanted to keep seeing "Internet deals" — and it wasn't being generated over the Web. As if pop-up ads at Web sites aren't maddening enough, now PC makers are starting to put them right on the machines!
The built-in benchmark that comes with id Software's game Doom 3 — currently considered the most challenging program for testing PC performance — gave me a little over 50 frames per second on the Compaq. It might be possible to do a little better with a more powerful graphics card. The Radeon X600 is a midrange PCI Express card; using the higher-end X800 would give a significant boost, as we'll see in the competition's machine.
• DIMENSION 8400 — $2,264, Dell. Processor: Intel Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz. Memory: 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz. Hard drive: Dual 160 GB Serial ATA drives, RAID. Optical: CD-RW, DVD-ROM. Graphics: ATI Radeon X800 128 MB. Audio: Integrated 5.1 surround. Speakers: Dell 5.1 SurroundSound. Monitor: 19-inch LCD.Ports: 56k fax modem, Ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire.
The Dimension 8400 is not Dell's highest-end system. That's the Dimension XPS, a box specifically aimed at gamers. But the 8400 is no slouch and is a good choice for mainstream users who don't feel the need to show off a pretty case at the next LAN party.
And speaking of the case — Dell continues to use a clamshell design that opens after you push buttons on the top and bottom of the case. It's easy to get into, but a little hard to work in. In some of the machines, wiring from one side of the case crosses to the other, and it's easy to knock one of these wires loose.
The model Dell sent was tricked out with ATI's highest-end graphics card, the X800, though with 128 MB, it has less memory than the Presario's X600, which had 256. But this is an interesting case because, while the Presario's processor is faster and there's more memory in its graphics card, the Dell outperformed it in the Doom 3 test. It got about 65 frames per second, a significant boost on a system to the Presario.
The card, in combination with a 19-inch LCD monitor, produced an exquisite display.
Dell shipped this with a nice set of 5.1 speakers that take up minimal space but deliver maximum sound. The controls for them are placed on the center speaker, which sits atop a stylish silver stand, making it easy to do quick adjustments.
While those who just want machine for everyday uses — a little Internet surfing, playing some games, watching a movie or two, burning music CDs — computers with the older PCI standards will do just fine, and you'll be happy with one for a long time to come.
As an example, my personal machine — which has a 2.26-GHz Pentium 4 chip, a gigabyte of memory and an nVidia GeForce 6800 XT graphics card with 256 MB of video RAM — got 40 fps per second in Doom 3's benchmark. That's not too shabby for a PC that's almost 3 years old (although the new graphics card gets a lot of credit for those numbers).
But if you are a gamer, edit home video or work with computer-aided design programs, you'll want PCI Express. The performance increase in these systems is significant enough to warrant consideration from serious power junkies.
And you'll really want it if you like to upgrade your machine over time, because that's where higher-end components — especially graphics cards — are headed. It may cost a little more, but it will be an investment in your computing future.
HoustonChronicle.com - Computing
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