As the title suggests, this computer was built with a limited budget in mind. This Gigabyte model GA-MA69GM-S2H seemed likely to do the job with on-board video, sound and LAN. With the two PCI slots and the PCI-E slot provided by this mATX motherboard there is room for future upgrades. The 2 Gb. of OCZ ram is hidden by the Athlon64 X2 4800 cpu in this view.
As noted in previous projects, the COM and LPT ports are missing from the back panel. Arrow 1 indicates the standard video output sitting on top of a DVI output. Arrow 2 indicates an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) port. An Optical S/PDIF output is indicated by arrow 3. On the far right are audio connectors that can be used for 2, 4, 5.1 or 7.1 channel configurations. To the left of the audio connections are 4 USB ports, a IEEE 1394a (firewire) port and a Gigabit LAN port. To the far left are the standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors.
This is a close up view of the side opposite the back panel connections. On the far right is the main power supply connection. Toward the center from this are a pin header for an LPT port, behind which is the FDD controller connection in black and behind this is the IDE controller port in green. To the far left are 4 SATAII connections. Not shown is the pin header for a COM port located between the side edge of the motherboard and a PCI slot.
The enclosure used for this project is an Athenatech model A43K5BL.400. A mid-tower sized case with blue and chrome front bezel and black sides and top. The area surrounded by the chrome trim is the front air intake and is designed to mount 80, 90 and 120 mm fans. The side panel provides an air duct positioned over the CPU, below which is an area designed to accommodate an 80 or 90 mm exhaust fan.
A common feature on newer case styles are front mounted USB and audio connections. This case hides them behind a door just below the floppy drive if one was being mounted. The hard drive that is being mounted is a Seagate 250 Mb. SATA NCQ drive.
Windows Vista Business edition was installed. After all the updates were added, WEI was checked. It turned out a 3.1. This is a point or two lower than a Vista Home Premium machine I looked over at a local mass merchant, which was expected due to the different version of Vista. Other tests run on this economy machine included Lightsmark, CrystalMark and SiS Sandra and scores are shown below.
CrystalMark Scores
CrystalMark = 67260 (total)
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ALU = 18652
- Fibonacci = 7350
- Napierian = 2580
- Eratosthenes = 2978
- QuickSort = 5722
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FPU = 17622
- MikoFPU = 2430
- RandMeanSS = 7678
- FFT = 4267
- Mandelbrot = 3225
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MEM = 12722
- Read = 4085.64 MB/s ( 4085)
- Write = 2724.16 MB/s ( 2724)
- Read/Write = 2589.67 MB/s ( 2589)
- Cache = 33029.23 MB/s ( 3302)
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HDD = 8910
- Read = 75.57 MB/s ( 3022)
- Write = 72.81 MB/s ( 2912)
- RandomRead512K = 30.69 MB/s ( 1227)
- RandomWrite512K = 28.01 MB/s ( 1120)
- RandomRead 64K = 5.48 MB/s ( 219)
- RandomWrite 64K = 10.26 MB/s ( 410)
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GDI = 5838
- Text = 2955
- Square = 392
- Circle = 1376
- BitBlt = 1115
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D2D = 2641
- Sprite 10 = 305.13 FPS ( 30)
- Sprite 100 = 217.55 FPS ( 217)
- Sprite 500 = 95.54 FPS ( 477)
- Sprite 1000 = 56.26 FPS ( 562)
- Sprite 5000 = 13.40 FPS ( 670)
- Sprite 10000 = 6.85 FPS ( 685)
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OGL = 875
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Scene 1 Score = 462
- Lines (x1000) = ( 39132)
- Scene 1 CPUs = ( 8)
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Scene 2 Score = 413
- Polygons(x1000) = ( 11647)
- Scene 2 CPUs = ( 8)
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Scene 1 Score = 462
LightsMark Score
10.4 fps.
SiSoftware Sandra Score
Processor Arithmetic Combined Index : 15002 (total)
Processor Multi-Media Combined Index : 48998 (total)
Memory Bandwidth Combined Index : 6808 (total)
File Systems Combined Index : 72169 (total)
More information about these tests, which are usually referred to as benchmarks, can be found on this site and other web sites as well.
Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Windows, Windows XP and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
