My AMD Athlon XP PC

  • On 22 Dec 2001, I purchased a brand new computer which I custom-designed to my specifications.
  • It is based on the AMD Athlon XP processor which is much faster and cheaper than the equivalent Intel Pentium 4 CPU. I also used a motherboard based on the new nVidia nForce chipset, which integrates sound, video and network all-in-one.
    • The audio supports 3D surround sound and has a digital S/PDIF output
    • The video is a GeForce2 MX 256-bit 3D accelerator with 2nd-generation T&L engine
    • The network is a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet
  • The system costs me approx. US$650. If I include the KVM switch, then it is approx. US$675. (The KVM switch allows me to share back my old monitor, keyboard and mouse.) 
  • This is what I bought:

     

    • Motherboard:    MSI K7N420 Pro (nVidia nForce chipset)
    • Processor:      AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (1.5GHz)
    • Memory:         512MB Kingston PC2100 DDR (2 x 256MB)
    • CPU Fan:        Thermaltake Dragon Orb 3 7000rpm
    • Harddisk:       Maxtor 40.9GB 7200rpm
    • CD-ROM:         Sony 52x IDE
    • Floppy:         Sony 1.44MB
    • Case:           iCute 350W ATX Tower
    • Others:         KVM Switch 2-to-1, incl. cables

     

  • This is from my existing PC:

     

    • Monitor:        Dell 19" colour
    • Speaker:                  Altec Lansing ADA880 5-piece (incl. subwoofer)

     

  • This is what it looks like:

Amdpc08b.jpg (69617 bytes) Amdpc06b.jpg (79777 bytes) Amdpc01b.jpg (59959 bytes) Amdpc03b.jpg (93838 bytes) Amdpc04b.jpg (98968 bytes) Amdpc07b.jpg (102296 bytes)

 

  • This is how it performs:
    • I rendered a scene from the Toys and Roof Top Mayhem project using Animation Master 2000 v8.5L and compared it with my older PC which is a Pentium II 450MHz 128MB RAM. (See Jason McAlpin's Render Times.)

     

     

    Toys

    		 Roof Top Mayhem

     

    		 Frame #0 Frame #1 Frame #63
    Old PC (Win98SE) 4.34 secs. 4:05 secs. 4.52 secs.
    New PC (Win2000Pro) 1.00 secs. 0.56 secs. 1.27 secs.
    Difference 4.56x 4.37x 3.35x

     

    • I also did a Display Speed test as done by Michael Comeaux. This was done using the Circus project.

     

      #wireframe #shaded lowest #shaded highest
    Old PC
    (D3D v6)    		 7.4 fps 2.7 fps 5.7 spf
    New PC (OpenGL) 31.8 fps 20.8 fps 1.7 spf
    Difference 4.30x 7.7x 3.35x

     

    • Gosh! My new PC is more than 4 times faster! I love it!!
    • Below are test results produced using Sisoft Sandra v.2002

     

    Old PC System Summary sandra amd1.gif (54557 bytes)
    Graphic Results
    New PC System Summary sandra amd1.gif (54557 bytes)
    Graphic Results

 

Last modified on 08 January, 2002