I just finished building a new system for a customer of mine and i thought i would write a short little review of all the parts that I put into this machine.
Processor: p4 3.0 C 800 FSB Retail Box
Motherboard: Abit ic-7 (non-g version)
Memory: Corsair 512mb x2 pc3200 XMS (non LL version)
Video Card: ATI All in Wonder 9700 Pro
Sound Card: Audigy 2 Platinum EX
Hard Drive: Western Digital 80gb S.E.
CD: Lite-On Cd-r/cd-rw/dvd-rom combo drive 48/24/48/16
Case: Chieftec case <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=11-125-532-01.JPG/11-125-532-02.JPG/11-125-532-03.JPG/11-125-532-04.JPG/11-125-532-05.JPG/11-125-532-06.JPG/11-125-532-07.JPG" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=11-125-532-01.JPG/11-125-532-02.JPG/11-125-532-03.JPG/11-125-532-04.JPG/11-125-532-05.JPG/11-125-532-06.JPG/11-125-532-07.JPG</A>
4 silence case fans from pcpowerandcooling.com
I started researching this setup about 2 weeks ago, and read about every forum I could on everything from the ati video card, to the soundblaster, to memory, processor, and especially motherboard. This was my first time building an intel system since my Celeron 466 about 3 years ago at least. I ordered all the parts from <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com</A> , and the case fans from <A HREF="http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com" target="_new">http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com</A>.
When I received everything, I inspected everything and everything had been properly packaged, nothing was damaged. There had been some postings in other forums about the abit motherboard not being packaged very well and some of the memory slot brackets being damaged and even broken off. This was not the case as everything was packaged very securly. The motherboard came with everything you needed, 1 round cable, sata drive cables, mobo drivers, sata floppy disk to install the sata drivers, and a mounting bracket for 2 usb and 1 firewire port and the back case panel. The motherboard was fairly easy to install into the case, all the holes lined up pretty good, nothing too big to report on here.
When I went to install the heatsink, I had never installed a p4 heatsink before. I have been used to installing AMD heatsinks for a long time, which as many users here know, they can be royalllll pains in the butt to install, using screwdrivers, plyers, and sometimes extreme amounts of pressure. I was <b>AMAZED</b> by how much easier it is to install the p4 heatsinks and fans than it was to install the AMD heatsinks and fans. It just snapped on, snapped into place, took me less than 30 seconds without putting any pressure on the processor itself.
I then procedded to install all of the case connector wires to the motherboard. This board also has to be the easiest one i have ever installed those connectors to. I got it right the first time, the documentation was actually accurate, no misprints, and they even added empty spaces between some of the connectors so you don't accidently miss and misalign some of the connections. It was also very easy to install the front panel USB and Firewire connectors. Also very excellent documentation on those connectors.
I proceeded to install the hard drives. The ide connectors on the motherboard are actually on the side of the motherboard, not on the top of the motherboard like you would normally expect. I was a bit hesistant of this idea at first, but it worked out alot better and they were actually easier to access and install, and didn't get in the way of anything.
I now proceeded to start up the computer for the first time. That moment of truth, and BINGO! it actually worked right the first time. I went into bios immedieatly and relaxed the memory times to 2.5, 7, 3 , 3 , saved, and rebooted. Booted up perfectly to the hard disk, detecting no operating system etc. I installed WinXP Pro with absolutley no problems. Started right up, booted up perfectly. I then installed service pack 1, all the updates, etc. After getting all of this in order, I installed the ati aiw drivers. I used the updated drivers from the ati site and everything went smooth. There is a specific order you have to follow, which it goes through in detail on the ati driver download website.
After rebooting, I installed the Soundblaster card. I've read TONS of forum postings on the abit forums about people having problems with this card. I installed it on pci slot #5, and had zero problems with it. Everything is stable, the external box works perfectly, no problems at all. Im really beginning to wonder what all these people are complaining about in all of these forums.
I decided to run some benchmarks. In 3dmark2001 I scored a 16,500, with the relaxed memory timings, nothing overclocked, very standard setup. I ran sisandra diagnostics and there wasn't a single setup in any test that came close to the benchmarks, except the XP3000+ that was within a 1000 points on the arithmitic test.
This computer is going to be used mainly for video editing software, as this guy records weddings and then edits the video on his computer. So far I have had ZERO problems with this setup and it leads me to believe either I lucked out or alot of problems you may read about deal with user errors and lack of proper research. I personally think that anyone who doesn't use Corsair, Crucial, or Kingston ram is begging to have problems, with Corsair usually being the most consistent of all the rams. It also seems like the LL line of Corsair ram is prone to stability problems, but for a general use system, the LL is not necessary at all.
All in all, this was probably the easiest system I have EVER built in my life, the best performing, and so far, the most stable. Tempertures are a little high, about 50C idle, but that's alright. Many users are complaining of temperture reporting problems, and as long as you are aware of potential overheating problems, you should not have any problem with those tempertures. If you are looking into getting a setup like this, just please make sure to do some research and not just buy parts you think will work.
*** Pro's
-- EASY to install, very stable, good documentation
-- Booted up first time
-- Extremely user friendly board layout
** Cons
-- No LAN Port on Ic-7 non-g motherboard
-- Bios Temp Reading a bit too high
I hope this review helped a little bit, just to give a basic insight as to my personal experience with this board. I know different user's may have different experiences, but I think this is one of the best boards out on the market today.
fiask0!
stone@elp.rr.com
Processor: p4 3.0 C 800 FSB Retail Box
Motherboard: Abit ic-7 (non-g version)
Memory: Corsair 512mb x2 pc3200 XMS (non LL version)
Video Card: ATI All in Wonder 9700 Pro
Sound Card: Audigy 2 Platinum EX
Hard Drive: Western Digital 80gb S.E.
CD: Lite-On Cd-r/cd-rw/dvd-rom combo drive 48/24/48/16
Case: Chieftec case <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=11-125-532-01.JPG/11-125-532-02.JPG/11-125-532-03.JPG/11-125-532-04.JPG/11-125-532-05.JPG/11-125-532-06.JPG/11-125-532-07.JPG" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=11-125-532-01.JPG/11-125-532-02.JPG/11-125-532-03.JPG/11-125-532-04.JPG/11-125-532-05.JPG/11-125-532-06.JPG/11-125-532-07.JPG</A>
4 silence case fans from pcpowerandcooling.com
I started researching this setup about 2 weeks ago, and read about every forum I could on everything from the ati video card, to the soundblaster, to memory, processor, and especially motherboard. This was my first time building an intel system since my Celeron 466 about 3 years ago at least. I ordered all the parts from <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">http://www.newegg.com</A> , and the case fans from <A HREF="http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com" target="_new">http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com</A>.
When I received everything, I inspected everything and everything had been properly packaged, nothing was damaged. There had been some postings in other forums about the abit motherboard not being packaged very well and some of the memory slot brackets being damaged and even broken off. This was not the case as everything was packaged very securly. The motherboard came with everything you needed, 1 round cable, sata drive cables, mobo drivers, sata floppy disk to install the sata drivers, and a mounting bracket for 2 usb and 1 firewire port and the back case panel. The motherboard was fairly easy to install into the case, all the holes lined up pretty good, nothing too big to report on here.
When I went to install the heatsink, I had never installed a p4 heatsink before. I have been used to installing AMD heatsinks for a long time, which as many users here know, they can be royalllll pains in the butt to install, using screwdrivers, plyers, and sometimes extreme amounts of pressure. I was <b>AMAZED</b> by how much easier it is to install the p4 heatsinks and fans than it was to install the AMD heatsinks and fans. It just snapped on, snapped into place, took me less than 30 seconds without putting any pressure on the processor itself.
I then procedded to install all of the case connector wires to the motherboard. This board also has to be the easiest one i have ever installed those connectors to. I got it right the first time, the documentation was actually accurate, no misprints, and they even added empty spaces between some of the connectors so you don't accidently miss and misalign some of the connections. It was also very easy to install the front panel USB and Firewire connectors. Also very excellent documentation on those connectors.
I proceeded to install the hard drives. The ide connectors on the motherboard are actually on the side of the motherboard, not on the top of the motherboard like you would normally expect. I was a bit hesistant of this idea at first, but it worked out alot better and they were actually easier to access and install, and didn't get in the way of anything.
I now proceeded to start up the computer for the first time. That moment of truth, and BINGO! it actually worked right the first time. I went into bios immedieatly and relaxed the memory times to 2.5, 7, 3 , 3 , saved, and rebooted. Booted up perfectly to the hard disk, detecting no operating system etc. I installed WinXP Pro with absolutley no problems. Started right up, booted up perfectly. I then installed service pack 1, all the updates, etc. After getting all of this in order, I installed the ati aiw drivers. I used the updated drivers from the ati site and everything went smooth. There is a specific order you have to follow, which it goes through in detail on the ati driver download website.
After rebooting, I installed the Soundblaster card. I've read TONS of forum postings on the abit forums about people having problems with this card. I installed it on pci slot #5, and had zero problems with it. Everything is stable, the external box works perfectly, no problems at all. Im really beginning to wonder what all these people are complaining about in all of these forums.
I decided to run some benchmarks. In 3dmark2001 I scored a 16,500, with the relaxed memory timings, nothing overclocked, very standard setup. I ran sisandra diagnostics and there wasn't a single setup in any test that came close to the benchmarks, except the XP3000+ that was within a 1000 points on the arithmitic test.
This computer is going to be used mainly for video editing software, as this guy records weddings and then edits the video on his computer. So far I have had ZERO problems with this setup and it leads me to believe either I lucked out or alot of problems you may read about deal with user errors and lack of proper research. I personally think that anyone who doesn't use Corsair, Crucial, or Kingston ram is begging to have problems, with Corsair usually being the most consistent of all the rams. It also seems like the LL line of Corsair ram is prone to stability problems, but for a general use system, the LL is not necessary at all.
All in all, this was probably the easiest system I have EVER built in my life, the best performing, and so far, the most stable. Tempertures are a little high, about 50C idle, but that's alright. Many users are complaining of temperture reporting problems, and as long as you are aware of potential overheating problems, you should not have any problem with those tempertures. If you are looking into getting a setup like this, just please make sure to do some research and not just buy parts you think will work.
*** Pro's
-- EASY to install, very stable, good documentation
-- Booted up first time
-- Extremely user friendly board layout
** Cons
-- No LAN Port on Ic-7 non-g motherboard
-- Bios Temp Reading a bit too high
I hope this review helped a little bit, just to give a basic insight as to my personal experience with this board. I know different user's may have different experiences, but I think this is one of the best boards out on the market today.
fiask0!
stone@elp.rr.com
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