W
e performed some preliminary
benchmarks during our videocard/
CPU selection, so we had a pretty good
idea where this rig would stand before
we subjected it to our full battery of tests.
Regardless, we’re still impressed with our
baby box. It handled everything we threw
at it with aplomb, and ran Quake 4 at
52fps, with 4x antialiasing and all options
set to High.
The only rub to speak of is the reso-
lution issue. We ran the tests at a mid-
range resolution of 1280x1024, which
is still a fairly common resolution these
days. Heck, most 19-inch fl at panels max
out at 1280x1024! It wasn’t a huge sur-
prise, but gaming performance slowed
to a crawl when we cranked antialiasingbeyond 8x. Though the 7600 GT is
very capable at modest settings, its
slim 128-bit memory bus can’t han-
dle the bandwidth demands of high
AA settings (more expensive cards
have a wider, 256-bit memory bus).
Naturally, with an SLI-capable
motherboard, one of the very fi rst
upgrades we’d make to this rig
would be to slot in another 7600 GT
for hot, sweaty dual-card action.
In fact, we’ve done just that, run-
ning two 7600 GTs in SLI for kicks.
Interestingly, when we fi rst ran the
SLI benchmarks, we had AA and
anisotropic fi ltering turned off, and the
benchmark numbers were exactly the
same as if we had one card. In essence,what the second card brings to the table
is the ability to crank up anti-aliasing
and texture fi ltering, for vastly improved
image quality.Putting Our Penny-Pincher to the Test
All that cost savings wouldn’t mean squat without the benchmark numbers to back it up
Real game tests were run at 1280x1024 with all settings on High and antialiasing set to 4x. 3DMark05 and 06 were run at the default setting needed to obtain an offi cial score.DOOM 3 (FPS) 35.3 56.9
FEAR (FPS) 52 83
QUAKE 4 (FPS) 44.8 70.8
3DMARK06 3,026 4,926
3DMARK05 5,958 10,158BENCHMARKS
SINGLE VIDEOCARD DUAL VI DEOCARDSAnd the Rest of
the Parts...
For the purposes of our budget, we
focused solely on building a self-con-
tained rig, assuming you’d use your
current monitor, keyboard, mouse,
and speakers with your new $1,000
rig. If you want to spec a full system,
here are a few budget components
that deliver great performance at a
reasonable price.50 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2006
LCD Monitor: Dell 1907FP
If there’s another brand-new 19-inch
LCD that offers all the amenities of
Dell’s 1907FP and costs as little, we
certainly haven’t seen it. The stylish,
slim package sports the full range of
ergonomic adjustments—height, tilt,
rotate, swivel; includes four powered USB
2.0 ports; and, most importantly, provides
solid screen performance. Folks, it’s a
steal. See our review on page 74.
$340, http://www.dell.comSpeakers: Logitech Z-5300,
When it comes to gaming speakers, you
don’t want bang for the buck, you want
boom for the buck. And Logitech’s Z-5300can’t be beat on that score: This THX-
certifi ed, 5.1-channel system cranks out
280 watts of power for a street price well
below $150.
$135, http://www.logitech.comKeyboard: Generic
In our minds, there are “old” keyboards
that don’t have bells and whistles but
work wonderfully. And there are “new”
keyboards that cost twice as much and
are littered with useless features like F-
Lock keys, volume dials, and “shopping”
buttons. Screw that. We’ll take an old-
school QWERTY board over that new junk
any day. $15Mouse: Logitech G5
The G5 is a mouse fi t for a king—but at $50,
any wage-slave can afford it. We love its
adjustable-weight feature, its smooth-as-a-
baby’s-hiney laser tracking and its customiz-
able precision. If you’re on a really tight
budget, we recommend Logitech’s MX
518 mouse, which is just $35.
$50, http://www.logitech.comSoundcard: Creative Labs
Audigy 2 ZS
Our $1K PC uses onboard audio of the
Realtek persuasion. It gets the job done,
but doesn’t produce what we’d call
good, or even great, audio. For just $75,
we can upgrade to the last-gen Audigy
2 ZS. This formerly high-end 7.1 card
sounds fantastic, and is much cheaper
than the costly X-Fi boards.
$75, http://www.creativelabs.comFor the purposes of our budget, we
focused solely on building a self-con-
tained rig, assuming you’d use your
current monitor, keyboard, mouse,
and speakers with your new $1,000
rig. If you want to spec a full system,
here are a few budget components
that deliver great performance at aIf there’s another brand-new 19-inch
LCD that offers all the amenities of
Dell’s 1907FP and costs as little, we
certainly haven’t seen it. The stylish,
slim package sports the full range of
ergonomic adjustments—height, tilt,
rotate, swivel; includes four powered USB280 watts of power for a street price well
below $150.
$135, http://www.logitech.comKeyboard:Generic
any wage-slave can afford it. We love its
adjustable-weight feature, its smooth-as-a-
baby’s-hiney laser tracking and its customiz-
able precision. If you’re on a
budget, we recommend Logitech’s MX
518 mouse, which is just $35.
$50, http://www.logitech.comSoundcard:
Audigy 2 ZS
Our $1K PC uses onboard audio of the
Realtek persuasion. It gets the job done,
but doesn’t produce what we’d call
good, or even great, audio. For just $75,
we can upgrade to the last-gen Audigy
2 ZS. This formerly high-end 7.1 card
sounds fantastic, and is much cheaper sounds fantastic, and is much cheaper
than the costly X-Fi boards.
$75, http://www.creativelabs.comW
e performed some preliminaryTHE
$ 1 , 000GAMING
PC