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Page 6
Budget System Comparison
by Douglas Helmer
Esthetics:
Okay, enough mud-slinging at the poor ol' Intel Celeron. This is a "System" review so lets move onto those aspects both these systems share; namely, sound, video, and input.
Sound: Both our Monsoon and Tsunami systems have the same speakers, keyboards, and mice. The only difference in the esthetics department between the two systems is the sound cards. The Monsoon has a VIA Audio "card" built-into the mobo; the Tsunami system has a Creative Labs Soundblaster Live Value sound card with "Digital Connections". Quite frankly, I'm no audiophile so I can only say that both the system's sound card / speaker setups are wonderful. Both systems come complete with the Cambridge Soundworks "Soundworkds Digital" Digital 2-Point Speakers & Sub-woofer arrangement. To my ear, they sound the same. The sub-woofer really pounds the bass so if you fly a WWII sim like European Air War the growl from the P51-D engine is going to vibrate you away from your desk. Four point speakers would be nice, but remember this is a so-called "budget" system so we opted for the 2-point speakers instead.
Video: Both systems have Hercules / Guillemot 3D Prophet II GTS's with 64 MB of onboard memory. This card uses nVidia's GeForce2 chipset and, in my humble opinion, it simply can't be beat. See our previous reviews on this card for further details. Both systems also come equipped with a 17 inch Samsung 753 DF monitor. This puppy boasts a .20 -.24 dot pitch "Dynaflat" screen and it is quite nice. Max resolution is 1280 x 1024.
Input: Now here's something we didn't expect when we spec'd this system to the folks at Voodoo Computer Studios: the Logitech Cordless Desktop I-Touch Edition. This is a combination cordless keyboard and mouse. We were leery of this new-fangled technology at first (by-gum), but after a few minutes of playing Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear, and Counter-Strike, we were completely sold on the concept. A "fetter-free" mouse (if we can coin a phrase) will never snag you up during a panic-stricken fire fight so common in the aforementioned first-person shooters. Both the keyboard and mouse are of very good quality (keyboard keys were nice 'n bouncey). Our only concern is what do you do when you're writing a big report the night before the morning deadline and your keyboard batteries go dead and there's no place to buy any? Every silver cloud must have it's dark lining (or something to that effect).
Case: As you can see from the pictures, the Voodoo Wide-Body Monster Computer Chassis is aptly named. It is a monster. Getting access to the board to make changes is a single knurled thumb-screw away. Take out the screw, pop the top, and both side panels just lift up and away. Getting the thing back together requires a bit of patience, however, because of the numerous little tab projections that must all be lined up. Other than that, it's a very nice, durable, aesthetically pleasing case.
Bottomline: Without a doubt, the Monsoon system with the AMD Duron "Spitfire" CPU is the best value for your buck in this "budget" price range. Also, you may have noticed in our 3DMark 2000 test results that there were columns for the Duron with 256 MB of RAM. We did this to prove the point that more off-CPU RAM isn't always worth the investment. Further to this, our SYSmark 2000 points only went up by 4 or 5 points with the extra 128 MB RAM in the Monsoon / AMD Duron system.
Final Thoughts: We give high marks to the folks at Voodoo Computer Studios for the care, attention, and help they gave us from the initial spec'ing of the systems right down to the packaging and delivery. Full disclosure time: "Yes", they knew who COMBATSIM was before we spec'd the systems; "No", we don't get to keep the systems. If we want them we must buy them like everybody else; "No" we haven't received any other compensation (monetary or otherwise) for doing this review. "Yes" we plan on buying that "Monsoon" AMD Duron system because it just so dang fast. Where was I? Oh yes, speaking of the packaging, you know you're getting something a bit different when you see their custom shipping box has a warning that says "The Contents of the Box Will Change Your Life." A bit too cutesy for some, but it shows that their attention extends as far as their packaging which says something in and of itself.
COMBATSIM.COM Awards the Voodoo Monsoon System
with the AMD-Duron "Spitfire" CPU our Top Pick Award!
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