| The Turbo Gaming System : October '99
by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson |
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Our last roundup for building the turbo gaming system was in the early days of September. Since then AMD's Athlon has entered the scene and for some will permanently change the way they think about high end hardware. As prices fall the distinction between a turbo and budget gaming system have become blurred. The additional cost to be on the cutting edge for the home builder is as low as $300 US. In fact, the overclockability of the Celeron 433 and 366 make the additional performance gains questionable for many gamers. CPU for Gaming Power Nevertheless, the cutting edge requires a choice between the Intel PIII 600 and the AMD Athlon 650, and in another week or so, the Athlon 700. The sheer brute power of the 650 or 700 Athlon will come at a premium of $100 US and around $300 US respectively. (Winbench 99 scores the 700 around 63 for CPU, and the Pentium III around 44. 3dMark99 places the Athlon 700 around 33% faster than the Pentium III 600.) However, the benchmarks don't tell the WHOLE story since the Pentium III can typically be overclocked at least one level, taking the 600 to around 672. And no one yet knows where the next generation will fall when Coppermine is introduced later this month.  Chart Copyright PC Week. Current Recommendations
Many changes at Thrustmaster makes it difficult for us to recommend their gear at the moment, although we spoke to a representative there who said the support issues should finally be dealt with this week. Stay tuned for more details. TM is not currently building their top of the line programmable sticks, but this isn't likely to be permanent and we'll report when we hear anything definite. In the meantime the slack will be taken up by CH, Saitek and SUNCOM. All these producers have new products for the fall, and all are making the move to fully USB systems. The Abit BE6 rev.2 includes onboard support for the new UDMA standard (ATA 66) and comes complete with a thermistor so that you can accurately track the temperature of an overclocked CPU. For Athlon fans, Gigabyte and MSI have both released mainboards for the new AMD CPU.
 Saitek Throttle Keep Your Cool Any time you push a CPU beyond its rated speed, you need an efficient fan. I've tested fans from 3DCOOL as well as from 3DfxCOOL. Both of these makers stock a huge range of fans and will even custom build fans. Whether you need to ventilate your case, or cool a video board or hard drive, you can find what you need. With the smart fan features your BIOS will be able to monitor the fan's RPM and set off an alarm if it drops too low. A pair of fans (CPU and intake) usually set you back $50. If you are working in a particularly warm environment, or if your CPU or video board is throwing a lot of heat, consider venting your case actively. This unit from 3dcool should do the trick for about $25.  |
With the correct software (Motherboard Monitor or the software supplied by the motherboard maker), you will be able to monitor fan speed and CPU temperature in your operating system. Now let's consider the rest of the components. I chose the Quantum Fireball KA Plus for high performance under UDMA. This new breed of drive is around 40% faster than the older 5400 RPM hardware and supports the new ATA 66 standard. With the raw power of the high end Intel or AMD CPUs it's important to supply data quickly to eliminate any bottlenecks. The Fireball 13.6 GB drive will cost you about $145.
 I chose the Kenwood Multibeam CD ROM as the best price/performance hardware short of going with a DVD/CD combination. This device screams along and is quiet to boot. Since it uses beam splitting technology the drive is able to run at a lower RPM than other drives in its class and you won't get the nasty vibes and hum that other drives produce. Cost, about $100. Sound and Video Whether you choose EAX or A3d you will get great 3d accelerated sound for a song. Your choice here will be determined by application, though my personal preference is for the TB Montego II Quadzilla. It has a rock steady game port, four speaker support, and uses the Vortex II chipset for A3d in hardware. With complete D3d acceleration in hardware and digital output, this board is a no brainer for about $89. The Diamond MX300 can be had even cheaper, and the SB Live is also a good choice but the game port isn't as solid as the Diamond or TB boards. With sound output of this quality, the Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000 is a good choice. With this system you have complete digital output and four speaker surround for around $139 US. If you need more power and can invest the extra $40, the Boston Acoustics system is superior to the FPS 2000 Digital.
 We're building a TURBO system and price is not the object. My video choice is the Millenium G400 MAX. If you intend to use dual displays, then the G400 or G400 MAX is perfect. If you are primarily flying Falcon4 and are looking for maximum frame rate then you should consider only the G400 max or the 3dfx V3500-TV. The G400 MAX is $195 and the V3500-TV is $220. HOTAS on a Stick For our TURBO system we need both programmability (for the jet and helo sims) as well as force feedback (for the shooters, mech, armor, and prop sims.) I chose both the Wingman Force as well as a CH or Saitek HOTAS. Saitek's USB release is happening soon and SUNCOM won't be far behind. The Wingman Force is $100, the new Saitek system street price should be around $129. USB pedals from CH should be around $50. If civil sims and/or bombers are your choice of platform, you'll need a flight yoke instead. The CH yoke or the SUNCOM are the way to go until someone builds a force feedback unit. For the best performance possible you need USB, so if you aren't in a hurry wait for the release of the USB throttles. SUNCOM, CH and Saitek will all release complete USB systems this fall. Finally, don't forget voice command software in the form of Game Commander. SUMMARY Okay, let's add it up! Mainboard $115, CPU $485 (PIII 600) or $585 (AMD 650), fans $50, hard drive $145, CD ROM $100, sound $90, video $195, speakers $140, controllers $290, case and keyboard and trackball or mouse about $125. You'll have to add your choice of 17" or 19" monitor for $350- $650. The total is around $2200 depending on the monitor you select. Will this system carry you into the Millenium? Yes, though most dedicated gamers will swap out the video board this fall for the latest from Nvidia or S3! WIth the release of the GeForce 256 likely in mid October, it's a good time to bide your time with your old video board until the benchmarks are in. For more on the next generation of video hardware click HERE. Join a discussion forum on this article by clicking HERE.
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