System setup and notes
Hardware and Software
Test Platforms
| SCAN 3XS ISOTOPE System | MV Cubik GamePro System | Dell XPS Gen-4 System | |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (Clawhammer core) 2.4GHz, 1MB L2 cache | AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Winchester core) 2.2GHz, 512kb L2 cache | Intel Pentium 4 560 - 3.6GHz |
| Mainboard | Foxconn NF4K8MC nForce4 | Shuttle SN95G5 chassis (FN95 m/b) | Dell i925X |
| Memory | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200XL | 1GByte (2x512MB) Corsair XMS3200C2PT | 1GByte (2x512MB) Infineon DDR2-PC4300 | Memory timings | 2-2-2-5 | 3-3-3-8 | 4-4-4-12 |
| Graphics Card | GeForce 6800 GT 256MB - PCIe - ForceWare 71.89 | Inno3D GeForce 6800 GT 256MB - AGP - ForceWare 71.89 | ATI RADEON X850 XT PE 256MB - PEG16X - CATALYST 5.3 | Disk Drive | Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 250GB SATA | Hitachi Desktar 7K250 250GB SATA | Maxtor MaxLineII 250GB SATA |
| BIOS Version | 18/12/2004 | 10/08/2004 | 21/02/2005 |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional w/SP2 | Windows XP Home w/SP2 | Windows XP Professional w/SP2 |
| Price | £1,449 inc. VAT | £1,129 inc. VAT | £1,799 inc. VAT (inc. 19" CRT and speakers) |
Benchmark Software
HEXUS Pifast Benchmark
ScienceMark 2.0 (7th February 2005)
Realstorm 2004
CINEBENCH 2003 multi-CPU render
HEXUS.in-house MP3 Encoding Benchmark using LAME 3.97a (Intel HT compiler) - 701MB WAV
picCOLOR 32-bit v4.0
KribiBench v1.1.9
Microsoft Movie Maker 2.1
USB2.0 transfer test
DOOM 3 Timedemo 1
3DMark05 v1.2.0
3DMark2001SE b330
UT2003 Bot Match
Notes
SCAN's ISOTOPE will be compared against MV's sexy Shuttle-based system and Dell's XPS Gen-4 base unit. The comparison should be judged with consideration of the systems' prices. The ISOTOPE, whilst being around £300 more expensive than MV's, has a significantly more expensive CPU, better RAM, Windows XP Professional, and a multitude of modding-orientated features. Taking away these improvements, the price would be roughly analagous to MV's. Dell's P4-based system tips the pricing scales at a hefty £1,799, but that does include a 19" CRT and Creative speakers.
Nice and fast!
Ditto.
Overclocking
A lack of voltage control and use of a multiplier-locked AMD Athlon 64 meant that high FSB overclocking wasn't on the cards. As it was, the system became unstable at 208MHz FSB (2496MHz). Look elsewhere for your overclocking thrills.
