Final thoughts
Final thoughts
Today sees the official launch of the AMD Athlon 64 AM2 range of processors and supporting core-logics from major players. To this end, and complementing the releases in no uncertain fashion, Evesham Technology has built a suitably high-end system to showcase the AM2's power.The Evesham FX-62 sits the range-topping CPU within a high-quality nForce 590 SLI motherboard from Foxconn. Graphics grunt is provided by two GeForce 7900 GTX cards that are pre-configured for SLI, while a single, spacious hard drive takes care of storage. Evesham has also skipped the motherboard's onboard high-definition audio and opted for a discrete Creative X-Fi sound card allied with Creative T7900 speakers. Completing the package are a 20.1-inch Viewsonic TFT and cordless input devices from Microsoft.
There's little denying the quality of the components but the spec sheet doesn't tell the entire story. Evesham would be better served, we reckon, by showcasing such a high-end machine in a chassis more in keeping with the £3,000 asking price. We'd also recommend a change of CPU cooler to one that uses a quieter fan to lower the overall noise profile, and Evesham will be doing so with production models. Further, we'd argue that a high-quality system should have a three-year onsite warranty included when it carries a £3K price ticket.
Finally, we'd like to see a higher-resolution monitor shipped with the system. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the Viewsonic model provided by Evesham, but its 1680x1050 native resolution means that you'll not be getting the most out of the grunt afforded by an AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 CPU and SLI'd 7900 GTX cards.
In summary, then, the Evesham FX-62 is a wickedly fast system but one that's a little unbalanced in its specification. In ending, feel we have to suggest that savvy readers find out how a certain Intel chip will influence the market in the coming months.
Thoughts on this review, on the review of the SCAN 3XS Athlon 64 FX-62 AM2 system and on AM2 and Conroe generally? Be delighted to hear them over in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.links
Evesham Technology - UK home page
Evesham Technology Asteroid FX62 Direct Evesham link to Asteroid FX62
Foxconn - Mainboard home page
Foxconn - nForce 590 SLI - C51XEM2AA (still not posted)
Foxconn - AM2 mainboard at E3 (part of the massive HEXUS.E3 show coverage)
AMD socket AM2 - Wikipedia
DDR2 SDRAM - Wikipedia
EPP - Corsair's take
NVIDIA - SLI home page
NVIDIA - 500-family core logic at CeBit 2006
CeBit 2006 - All HEXUS coverage
HEXUS review - SCAN 3XS Athlon 64 FX-62 AM2 system
HEXUS review - Intel's Conroe spanks AMD FX-62's botty - for real!!
