II. Test Setup

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Motherboard: Abit AW9D-Max Desktop Board Rev BIOS Beta 13 Final
This motherboard supports all current Intel® processors, and also supports a lot of features, but for the purpose of testing, I will limit the system build on the basic components: a single floppy, a single IDE optical drive, a PCIe video card, and 2x512MB of DDR2-533MHz RAM.

Memory: DDR2-533MHz RAM/Micron* Chips 2x512MB (CL4-4-4-12 SPD)
The RAM used will be a value RAM with Fat Micron D9 chips, rated at DDR2-533MHz CL4-4-4-12. This is a different RAM from the previous test bed I have tried but this RAM shares similar features. This should be good enough for a 1:1 and 4:5 ratio when used with a processor that runs on 200MHz or 266MHz system bus.

Hard Drive: Seagate* Barracuda 120GB IDE
To simplify and ease of installation, this IDE hard drive will be used without any fancy SATA RAID configuration. This will also ensure I don't run into any compatibility issues.

Video Card: Palit* 7950GT 512MB SLI
I used a hacked driver to enable SLI to ensure that video card will not be a bottle neck. This video card is also powerful but it does not gulp large amount of electricity which should help me ensure the stability of the motherboard. The video card will not be modified nor tweaked in any way.

Power Supply: HEC* WinPower 550
To ensure that I will not be hampered by power fluctuation and instability, I used a much beefier power supply that I can currently muster out of my lab. While I have Antec Neo 480w, Ultra X-Connect 500w, and Enermax 450W the WinPower has 550w in reserve power. The other benefits of this power supply is, aside from the bling bling blue LED fan, is that it has native 24Pin ATX, SLI ready, and has two(2) 2x2 12v connector.

Chassis: Thermaltake* LANFire Xaser III
Testing will be done inside my trusty Thermaltake LANFire Xaser III. The choice of chassis is just out of random, to ensure that I will be getting an accurate results with temperature reading of the CPU both in idle and full load. This chassis has proven itself to me for quite some time and I know that it offers great air flow. I also love the chassis for its light weight design, and nice clear side panel window. This chassis doesn't come with a power supply, and I believe can be had for less than Php7,000. Pretty pricey, but all I can say is that I really love this chassis and hasn't cause any parts installed inside it to burn.

Optical Drive: OEM DVD Drive
Well, I don't particularly have a use for a good known DVD drive but if you have one and willing to donate it to me, then I'm all open arms :). Anyway, this OEM DVD drive will remain nameless until I got off my lazy bum, but nonetheless, this DVD drive has served me well and has never let me down. It's really an old DVD drive, and I don't even know how fast this baby run. One thing is sure though, it's longer than usual drive seen today and it's a lot heavier.

Full Specifications

• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX6700 (2.66Ghz)/Reference Stock Cooler
• Motherboard: Abit AW9D-Max BIOS B13 Final
• Memory: 2x512MB DDR2-PC4300@D@CL4-4-4-12(Auto)
• Video Card: Palit* 7950GT 512MB SLI Mode
• Hard Disk: Seagate* Barracuda 120GB IDE
• Optical Drive: OEM DVD Drive
• Floppy Drive: Sony 1.44Mb
• Chassis: Thermaltake* LanParty
• Power Supply: HEC* WinPower 550
• Operating System: Windows* XP SP2

It's time to party!