III. Test Set Up

Note:

_{To make this preview a little more exciting than usual, I will be using the same components, except for the motherboard and processors and compare it against the range of newer processors. The competitors lining up are Inte®l Core? 2 Duo E6300, E6600, E6700, X6800 with an Intel® D975XBX Desktop Board. Note the following: desktop processors operates with 266MHz (1066MHz) FSB while the Yonah processor in the testbench is running at a measly 166MHz (667MHz) FSB. Images are found on the web and owned by respective owners}

Motherboard: AOpen* i975Xa-YDG BIOS
The Intel® Core™ Duo T2600 Processor will be slotted on the AOpen* i975Xa-YDG Mobile on Desktop board. This motherboard supports all Intel® Core™ Duo and Intel® Core™ 2 Duo mobile processors. This motherboard 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 SATA hard drive, a single IDE optical drive, a PCIe video card, and 2x512MB of DDR2-667MHz RAM.

Memory: ES DDR2-667MHz RAM/Micron* Chips 2x512MB (CL5-5-5-15 SPD)
The RAM used will be a value RAM with Fat Micron D9 chips, rated at DDR2-667MHz CL5-5-5-15. This should be good enough for a 1:1 and 4:5 ratio when used with a processor that runs even with 200MHz or 266MHz system bus.

Hard Drive: Seagate* Barracuda 120GB SATA
To speed up installation of OS and access of files, I decided to use my two(2) Seagate* Barracude SATA hard drive. Note that RAID is not configured, and these SATA are operating as normal standalone storage devices.

Video Card: Power Color* X800GT
I decided to use a Powercolor X800GT PCIe Video Card as this would fit most of those who likes mainstream gaming and powerful 2D graphics. 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™ Duo T2600 (2.16Ghz)/AOpen* Stock Cooler
• Motherboard: AOpen* i975Xa-YDG
• Memory: 2x512MB DDR2-PC5300@D@CL5-5-5-15(Auto)
• Video Card: Powercolor* X800GT 256MB
• Hard Disk: Seagate* Barracuda 120GB
• 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!