My New Personal (Super) Computer (PsC)

by nirjhar

As you know my laptop is broken. That was a Dell XPS M1330 with 2.6Hz Core 2 Duo Processor (6MB), 4GB RAM and nvidia 9400GS AGP. Unlikely the AGP is broken. As that was purchased from USA so I have to send it back to USA to claim my warranty. I have 3years of warranty with accidental care. After this disaster I had purchased a Low-End Desktop (celeron) and that was bad choice. So again I have to change it. I love to work with my photos and videos so a high-end computer was required. To meet my tech-hunger I have purchased this machine. Here is the summary:

System Board: Intel® Desktop Board DG45ID

Processor: Intel Core2 Quad Q6600: 2.4GHz with 8MB Cache Memory

RAM: 8GB, Transend 800MHz FSB

HDD: 320GB, Hitachi 7200RPM with 3Gbps data transfer.

Optical Drive: BenQ Super Wrier DVD3

Monitor: BenQ T221W, 22inch WideScreen

Case: Delux Black Macpro Tower, I have modified the power supply. I simply integrated a Server power system 700W in it with extra Two Fans.

Here goes the details:

As I live in Bangladesh, high-end accessories are not available here. The main problem here is a good casing with good power supply. So first I chose a case which armor is heavy and good looking then I simply changed the built-in power supply with a 700W Server power system. I can’t trust other power supplies. Then I integrate my system board. Here is the feature of my board:

0,1425,sz=1&i=189382,00 Features and benefits

Form factor
MicroATX (9.60 inches by 9.60 inches [243.84 millimeters by 243.84 millimeters])

Four 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets

  • Support for DDR2 800/667 MHz DIMMs
  • Support for up to 8 GB? of system memory

Chipset

Audio

Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem in the following configuration:

  • 8-channel (7.1) audio subsystem with five analog audio outputs and one optical S/PDIF digital audio output using the IDT 92HD73E audio codec

Video
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD onboard graphics subsystem with integrated HDMI + DVI-I display ports

LAN support
Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem using the Intel® 82567LF Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Peripheral interfaces

  • Up to 12 USB 2.0 ports (6 back ports and 6 via headers)
  • Six Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, including 1 eSATA back port with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
  • Two IEEE-1394a ports (1 external port, 1 internal header)
  • Consumer IR receiver and emitter (via internal headers)
  • One serial port via header

Expansion capabilities

  • One PCI Express* x16 bus add-in card connector
  • Two PCI Express* x1 bus add-in card connectors
  • One PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connector
  • The G45 Express and GMA X4500 HD

    The G45 Express chipset is a step up from older Intel-based budget chipsets. It supports front-side bus speeds up to 1333 MHz, PCIe 2.0, DDR2 800 or DDR3 1066, and a whole mess of SATA ports through the ICH10 controller hub. The DG45ID in particular is a DDR2 motherboard, so that somewhat limits our memory bandwidth. It’s pretty small as MicroATX boards go.

    There are six SATA ports and no IDE ports at all, so you’ll need to make sure you use a SATA optical drive. There is one PCIe x16 graphics slot, two x1 PCIe expansion slots, and a single PCI slot. Note that this motherboard does not support the really high-wattage Intel processors; the fastest supported chips are the quad-core Q9550 or the dual-core E8500.

    Looking at the back plane, we see a whopping six USB ports, firewire, eSATA, five analog audio jacks, a TOSLINK optical audio output, and gigabit Ethernet. There are two digital video outputs—dual-link DVI and HDMI. 7.1 audio is supported through the IDT 92HD73E audio codec.

    The GMA X4500 HD graphics in the G45 chipset is a relatively minor upgrade to the old GMA 3100/3500 in previous boards. It’s a very similar part, only with 10 unified shader processors instead of 8, running at a higher clock speed. Intel says it’s 2–3 times as fast as the GMA 3100 and as much as 70% faster than the GMA 3500 found on G35-based motherboards.

    The X4500 HD is built on a 65nm manufacturing process, as opposed to the 90nm technology used to build the GMA 3xxx. The process shrink is what enabled the extra shader processors and higher clock speed.

    Intel claims that the GMA X4500 HD supports DirectX 10, as the GMA 3500 did (with the right driver update). We tried it and it only "sort of" works. It’s far too slow to be usable even in the most forgiving of DX10 titles, and even with all the details turned way down. It’s also a little buggy—the Parallax Occlusion Map test in 3DMark Vantage crashes the system, and we saw little white dots all over the place when running Crysis in DX10 mode (at low settings).

    Crysis Rendering Bug

    click on image for full view

    So while DX10 may be a "bullet point" for Intel here, you might as well ignore the fact that it exists. No DX10 title runs well enough to even enable DX10 mode, even if they all ran perfectly (which they don’t).

    ****************************************
    The IEE-1394a port is an advantage for me. I can work with my HDCAM h
    ere directly. And also the eSATA port is fine. I love it.In Bangladesh all general users use the SATA controller as IDE bridge. They don’t know about the AHCI. The Intel Matrix Storage Device driver can solve this problem on OS Loading time. I did it.As I am using 8GB of RAM so 32bit OS can’t use it all so I am using Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit.I am enjoying the built-in sound card. It is fantastic. Here is a screen shot!

clip_image001

Screen clipping taken: 10/17/2008, 2:14 PM

I am still not connected any Extra AGP or SoundCard. I am more than happy with the Built-In things.

And the view, My 22inch Wide Screen LCD Monitor. I can see two A4 size paper at same time on it. And I am really enjoying Adobe Photoshop and Camera RAW 4.5 with it. I calibrated it. Thanks goes to intel Gamma.

But there is some problem, intel should add more technical description in the bios setup area. So that user can customize the system comfortably.

image

Can anyone suggest me how can I build a machine which rating will be 7+? I am still curious on that. Dear Microsoft can you please tell me what is the standard of a 10rated machine? Please don’t suggest I have to purchase a Latest Super Computer.

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18 comments

Mithu October 17, 2008 - 6:34 pm

voy paichi !

Nirjhar October 17, 2008 - 8:18 pm

voi er kichu nai re bap.. valo computer .. 🙂

Md Emran Hasan October 17, 2008 - 8:30 pm

?? ??, ???? Dell XPS 1530 ?? ????? ?.? 🙂

Rizvi October 18, 2008 - 10:32 pm

hi……how ar u ? hope fine…however, am also thinking of a new pc….could u plz tell me what ws d cost of ur machine….think i hv not missed it in d post.

Nirjhar October 20, 2008 - 12:55 am

Around 80Thousands!

Alin November 6, 2008 - 1:33 am

The maximum rating is 5,9 not 7. I am not sure why do you have a 5,6 on the hdd because I used to have a 5,9 on hitachi’s 320 GB with AHCI activated. The RAM rate will go up only if you are using dual channel and a 45 nm processor.

Intel DG45ID, E7200, 2*2GB Kingston, 500 GB Seagate, Asus DVDRW, Antec NSK4000 case, Fortron 380 PSU, Logitech Z-5500 Digital sound system (using optical link to the onboard sound of the motherboard) i used a Creative X-fi in the past, but this is a bit better)

Nirjhar November 6, 2008 - 1:45 am

Hi Alin,
Thanks for your comment. Are you using any PCIe Graphics card? See my rating image, the problem is Graphics.

Thanks.

Alin November 6, 2008 - 2:02 am

No, I am not using a PCIE graphics card. I don’t play games, so I use the onboard video, wich is the best since now. It has the X4500HD video. this means that the HD playback is hardware accelerated. I use this computer for internet, mail, word processing and home theatre. On the HDMI port I have a 94 cm LCD television and on the DVI port a 19″ DVI LCD Monitor.
My rates are:
processor: 5.4
RAM: 5.9
Graphics aero: 4.4
Graphics Gaming: 4.0
HDD: 5.9
With ATI x1650 the graphics ratings are 5.0 / 5.3

Nirjhar November 6, 2008 - 2:16 am

Great. Still I am confused about my HDD rating. Strange. Let me read some article for this graphics card.
I am using 22inch DVI LCD Monitor and can connect HDMI to my TV as that is about 12meters away from this computer.

Alin November 6, 2008 - 2:27 am

You may try refreshing your rates. that might help. And make sure you have the latest bios (0085) because this is a great diference. Make sure you have the latest video drivers also. Don’t forget to remove from your system startup “intel comon user interface” or something like that (3 of them) because those 3 processes keep you processor 40% in use all the time. If you want to buy a graphics card, keep this in mind: go for a dual-link dual DVI one, and avoid Asus!!! Don’t think about a passive cooled graphics card because I got into a lot of problems with one.

I had a DP35DPM Intel motherboar, a E4600 processor and a Asus 8500GT Silent 256 mb (passive cooled). The temperature rised to the sky (90degrees celsius) and the performance of the card was poor. For the same amout of money, I bougt a week later a Winfast 8600 GT from Leadtek. GREAT card, except for the Cooling wich was a bit loud for my taste, otherwise Excelent. It was a dual DVI card.

Nirjhar November 6, 2008 - 2:31 am

My processor is Quad Core. So not a problem. My processing is less than 12%. I am not going to buy a Graphics card as I am not a gamer. I am trying to figure out my HDD rating.

thanks for your advice. I am really glad. What do you do Alin?

Alin November 6, 2008 - 2:37 am

What do I do.. aaa.. I am a computer technician. In Romania. You have my E-mail, any time you have a problem, you cand write me.

Alin November 6, 2008 - 2:37 am

you CAN write

Ehab November 10, 2008 - 3:03 am

Don’t know if those 8GB ram would do any help to you in your 32bit OS, unless you run 3d/video rendering, which I don’t think you do.

4 GB would have been enough.

Nice PC, all in all.

Nirjhar November 10, 2008 - 10:59 am

32bit cna’t allocate more than 4GB. I am using windows vista 64 bit Ultimate.

Nirjhar November 10, 2008 - 11:08 am

Ehab,
I don’t work with videos but some graphics and photo editing. And most of the time I have to LOAD Test on some application as a part of my job. And most of the time I restart my comptuer after months and more than 150 browser window is always open here. I am too lazy to close those as I noticed them.

Alin November 10, 2008 - 11:59 am

32 bit windows operating system can address 4 gb of combined RAM + VRAM. In other words, if you have a 64 MB Video card, than you can use 4 GB – 64 MB of system memory. Do note that the modern video cards have a lot more memory and they even use some out of the RAM, so on a regular Intel Desktop Motherboard based computer, you could use about 3,25GB of RAM for standard operation on a 32 bit OS

mahdee November 14, 2008 - 4:03 pm

according to http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/help/f59082f4-6385-4a61-ba7e-2de9625a780a1033.mspx
The base scores currently range from 1 to 5.9. The Windows Experience Index is designed to accommodate advances in computer technology.

😐

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