System and tests

Test System Setup

Intel P3-600 processor
Abit BE6-II motherboard

AMD Athlon 1.1GHz processor
Abit KT7-Raid motherboard

Mushkin 128MB PC133 CAS2 SDRAM

ELSA GLADIAC ULTRA 64MB 250/230
Driver version: Detonator 6.31

ELSA GLADIAC ULTRA 64MB 250/250
Driver version: Detonator 6.31

NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS 32MB
Driver version: Detonator 6.31

3dfx Voodoo5 5500 64MB
Driver version: 1.03

Western Digital Caviar 20.5 GB ATA-66 hard drive

Windows 98 SE

Oh, NO!

Run!

Benchmarks

3DMark2000 - 800x600x16
3DMark2000 - 800x600x32
3DMark2000 - 1024x768x16
3DMark2000 - 1024x768x32
3DMark2000 - 1280x1024x16
3DMark2000 - 1280x1024x32

Unreal Tournament - 800x600x16
Unreal Tournament - 800x600x32
Unreal Tournament - 1024x768x16
Unreal Tournament - 1024x768x32
Unreal Tournament - 1280x1024x16
Unreal Tournament - 1280x1024x32

Quake 3 1.17 - 640x480 Fastest, High Quality
Quake 3 1.17 - 800x600 Fastest, High Quality
Quake 3 1.17 - 1024x768 Fastest, High Quality
Quake 3 1.17 - 1280x1024 Fastest, High Quality
Quake 3 1.17 - 1600x1200 Fastest, High Quality

Notes

We decided to use the P3-600 for our mid-range processor and the 1.1GHz Athlon for our high-end. If you have a slower processor, we can already tell you that you'll be better off spending $549 on a new CPU/mobo/memory combo. We kept overclocking to a minimum since we've found that it doesn't help very much, and it's way too easy to damage your video card. That said, we simply increased memory speeds to 250MHz from 230MHz for a little mild overclocking.