Parts & Commentary 1

The List

Intel Pentium III 650E FC-PGA Coppermine
GamePC has made a pretty good processor choice. As we mentioned in our P3-650E Overclocking Report, the 650E allows for lower FSB speeds because of its 6.5x multiplier. The 650E's 6.5x multiplier is superior to the 600E's 6x multiplier because requiring higher FSB speeds lower the chances of a successful overclock.

We reached 793 quite handily using the 122MHz bus speed. As you might remember from the Overclocking Basics Guide, processor potential maximum speeds are about the same for every revision of the chip, but faster speed grades might be able to overclock better if yields are still average. Early reports state that current P3 Coppermine processors are able to reach 800-900MHz. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the 650E reached nearly 800MHz. The jump might not be as astounding as from 600, but it's still impressive.

Abit Slocket with Thermaltake AirCooler for FC-PGA/PPGA
GamePC uses the hard to find Abit FC-PGA to Slot-1 "sloket" adapter which will run the Coppermine line of chips as well as anything out there. The Thermaltake AirCooler is none other than the famous "Golden Orb" cooler. You'll probably end up running the system with the case off just to display the cooling fan.

Soyo SY-6BA+IV 440BX
On-board ATA-66 controller with 5 PCI, 2 ISA, 1 AGP, and 2 USB Ports. The Soyo 6BA+IV has to be one of the best BX boards in existence. It's right up there with the Abit BE-6 II and ASUS P3B-F. The Soyo board has a standard expansion slot configuration, even accommodating the old ISA standard.

GamePC Infineon PC133 256MB CAS2 SDRAM - 2 DIMMS
Excellent RAM. The guaranteed 133MHz clock speed will be a boon for those that wish to overclock, or possibly re-use the RAM sometime in the future on a 133MHz FSB PC. The CAS2 rating is a good indicator of quality RAM.

Two IBM Deskstar 34GXP 20GB Hard Drives
Why two 20GB hard drives instead of a single large drive? Well, two hard drives are great for redundancy - you can install critical programs on both drives to have a ready-to-go backup in case the primary needs a format. These Deskstar 34GXPs are quite possibly the best EIDE drives in existence. Fast, reliable and deathly quiet, they're a great choice.

Two CoolerMaster 4002 CoolDrive Heat Sinks and Bay Coolers
These neat little devices cool and quiet your drives. They actually encase your drives! With the IBMs, the coolers probably aren't necessary, but a nice touch nonetheless.

TEAC 1.44MB Floppy Drive
Hitachi GD-5000 8X IDE DVD 40X CD
Nothing exceptional here, just your basic floppy drive and DVD-ROM.