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Thunderbox PC Savage Pentium 4 Review October 03, 2003 Chris Angelini |
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Summary: Looking for the ultimate gaming PC? Thunderbox PC may be just right for you. We’re not just talking custom paint jobs and decorative case windows with neon lighting, the crew at Thunderbox will build your system from the ground up just the way you want it, or even recycle a few parts from your current PC to save you money! That’s not all either, not only will they overclock your system from the factory, a myriad of accessories are available to custom tailor your PC, including water-cooling. In today’s review, we take one of their Savage Pentium 4 systems out for a test run. How does it fare against one of our own test beds? Read on for the results!
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 13 ) |
Building a high-end gaming PC is a lot like buying a Ferrari; it looks sharp and sounds amazing, but it’d be so much nicer if someone else’s money were financing the purchase. By nature, the very best components will always command a premium price because, let’s face it, everyone would love an affordable 3.2GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon 64 machine.
Nevertheless, several prominent manufacturers embrace the exclusive nature of high-end gaming PCs and subsist by wrapping the very best hardware up in a unique bundle. Over the past few months, we’ve evaluated a few of these sorts of machines; ABS’ small form-factor Bravado 2310, its older M1 gaming system, and PC Progress’ X Theory flagship machine, for example.
Clearly, the market is rife with eager manufacturers looking to sell you a pre-configured PC (complete with mark-up, of course). So why should you abandon your do-it-yourself roots in favor of a ready-made solution? Perhaps you don’t have the time to search for the best deals; perhaps the idea of ordering from eight different retailers doesn’t float your boat; perhaps you are a gamer first, hardware aficionado second. For a system to compel us, though, it needs to be distinctively unique. It needs to be an Enzo in a sea of Ford Escorts (maybe not that distinct, but you get the idea).
Thunderbox PC hasn’t received the media attention that other performance outlets have enjoyed, but its products offer comparable performance for comparable prices. Of course, comparable will only take a company so far. Thunderbox PC sets itself apart by understanding the importance of good relationships and customer service. Plus, unlike most other manufacturers, Thunderbox PC truly facilitates the custom PC experience, allowing its customers to add their own hardware and even recycle previously used components.
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The Savage is Thunderbox’s most aggressive computer system, sparing no expense in the pursuit of performance. Standard configurations are offered for both AMD and Intel-based platforms, though every configurable part can be changed in some way or another.
SIDEBAR: Thunderbox PC’s Intel-based Savage product page.
| Specifications | Page:: ( 2 / 13 ) |
Specifications
Looks aren’t everything when it comes to a high-end gaming machine, but a pretty face sure makes it easy to swallow a steep price tag. Thunderbox’s signature case is a modified Lian Li PC-6070 that sports an exceptionally classy look, compliments of the company’s tribal logo on the front. For an extra hundred bucks, Thunderbox PC will add a custom window in the case’s side panel with half of the same insignia etched into it. The rest of the case is standard PC-6070 fare – it has four external 5.25” bays (one of which is occupied by a 16x DVD-ROM drive), three 3.5” bays (one of which hosts the chic black floppy drive), and five internal bays of the same dimension. Lian-Li markets the case a silent solution, but we’d tend towards “quieter than most other cases.” To its credit, the case sports low-power 80mm fans and rubber lining for minimized vibration. The aluminum front door snaps smoothly into place via ball bearing, while faux carbon fiber trim accents its top and bottom edges.
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Unfortunately, Lian-Li doesn’t include a power supply in the lofty asking price of its 6070, so Thunderbox PC outfits the Savage with a 430W Enermax unit – one of the best in our book. Other options are available, of course, such as a lower-powered Vantec unit and a more robust 550W Enermax power supply.
Thunderbox PC offers both Intel and AMD Savage systems, depending on your allegiance. The AMD systems are slightly less expensive, but we’d expect that considering that the flagship Athlon XP 3200+ lags behind Intel’s 3.2GHz Pentium 4. Thus, our review system came equipped with an ABIT IC7 motherboard, based on the 875P chipset. The IC7-G and IC7-MAX3 boards are also available, should you desire Gigabit Ethernet or the decked-out MAX3 with its elaborate cooling implementation. We’ve been working with the IC7-MAX3 for a few weeks now, and thus far, it is one of the most impressive 875P boards to complete our benchmarking suite. On the AMD side, Thunderbox lists ASUS’ A7N8X Deluxe exclusively, though there isn’t a board we’d rather have in a high-end AMD system.
A 3GHz Pentium 4 on an 800MHz front side bus provides the Savage with its processing power. However, Thunderbox PC also offers processors from 2.4GHz up at 3.2GHz, all of the 800MHz FSB variety. And, for an extra $80, which is often less expensive than upgrading your processor, Thunderbox PC will “performance clock” your configuration. For our review system, this meant that our 3GHz Pentium 4 arrived running at 3.3GHz on a 220MHz front side bus (effectively 880MHz). We were immediately concerned with the overclocked machine’s warranty status and Jon Mancil, the company’s owner, assured us that Thunderbox PC’s guarantee even applied to our tweaked configuration.
There are a couple of options for configuring memory. Thunderbox encourages 1GB of RAM, as that is the only selectable option on the configurator (of course, they’ll arrange for more or less if you desire). Our system shipped with a pair of 512MB modules running at SPD timings. Low-latency DDR400 is available, but we haven’t had much luck running any 875P platforms at ultra-low latencies.
SIDEBAR: If you search for Thunderbox PC on resellerratings.com, you’ll see that they are rated a perfect ‘10’ for overall customer satisfaction. That’s amazing!
| Specifications (Continued) | Page:: ( 3 / 13 ) |
Specifications
The ABIT IC7 comes equipped with Serial ATA RAID capabilities, so it would have been nice to see the Savage system employ the benefits of an aggressive disk subsystem. Nevertheless, Western Digital’s Special Edition family is a performance-oriented drive and we applaud Thunderbox PC’s use of the 7200RPM, 8MB cache, 120GB WD drive. Using the online configurator, up to three of the internal bays can be populated, with the option of adding a PCI RAID card. But the onboard ICH5 offers its own RAID controller, making it a more likely candidate for future Serial ATA upgrades.
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And because the IC7 doesn’t include integrated Ethernet, Thunderbox added a D-Link DGE 500T 10/100/1000 adapter to our review sample, the top-end option offered on the online configurator. We wouldn’t mind the ability to add wireless (after all, isn’t 802.11g a high-end technology?); with school starting back up, there will certainly be students interested in a wireless solution for their dorm rooms.
Another particularly top-end component is the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra with 256MB of memory that Thunderbox offers as its uppermost echelon of performance (and price). The card adds a full $150 over the standard RADEON 9800 128MB, making it a costly upgrade. A fan mounted on the case’s Plexiglas window augments the GeForce FX’s stock, dual-slot cooling solution. The 80mm unit is covered with a custom grill that sports another Thunderbox PC logo.
Even though onboard audio is snubbed in high-end systems, the six-channel AC’97 codec housed on ABIT’s IC7 is a wholly capable solution. The board’s back panel even offers digital S/PDIF input and output. Understandably, many enthusiasts will want to forgo the onboard solution, though, and add their own cards. Our system came with an Audigy, but Thunderbox enables a host of other options for more discerning audio enthusiasts.
The rest of the Savage’s specs are more minor details. It ships with a standard black Microsoft Internet Keyboard and an optical mouse, both of which are upgradeable. It comes with a floppy, of course, and a 16x DVD-ROM drive. If you’d prefer something a bit beefier, there are also CD-RW and DVD±R/RW drives available online. You can also add cold cathode lighting for a flashy touch of ‘tude.
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If the modded look suits you, rest assured that the Savage arrived very neatly organized, with all of the cables tied and tucked away. Rounded IDE cables, sleeving, and zip ties are all used gratuitously for optimal airflow. Besides, it’d be a crime to hide all of that cutting-edge hardware in a tangled mess of cabling, wouldn’t it? Further, the system ships in a well-padded box that includes an incredibly detailed user guide. The documentation folder covers driver versions, installed hardware, and a full breakdown of the machine’s performance in a variety of modern benchmarks. Naturally, this is a particularly informative addition, especially for non-standard, overclocked platforms.
SIDEBAR: Thunderbox PC also offers a complete line of small form-factor systems that include Shuttle and Biostar chassis.
| Other Notes | Page:: ( 4 / 13 ) |
Other Notes
Thunderbox PC knows its customers don’t want frivolous software bundles cluttering their systems. Therefore, there aren’t any extra programs installed, save a few game demos that allow you to benchmark the Savage yourself. McAfee’s antivirus software is an optional upgrade, as is Microsoft Office. But other than that, Thunderbox PC sticks to the basics. Windows XP Professional Edition comes standard and Home Edition is available for $60 less.
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Since we have our own display and audio testing equipment, we didn’t receive a monitor or speaker system with the Savage. Even still, when we priced our system on Thunderbox PC’s configurator, it nearly hit $2,700, sans display or speakers. There is clearly a price to be paid for the finer things in life, and custom computer systems that ship overclocked from the manufacturer and are covered under a comprehensive yearlong warranty are invariably more expensive than ordinary beige boxes. Think of it as the difference between your everyday Graco baby seat and a custom Recaro booster. One is designed to keep you safe, while the other does the same thing in significantly more style.
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We did attempt to “build” the Savage on our own, using the online tools available to you, and came up with the following prices. Keep in mind that certain aspects of the system, like the custom window, fan grille, and case accents are impossible to replicate, so we’ll add the prices that Thunderbox charges for those:
Pentium 4 3.0GHz - $383
Vantec Aeroflow - $24
ABIT IC7 875P Motherboard - $116
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB - $390
Custom 80mm Video Cooler - $80
Lian-Li PC-6070 - $168
Custom-Cut Window - $99
Cold Cathode Lighting x2 - $60
Western Digital 120GB Special Edition - $105
1GB PC3500 Memory (512MB x2) - $160
16x DVD-ROM Drive - $30
Sound Blaster Audigy - $60
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard/Optical Mouse Combo - $20
Logitech MX500 - $45
Enermax EG465P-VE - $75
Floppy Drive - $10
Microsoft Windows XP Pro - $130
D-Link DGE 500T 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet - $35
Total - $2,044, including shipping
There is a noticeable discrepancy between the prices of our “home brew” system and Thunderbox PC’s custom box. Granted, there’s no guarantee that our 3.0GHz Pentium 4 will hit 3.3GHz, like the “performance clocked” Savage, and we can’t duplicate its snazzy looks, either. However, $600 would pay for a 17” LCD and speaker system if you’re a diligent do-it-yourselfer.
SIDEBAR: Thunderbox also manufactures a killer mobile rig, complete with Mobility 9600 Pro, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, and six-channel audio. Check it out here.
| System Setup | Page:: ( 5 / 13 ) |
System Setup
Thunderbox PC Savage
FiringSquad.com Test Bed (as follows):
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz (800MHz FSB)
ABIT IC7-MAX3 875P Motherboard
1GB of Kingston HyperX PC3200
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
Detonator 44.03
160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 8MB SATA HDD
Windows XP Professional
DirectX 9.0b
Desktop resolution 1024x768, 32-bit color, 75Hz refresh
All power saving options were turned off, as were the Automatic Update and System Restore services. Graphics options under the ‘Performance’ tab were all disabled for maximum performance.
Benchmarks
Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo
3D Mark03
Quake III: Arena version 1.17 ‘Demo001’ 4xAA 8xAF
Comanche 4 Benchmark Test
SiSoft Sandra MAX3 Memory Bandwidth Benchmark
Business Winstone 2002
PC Mark 2002
Lab Notes
Thunderbox PC shipped the Savage configured with optimal BIOS settings and documented them in the system’s instruction manual in case the end-users every needs a reference. We tried to duplicate the configuration as closely as possible, but not all of the memory timings were attainable using the HyperX memory modules.
SIDEBAR: The Savage comes with a RadPadzGS (Gaming Surface). It’s an excellent mouse pad to compliment the Logitech MX500.
| 3D Mark03 and PC Mark | Page:: ( 6 / 13 ) |
3D Mark03 v.330 – DirectX 9
Notes
Right off the bat, Thunderbox’s Savage demonstrates the benefit of its overclocked processor and front side bus, besting our 3.2GHz reference system by nearly seven percent.
PC Mark 2002
Notes
Again, the overclocked 3GHz processor demonstrates superiority in the CPU metric, while the faster front side bus setting clearly improves memory throughput.
SIDEBAR: The Savage’s custom lighting can be turned on and off via a rocker switch mounted in the back of the case.
| Quake III: Arena | Page:: ( 7 / 13 ) |
Quake III v.1.17 ‘Demo001,’ 4xAA 8xAF – OpenGL
Notes
Without question, the overclocked Savage is the faster Quake III machine, even with 4x anti-aliasing and 8x anisotropic filtering enabled.
SIDEBAR: Intel recently started talking about an Extreme Edition of its Pentium 4, equipped with a 2.5MB L3 cache, running at 3.2GHz, and shipping in a month or two.
| Comanche 4 | Page:: ( 8 / 13 ) |
Comanche 4 – DirectX 8
SIDEBAR: Check Firing Squad all of next week for updates from the Computex show floor in Taipei, Taiwan!
| Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo | Page:: ( 9 / 13 ) |
Unreal Tournament 2003 Flyby – DirectX 8
Unreal Tournament 2003 Botmatch – DirectX 8
Notes
The Flyby portion of the demo, which tends to be limited by graphics capabilities, clearly favors the Thunderbox PC. Meanwhile, the Botmatch test nods ever so subtly toward our reference machine.
SIDEBAR: There are a pair of USB 2.0 ports that adorn the front of Lian-Li’s PC-6070 case, though they are camouflaged somewhat by the faux carbon fiber
| PC Magazine Business Winstone 2002 | Page:: ( 10 / 13 ) |
Business Winstone 2002 – Office Productivity
Notes
Business Winstone 2002 is a complimentary benchmark to Content Creation 2003. Unfortunately, CCWS2003 is a bit buggy, and won’t run on systems that lack a parallel port. Our IC7-MAX3 falls into that category, making a comparison impossible.
Our reference system takes the lead in Business Winstone 2002, though this could have been a factor of I/O performance as the reference machine employs Serial ATA.
SIDEBAR: Thunderbox PC is located in Frisco – the one in Texas.
| SiSoft Sandra MAX3 Memory Bandwidth | Page:: ( 11 / 13 ) |
SiSoft Sandra MAX3 Memory Bandwidth
SIDEBAR: Are there any benchmarks you’d like to see incorporated into Firing Squad’s test suite? Let me know.
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 12 / 13 ) |
Pros:
Custom: There is no limit to the amount of customization a computer can undergo. Just ask one of your local rappers, who may very well have Gucci fabric covering the seats of their Escalade. Not only does Thunderbox PC strive to offer the best components commercially available, but they’ll also accommodate your preferences. If there’s a card you’d like to recycle, they can do that too.
Performance: One of the most unique options that Thunderbox PC offers is its “performance clocking” mode that enabled our 3GHz chip to run stably at 3.3GHz. The feature costs $80 – a far cry from the $245 it costs to upgrade from a 3GHz Pentium 4 to a 3.2GHz processor, and it yields more performance to boot! In most of the tests we ran, the Thunderbox PC box was a clear victor. Its advantage was less pronounced in a few others, but there is no denying that the Savage is a quick machine.
Details: If anyone can appreciate minor details, it’s the gaming enthusiast. Extras like a RadPadz gaming surface (I’m a fUnc user myself –Ed), documentation that includes benchmark results and cable sleeving will go unnoticed your grandmother’s desktop. However, they’re all luxuries we’d pay for in our personal boxes.
Accessibility: Thunderbox PC’s customers will never know the frustration of waiting for help. We tested the firm’s tech support number just to be sure; we were put on hold for a few minutes, our customer number was recorded, and a technician followed up a few minutes later. According to the Thunderbox PC representative, most support issues are addressed between 15 and 20 minutes after they are filed.
Cons:
Price: The obvious downside to tricking out a cutting edge system is its associated price tag. But if you’re interested in the very best, throwing down a bit extra to cover guaranteed overclocking and custom modifications may be worth it. The Savage’s bottom line is about $600 higher than the cost affixed to our home-brewed version, though you’d be responsible for overclocking. If you’d prefer to forgo overclocking and substitute a 3.2GHz chip in your own system, the difference shrinks to $375, and you’re still running 100MHz slower than the Savage.
SIDEBAR: ThunderBox will soon offer a bare-bone system ready to accept your own hardware.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 13 / 13 ) |