In an effort to destroy my friend's Alienware benchmarks, I am building a new LAN rig for the local LAN parties. It will be compact like the last LANtastic but cleaner, and twice as fast. I benched LT and got 11631 stock. The goal is at least 18K, stock. In a small mATX case that accepts a standard ATX power supply. Is it even possible without using an NF7-S, I wanna keep it compact and NF2 at the same time. I already have the RAM on it's way and a 9700 Pro at my disposal, just need a new case and mobo. Case should be here Friday. Is an Athlon XP / 9700 Pro / Corsair PC4000 Pro setup stock even capable of 18K?

Yeah, if you pimp it...

It's easy to find nice mATX motherboards, and what benchmarking program are you using? Sounds like a 3dmark score.

that setup should do about 15-17k stock. Considering a 9700 Pro is like 10% slower than the 9800 Pro series I'd say you'll do 18-19k at top OC in a SFF thingie...

Would a 9800 Pro or even an x800 Pro make much of a difference?

I Think an x800 pro might make a difference but i dont think a 9800 pro would make a tidal wave, decent size splash maybe

Sounds like a fun project to follow. Would you mind writing up little guides or summaries of what you actually do to the hardware/BIOS to reach your score. I've never been into the whole benchmarking business, or the overclocking scene but I'm thinking about trying it out, this seems like a good project to learn from.

I know that Biostar and MSI make mATX Socket A NF2 boards, well I think I do. You may want to look into those. What CPU do you plan on using?

Updates:

Here is the case, it's an Inwin V-Series. mATX, still a virgin at the moment. The side panel has a little duct that goes over the CPU fan. The side panels come off without screws, but with little clips on the sides toward the back, all you do is lift them up and slide the panel off.

Excellent LAN party case if I ever saw one.


Current specs:

DFL AZ-30 TL
Athlon XP2400 stock speed on a TT Volcano 11
Radeon 9700 Pro
512mb DDR400 w/PNY copper heatspreader
SB16 upgrading to an SB Live! 5.1
10gb Maxtor
160gb 8mb cache WD
300W Antec

The rear exhaust fan is an 80mm Tornado, because there is no mounts for an intake fan at the moment. First thing this case is getting is a freaking 120mm intake fan in the front.

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That's a pretty nice case. I love that cover over the side of the PSU. Would easily allow for a paintjob with some detail (like a logo) covering up your psu. sweet.

good job many hope it all works well!!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by j-dogg First thing this case is getting is a freaking 120mm intake fan in the front.

You gonna do the whole bondo thing then? If so, are you keeping the case black?... if not, what color are you gonna do?

Quote: Originally Posted by j-dogg Would a 9800 Pro or even an x800 Pro make much of a difference?

I was able to get 17265 On 3DMark 01, and 5383 on 3dmark 03 with a borrowed 9700 PRO using 350 core and 330 memory using a ABIT NF-7/XP2400@ 2350MHZ During some quick testing one weekend last year. There was probably more in it, but it gives you the idea.

Checking the ORB, using a max of 2.3GHZ, these were on the high side of average scores when overclocked, but not the top scores listed for each card

9800 Pro- aprrox 6500 in 03/19,000 in 01
9800 XT- Aprox 7000 in 03/ 20,000 in 01
X 800 Pro 10,000 in 03/ 23,000 in 01 (Top score listed for 03 with all AMD CPU's was 11805 @ 2.7GHZ, and OPP painter got 14660 with a P-4 @ 4185MHZ on his cascade)

The X-800 Pro is a nice bump, if ya got the spare 400$, but will be somewhat limited by the CPU, they seem to like the new AMD-64 3400+ and above, or 3GHZ+ Intel P-4 to get the most out of the card.
Consider at least going to a XP Mobile 2500+ to get the most from one of those cards, 2.5ghz and 250 FSB should do pretty well I would think