[Pc_Support] For-Sale: Loaded LAN Party Cube (6800GT/256MB, A2600+, 1GB, 160GB, DVD-R/RW/RAM)

[Bryan J. Smith]

I was going to give this to my brother, but he really doesn't need
such a gamer's box.  I.e., it would go greatly under-appreciated and
under-utilized -- let alone he can buy a sub-$300 system with a
Windows license.  This is largely my wife's old system, before I
upgraded her to a Socket-939 Athlon 64, GeForce 7900GS, 2GB RAM,
etc...  It's in one of those portable, sub-10lbs., 9"x11"x14" aluminum
MicroATX cubes that you've probably seen me bring to an InstallFest or
two.  If not, this AnandTech article gives you an idea:
  http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2464

The sucker keeps your CPU (right below the 120mm outtake fan), drives
(intake vents are right next to them, air is pulled right over them to
the 120mm outtake fan) and cards (right below the power supply with
its 80mm outtake) very, very cool and has a temp monitor for both CPU
and HDD on the front-pannel.  I never see more than 30C on this CPU or
HDD (even with 2 hard drives and the thermaresistor deep between them
where no air flows) -- and even my Athlon x2 4600+ (in a similar case)
never passes 34C on full-load.

Specifications:
- Sub-10lbs. Alumninum, 9"x11"x14" MicroATX Cube w/460W Power Supply*1*
- Asus A7V266-MX MicroATX Mainboard (KM266/VT8235CE)
- Athlon XP Model 8 2.13GHz, 256KiB (XP2600+)
- (2) 512MiB DDR400/PC3200 2.5-3-3-6** Memory (runs at DDR333/PC2700*2*)
- KICK-ASS:  PNY GeForce 6800GT 256MiB GDDR3 AGP video
[ Sucker bests the GeForce 7600GS and ATI X1600 series, only a 7600GT,
7800+ or ATI X1800+ series beats this sucker -- most of which are
still well over $150 today ]
- WD1600BB Western Digital 160GB, 7200rpm UltraATA/133 drive*3*
- LG GSA-4167 16x DVD-R/+R, 4-8x DVD-RW/+RW/-DL, 5x DVD-RAM
- 1.44" Floppy (it also has a 8-in-1 card reader, but it doesn't work)
- Coordinated Black'n Silver finish/color

*1* NOTE:  I'm going to put in a power supply that is more adequate
than the 420W that I originally had in it.  I have a 460W that is
rated better that's likely going to go into it.
*2* NOTE:  The memory is _not_ cheap DDR400/PC3200, but "gaming" rated
2.5-3-3-6 that you can't find much better.  It only runs at
DDR333/PC2700 because of the mainboard, and I've been able to time it
at 2-3-3-5 at that signaling which is within its rating.
*3* NOTE:  I actually have (2) WD1600BB drives I don't need, but the
mainboard only has (2) ATA channels, and I never use a master/slave
setup.  I originally had them on a 3Ware Escalade 6200 card in the
system, with the DVD on one of the mainboard channels.  If you have
your own, add-in PCI ATA card, then I'll give you both WD1600BB
drives.  Or if you want to slow your performance down, I guess you can
use the master/slave (such as if you had Windows on one drive, Linux
on the other, and they aren't used in the same boot).

I really don't have a need for this, because I've gone 64-bit
everywhere.  But as a 32-bit system, this older Athlon XP2600+ sucker
will _beat_ pretty any Sempron but the latest Sempron AM2/S940 (3400+)
-- the Sempron being rated against Celerons, whereas the XP2600+ is
rated against the Pentium 4.

The "diamond" in this system is the GeForce 6800GT 256MiB GDDR3 AGP
video -- which works in both AGP 3.0/x8 0.8V and is compatible with
older AGP 2.0/x4 1.5V AGP slots (unlike a lot of newer AGP mainboards
that require AGP 3.0/0.8V only).  The sucker overclocks well (I never
needed to though), runs Doom3/Quake4 great, and just about anything
else you can throw at it.  It bests virtually all PCIe video cards
under $150 (or $130 after rebates), and you have to go a 7600GT to get
slightly better performance (like with 10-15%), or a 7800+ or ATI
X1800+ to do better (it still beats a ATI X1600 Pro -- sans maybe
Half-Life which runs on ATI better).

I'd rather give it to someone who can make use the of 3D better than
my brother.  It's an older system on a platform that is basically a
"dead" end, and other than upgrading the memory (it can support up to
2GB) or hard drives (if you think 160GB isn't enough), it's basically
a system to use as-is.  Although that GeForce 6800GT is still pretty
kick-ass compared to all but $150+ cards video cards, despite being 2
years old (I bought it for $399 right when it came out).

As always, I'll load whatever you want -- although I'm more capable at
Fedora Core / CentOS.  I'll load all the nVidia drivers and other
goodies, download the Doom3/Quake4 demos and Linux binary, etc...