Overclock Warehouse System Bundle
Written: 9/18/00
Reviewer: TronŽ
Provided by:
Overclock Warehouse
Price: $745 (Special deal
here for
Tech Zone Readers)
Introduction
Overclocking is not
for the timid. Doing the "homework", learning what to look for in components,
BIOS tweaking, and lots of prayer are required. Some of use just don't want to
that so we took a look at some goodies from
Overclock Warehouse
that are pre-tested and warranted! Overclock Warehouse System Bundle consist of:
First off, just wanted to hand out a big thanks to
David Foong of Gen-X
Tech/Overclock Warehouse for supplying the bundle for review.
I'm an overclocker from waaay back. The first computer I
ever built was the cheesy Timex Sinclair ZX81 Spectrum, back in 1980. It was an
old clunky Zilog Z80 microprocessor based computer running at 1mhz, with 4K of
RAM (although I had the 12K Ram expander on it not too long after building it,
taking it to a massive 16K). The BASIC interpreter on the machine had one neat
little quirk, a "turbo" mode which clocked the CPU at 2mhz, but shut down the
display (TV) whilst it was in that state....Just about every piece of software I
coded utilized the "turbo" mode as much as possible, and from then a pattern was
born. Overclocking became a way of life for me, and after overclocking nearly
every computer I have ever owned since that day, you'd think that I could just
sit down and overclock anything at will. The problem is that overclocking, at
least in today's realm of multiple bus speeds (Frontside, mem, AGP, PCI) and a
virtual plethora of hardware manufacturers, is a true science, indeed an art
form involving putting together "just" the right components to pull it off
successfully.
The goal of overclocking is simple enough. The idea is
of course to attain the highest possible CPU and system speed, while maintaining
system stability. It's all about "bang for your buck." Attaining the goal can be
a long drawn out process of experimentation, and even failure. I've toasted
memory, ruined mainboards (what I get for trying to use resistors to pull up
core voltage :D), and spent hours and hours chasing ghosts in the machine, in
the BIOS, in the OS install, ect... The whole process of getting a good
combination overclocked and running stable can be nightmarish. Or, it can be
relatively easy. "Doing your homework" by reading techsite articles (hmm....like
this one :D) newsgroup and forum posts, ect, can ease the process a great deal.
As the "art" of overclocking has taken a foothold among
the PC elite, specialist companies, started by guys like you and me, have
started popping up, catering to the needs of the overclocker. These companies
do the hard work of finding workable combinations of system boards, cpu's,
memory, and heatsinks, and sell them as a bundle, often with a warranty. The
whole idea of course is to make the process of building an overclocked system
generally as painless as building a regular system, albeit at an additional
cost. The guy that's done the homework for you certainly deserves a buck or two
for his troubles. Enter OverclockWarehouse!
OverclockWarehouse is a spinoff of
Gen-X Tech, a PC
retailer that's been specializing in overclocked systems since 1996. David Foong
at OverclockWarehouse sent one of their bundles my way. I've gotten an
opportunity to take a look at some of their offerings, and build a nice system
around them. What did they send me?
Next page: A closer lookk
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