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JustinD · Jul 22, 2005, 11:40 AM

Just setup my new Dual 2.7GHz tower with ATI X850xt card and Dell 20 LCD. The rest of the setup includes Logitech Z-2300 speakers (still in need of a little breaking-in), MX1000 laser mouse, and Kensington Slim Type keyboard.

First thing I did was *cough* borrow *cough* some RAM from work. Running at 5GB (2x1GB and the rest are 512MB), threw the 400GB drive from my iMac G5 in, set it as the startup drive, and I'm in business - only things I had to do was to set my monitor profile to sRGB since it auto-selected the Dell 20" profile.

This thing absolutely rocks. I had a Dual 2.0 when they first came out but had to sell it to buy a DVX-100 video camera. The thing chirped me to death. I'm happy to report that this Dual 2.7 doesn't make a squeak - no weird chirps, buzzes, squeaks of any kind. It's obscenely quiet - have it right on the desk and I don't even know it is there. I read that some people have the chirps still, guess I just got lucky.

The machine is somewhat old hat - you know the drill. It's fast. You definitely can't knock the PowerPC chips man, Photoshop 7 (my preferred version) starts up fast. Fast, as in I just think "maybe I'll edit a photo" and like, Photoshop is already open before I even click the icon.

The real gem in this machine is the X850 card. It's ridiculous. I play a lot of UT2k4 on a big 32-player Onslaught server (vehicles, the whole nine yards). Maxed out the graphic options, set it to full 1680x1024 resolution, and there's not even a hint of slowdown even in the most hectic situations. And the graphics are completely gorgeous of course - once you go widescreen you just can't go back. Sure my old iMac G5 was widescreen but I had to dumb down the graphics so much it wasn't even worth it. Verdict: pwn3rsh1p.

(the card does have a fan on it - even under pressure I can't tell when it's on, it's that quiet. Then again I haven't had a marathon 6-hour UT session yet...)

The Dell 20" screen is great, 'nuff said. I had to knock the brightness down to 40 to reproduce colors how I like them - but it's nice to know the brightness is there if I 'need' it.

And the Z-2300 speakers, if you read my previous post on them in Peripherals, rock. I ran some more tunes through them and it seems like they could use a bit more breaking in - I've racked up about 15 hours of break-in time and they keep sounding better. I usually judge speakers at the 50-hour mark; at the moment the sound isn't quite bright enough, but they'll get there and they will rock.

Now, I have a 9800pro card in my G5 at work that I occasionally fire up UT on. Is the X850 worth the extra cash? In my opinion, yes. Even if you're not a gamer, Motion loves the card, and for the extra $350 if you use any pro apps that utilize the video card heavily, it is well worth it!

So that's that - I'm not a benchmark kind of guy, since subjective experience is all that matters to me. And the thing is damn damn fast.

w00t!

supernovamac · Jul 22, 2005, 02:13 PM

I just ordered a dell 24 LCD. And I se you use a dell 20 LCD. I was just wondering if you need any extra cables or adopter? To make it work with a powermac G5?

rozwado1 · Jul 22, 2005, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by supernovamac

I just ordered a dell 24 LCD. And I se you use a dell 20 LCD. I was just wondering if you need any extra cables or adopter? To make it work with a powermac G5?

Nope.

turk.o · Oct 9, 2005, 02:00 AM

hey justin, i was interested in your feedback about the sound of the 850 video card fan noise. i recently put an 9800 in my old 2x2.0 G5 and the fan was so whiny and loud it drove me nuts and i had to do a crazy mod just to make it bearable. how does the 850 sound? do you have your computer at desk level, or on the floor?

thanks, t.o

Big Mac · Oct 9, 2005, 04:49 AM

Awesome setup Justin.

danman · Oct 10, 2005, 04:09 PM

UT2004 isn't a very good game to judge the speed of the card and machine. That game came out like 3 years ago. Thats like running benchmarks with Quake 3.

Lateralus · Oct 10, 2005, 04:37 PM

UT2004 came out in March of '04, what are you talking about? And it's still one of the better game engines on the market, so if you have a better suggestion let's hear it.

Todd Madson · Oct 11, 2005, 10:21 AM

Supernovamac: your new LCD should come with a DVI and VGA cable.

I ended up getting a Princeton 19" LCD flat panel and it came with both.
No need to bug people for spare video cables - the Dell 24 is expensive
enough that it should come with both cables.

supernovamac · Oct 11, 2005, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Todd Madson

Supernovamac: your new LCD should come with a DVI and VGA cable.

I ended up getting a Princeton 19" LCD flat panel and it came with both.
No need to bug people for spare video cables - the Dell 24 is expensive
enough that it should come with both cables.

My Dell 24" LCD is working just fine. It is big. And i did not have to by any cable. So if you need a big screen by a dell 24" it is cheaper than a apple 23".....

gururafiki · Oct 11, 2005, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by danman

UT2004 isn't a very good game to judge the speed of the card and machine. That game came out like 3 years ago. Thats like running benchmarks with Quake 3.

What planet are you coming from?? UT is an excellent way to benchmark a computer. They still use UT Botmatch and flyby in all the hardware reviewing website's & magazines. Sure, it's no Doom 3, but it is not a 3 year old game. 2004 was not [i[that[/i] long ago. Think before you type!