PC Club Enpower Sabre Extreme: E6600 Made Easy
by Jarred Walton on August 29, 2006 4:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Benchmark Setup
At present, we don't really have results from any configurations directly comparable to the PC Club Sabre Extreme. We will be including the results from the ABS Ultimate X9, but keep in mind that it costs about three times as much as the Sabre Extreme. Due to changes in the benchmarks being utilized, we will confine our results to these two systems at present. The overall performance of the Sabre Extreme is actually secondary to the various other points we have already covered, so we're only going to run a selection of the available benchmarks in order to verify that performance is acceptable and in line with what we expect for the components used.
We will be reviewing additional Core 2 Duo systems (and AMD systems) in the future, and we will continue to include the results from the Sabre Extreme and the Ultimate X9 in those reviews. Unlike individual component testing, we are looking at the entire package, and it should come as no surprise that higher costs bring higher performance. Design, features, reliability, support, component selection, and price are all factors, and we will do our best to evaluate all of these areas in our system vendor reviews.
At present, we don't really have results from any configurations directly comparable to the PC Club Sabre Extreme. We will be including the results from the ABS Ultimate X9, but keep in mind that it costs about three times as much as the Sabre Extreme. Due to changes in the benchmarks being utilized, we will confine our results to these two systems at present. The overall performance of the Sabre Extreme is actually secondary to the various other points we have already covered, so we're only going to run a selection of the available benchmarks in order to verify that performance is acceptable and in line with what we expect for the components used.
| PC Club EN-SE6 Test Configuration | |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz 4MB Cache 25% Overclock (3.00GHz - voids warranty) |
| RAM | 2x512MB Transcend PC2-5300 JM367Q643A-6 DDR2-667 1.9V 5-5-5-13 Timings |
| Hard Drive(s) | Western Digital 250GB WD2500KS SE16 |
| System Platform Drivers | Intel - 8.1.1.1001 |
| Video Card: | 1 x MSI 7900GT |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA 91.31 |
| CPU Cooling: | Retail Intel HSF |
| Power Supply: | Allied 350W |
| Motherboard: | Gigibyte GA-965P-DS3 - F4 BIOS (Newer builds use MSI P965 board) |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Home SP2 |
| ABS Test Configuration | |
| Processor | Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz 4MB Cache) 20% Overclock (3.52GHz - ABS Warranty) |
| RAM | 2 x 1GB Corsair CM2X1024-6400C4 DDR2-960 5-5-5-15 2.2V for Overclock DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 2.0V Stock |
| Hard Drive(s) | 2 x 150GB WD Raptor RAID 0 |
| System Platform Drivers | Intel - 8.1.1.1001 |
| Video Cards: | 2 x ATI X1900XT (Master+Standard) CrossFire on Intel 975X |
| Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 6.8 |
| CPU Cooling: | Gigabyte GH-WIU01 Liquid Cooling |
| Power Supply: | Enermax Liberty 620W |
| Motherboard: | Intel 975XBX (Intel 975X) |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
We will be reviewing additional Core 2 Duo systems (and AMD systems) in the future, and we will continue to include the results from the Sabre Extreme and the Ultimate X9 in those reviews. Unlike individual component testing, we are looking at the entire package, and it should come as no surprise that higher costs bring higher performance. Design, features, reliability, support, component selection, and price are all factors, and we will do our best to evaluate all of these areas in our system vendor reviews.
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unclebud - Friday, September 1, 2006 - link
having to push the optical drives closed instead of being able to press the eject button to do it? terrible designhopefully it won't require a couple hundred customers rmaing their drives to change it someday
JarredWalton - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
I've never had a problem pushing the tray to close a CD-ROM. The trick is that you push it gently rather than trying to slam it shut. I could see children having a bit of an issue doing this, but I would wager heavily that most children pushed the tray in regardless of whether or not you can access the eject button.Iceboie - Thursday, August 31, 2006 - link
Will we see an article in the future for us who wants a Conroe system but on a low budget scale?JarredWalton - Saturday, September 2, 2006 - link
Just drop from the E6600 (tested) to an E6300, dropped the graphics card down to a lower-cost version, maybe get a smaller hard drive, and you can quickly get the cost down to under $1000 (not including monitor). The system as a whole is fine, so basically just get whatever CPU and other settings you can afford.giantpandaman2 - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
Nice Review. Only things that'd be nice to add is how long it takes to get a system shipped to you and how difficult is it to RMA something. Can you take it to the store? Do they give you a run around? Is it painless? I figure you guys could use a girlfriend/buddy to bring in the computer so you can remain anonymous. :) Sounds like getting things fixed should be pretty easy since they have stores, but it'd be nice to know for sure.giantpandaman2 - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
oops, I know you can take it to the store.Capt Jook - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
Hi all,James here, manager of the Tigard, Oregon PC Club. Just wanted to say thanks for a great review and maybe answer a few questions.
RMA through the web can be a bit of a pain...at the moment we do not offer a cross-shipping option for defective parts, so it can take a week or two to get back a good part after you send in the faulty one. In store, if we(PC Club) build the system and it is in warranty, we swap a new part right off of the shelf, 1 year warranty or 3. On 3 year warranty systems, we also cover End of Life(EOL), so if a CPU is 2 years old and EOL...we give you the logical replacement or an upgrade. We usually hire enthusiasts at our stores, so many people feel welcome when they want to discuss multipliers or voltages, etc.
We do use all standard, off the shelf components...nothing proprietary. Our "restore" CD is actually just an XP CD. We are sure to give the customer physical copies of all of the software installed on the system, in case of a catastrophic drive failure. We have a http://pcclub.com/forum/index.cfm">Customer support Forum that has help available 24/7. Mostly other PCC customers, but I know of at least 10 store level employees that frequent the forum on a daily basis(myself included).
The Allied 350W PSU has seen at least 10,000 hours of(combined) testing in the configuration listed. All of our system configurations must pass at least 5,000 hours of testing by our Engineering Department before they are released for sale to the stores and the web.
Each store is required to have a tech on duty 7 days a week, 362 days a year(we are closed xmas, Thanksgiving and 4th of July), so service is available if you are local to a store.
Thanks for your time!
JarredWalton - Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - link
Thanks for the additional information, James. (I'm up north of you in Olympia Washington, so the closest store to me is in Tacoma.) I actually do know a couple enthusiasts that work at PC Club stores, so I agree that the local support should be good. I wish I had some place like PC Club close by my house, as other than ordering online my only options are an overpriced brick-and-mortar store down the street, or I can try my luck at Best Buy. Needless to say, nearly all of my purchases come from web sites.giantpandaman2 - Wednesday, August 30, 2006 - link
Thankfully I'm in Bellevue. I can go anywhere. :Pyyrkoon - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - link
I own a Vewsonic VA1912wb 19" widscreen monitor, and its a great monitor, however, its also rated @ 8ms, not 5ms listed in your review (I know what Viewsonics webpage says, but according to my box, manual, and newegg, this is incorrect) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82.... Perhaps Viewsonic has since reworked this part, but In my opinion, that would call for a new part # ?As for the Pre-built system, interresting choice of motherboards, they frown on OC'n, yet they offer the best OCable motherboard for the C2D ? You would think, they would have picked something a bit more stable like the ABIT AB9 Pro or something . . .