On 22 Dec 2001, I purchased a brand new computer which I custom-designed to my specifications.
	It is based on the AMD Athlon XP processor which is much faster and cheaper than the equivalent Intel Pentium 4 CPU. I also used a motherboard based on the new nVidia nForce chipset, which integrates sound, video and network all-in-one. The audio supports 3D surround sound and has a digital S/PDIF output The video is a GeForce2 MX 256-bit 3D accelerator with 2nd-generation T&L engine The network is a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet
	The system costs me RM2595. If I include the KVM switch, then it is RM2700. (The KVM switch allows me to share back my old monitor, keyboard and mouse.)

 

This is what I bought:   Motherboard:    MSI K7N420 Pro (nVidia nForce chipset)    RM 525 Processor:      AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (1.5GHz)              RM 865 Memory:         512MB Kingston PC2100 DDR (2 x 256MB)     RM 490 CPU Fan:        Thermaltake Dragon Orb 3 7000rpm          RM 70 Harddisk:       Maxtor 40.9GB 7200rpm                     RM 355 CD-ROM:         Sony 52x IDE                              RM 95 Floppy:         Sony 1.44MB                               RM 35 Case:           iCute 350W ATX Tower                      RM 160 Others:         KVM Switch 2-to-1, incl. cables           RM 105

This is what it looks like:

 

This is how it performs: I rendered a scene from the Toys and Roof Top Mayhem project using Animation Master 2000 v8.5L and compared it with my older PC which is a Pentium II 450MHz 128MB RAM. (See Jason McAlpin's Render Times.)     Toys Roof Top Mayhem   Frame #0 Frame #1 Frame #63 Old PC (Win98SE) 4.34 secs. 4.05 secs. 4.52 secs. New PC (Win2000Pro) 1.00 secs. 0.56 secs. 1.27 secs. Difference 4.56x 4.37x 3.35x   I also did a Display Speed test as done by Michael Comeaux. This was done using the Circus project.     #wireframe #shaded lowest #shaded highest Old PC (D3D v6) 7.4 fps 2.7 fps 5.7 spf New PC (OpenGL) 31.8 fps 20.8 fps 1.7 spf Difference 4.30x 7.7x 3.35x   Gosh! My new PC is more than 4 times faster! Not to mention that it costs almost 4 times cheaper!! I love it! Below are test results produced using Sisoft Sandra v.2002   Old PC System Summary Graphic Results New PC System Summary Graphic Results