MASTER-EGG v2.0

The time draws near people. The MASTER-EGG will soon upgrade to Version 2.0.

Let's discuss these specs and perhaps how they can be improved. Don't hate on the Pentium EE 3.73 Dual Core if your an AMD fan - it's proven itself in benchmarks to be the top performance processor.

well well well ... i hope after ur done with ur new computer... u can actually run step mainia... since ur video card over heats... well good luck with comeing up with all the money for that stuff

Yesterday I did some research and found some motherboards that would support up to 16GB of memory, with 6 DIMM slots, and room for two processors. I considered getting two dual-core Intel Xeon 3.73GHz processors w/ 4MB L2 Cache each, because with 6GB of RAM I figured this would blow anything away.

Then I realized that having two processors non-LGA775 would make it impossible to cool even one of them with a Vapochill LS, thus the MASTER-EGG would most likely still have cooling problems. In addition I noticed that Workstation boards supporting Xeon processors do not have PCI-Express x16, completely destroying a plot to do some Crossfire.

As a result, I nixed the idea to switch to Xeon processors and server/workstation boards. Before I made this decision, however, I checked to make sure ATI didn't produce PCI-X or PCI-E x8/x4 versions of the FireGL V7350.

Upon checking this I discovered that the ATI FireGL V7350 might not be Crossfire-ready, so I read some reviews of the V7350, which noted that although it sported more memory (1 GB) the Radeon X1900 still performed better. I instantly checked the Radeon X1900, which performs between 2 and 3 times better than the MASTER-EGG's current Radeon X850 XT, and found that the X1900 did in fact also have a Crossfire model.

I double-checked my motherboard choice to find that it supported Crossfire (makes sense that it would wield dual PCI-E x16), and after all this research found that the projected up-front cost of MASTER-EGG 2.0 could be reduced by 20-25%.

Since the funding for MASTER-EGG v2.0 has been halted, I have been looking for cheaper computer parts distributors. While overall I have made a 25% cost decrease, I decided to look up some benchmarks for the Intel's Dual Core 3.73GHz Extreme Edition to back up my Intel vs AMD rant earlier.

I had seen some Core 2 Duos for sale as well, but the low clock speeds 1.86 - 2.93GHz turned me off completely. The Celeron version of Pentium D, I assumed.

I was so wrong. Previously codenamed Conroe, the Core 2 Duos sport a new architecture with fewer pipelines, allowing the Intel processor to run cooler and more efficiently at lower clock speeds. The heating problems experienced with MASTER-EGG currently were side-effects of poor architecture with the Prescott Pentium 4 design.

After reading through the benchmarks I discovered 2 things. Core 2 Duo processors completely blow AMD out of the water. Intel is in the lead again with processors way outperforming anything previously on the market (including my prospected 965 EE). The second thing I discovered is that Core 2 Duo is the same price as and cheaper than its overheating and much slower Pentium 4 comrade.

Read the HEXUS.net review here. Intel cockslaps AMD.

I have updated the specs at the top to match the new changes.

Mr. T recently suggested to me that MASTER-EGG v2.0 and likewise spec'd EGGs from the builder be lovingly named the DEATH EGG.

I like it. Upon completion of v2.0, we will have a christening party and celebrate all the glory of the DEATH EGG.

To bring everyone up to speed, absolutely no progress has been made on DEATH-EGG since August. Due to financial difficulties, further progress has been delayed until January.

As of now, only the housing and displays for DEATH-EGG have been acquired.

Keep an eye on the % meter on the Donations page (Make a Donation), to see exactly what our financial progress is towards these system upgrades whenever we announce newly acquired parts.

By the way, just so the lurkers don't think it was never completed, the Death Egg was born (or should I say, hatched? or laid?) in October 2007. And play Step Mania? It can. Very well. It beat a dead person five times.

Haha. Reference.