Is France the land of DOOM III?

IT IS possible to play DOOM III on a Geforce 4 MX apparently but I guess the result would be similar to running Windows XP on a 486 computer. The impetus behind looking to build a DOOM III rig using both a 64 bit AMD Athlon Processor and a Geforce 6800 GPU comes from various tests online which have determined that those two components were literally meant to play DOOM III. Due to its onboard controller and large cache, the Athlon 64 is the ideal CPU match while the Geforce 6800 has been designed at hardware level for DOOM.

In France, a no-name Geforce 6800 is available at ruemontgallet.com for €329. There is strictly no information on the card except the usual specs - 128MB DDR memory, TV Out and DVI. No photos and no core/memory speed information. An AMD Athlon 2800+ costs less than a Sempron 3100+. So, the choice is made easier as the former runs at the same speed - 1800Mhz - as the latter and features more cache and better performance. It is available as a boxed version for €145 at ruemontgallet.com. The platform used to build the computer will be based on an Asrock motherboard, the K8S8X available at top-achat for €83.

It has two DIMM memory slots and like most entry level socket 754 motherboards, is based on the SIS755 chipset. Additionally, it features two IDE ports and two Serial ATA 150 ports - supporting RAID 0/1/JBOD as well as five PCI slots, one AGP slot, eight USB 2.0 ports via Asrock Own I/O panel, a Realtek ALC658 sound chipset and a 10/100 Realtek Ethernet Chipset. Additionally, it features some Asrock proprietary features to enhance your overclocking experience like the Asrock Universal CPU Overheating, Hybrid booster which includes CPU frequency Stepless control and Boot failure guard . The latest BIOS supports the Sempron 3100+ as well as additional capabilities for CPU and Voltage modifications. Overall it is a good product capable of fairly good overclocking well-built.

For memory, two no-name PC3200 DDR400 memory sticks each of 512MB are chosen from rue-montgallet.com. No information about their CAS Latency but they probably come from Hynix or similiar tier-2 memory manufacturers. At €146 for a Giga, it seems to be a fairly good buy.

BTC is known mainly for cheap OEM hardware. The DRW-1008 OEM is the cheapest DVD writer in France. It does not mean that it is a laggard. Even though it is an OEM model, it still pack a lot of performance for the price. It is a 8x4x DVD+/-R burner with excellent CD-R burning and DVD/CD reading. It also has a 2MB cache buffer as well as an acess time hovering around 100ms. At €59, less than £35+VAT, you surely can't go wrong with its price. 5400rpm hard disks are no longer sufficient for modern applications. A 80GB 7200rpm hard disk from Maxtor is available for €51.50 from Multe-pass.fr. The DiamondMax Plus9 still connects via the IDE ATA133 and has a 2MB buffer memory combined with an access time of 8.5ms.

If you want to get a real time back up, then add a second one in RAID-1. A 8MB cache version is available for slightly more than €60 making it ideal for memory intensive applications like DOOM III. For once, we will use a 5.1 sound card instead of the usual 7.1 setup to save some monnies. The Fusion Flash FC-S8738 is as cheap as chips and features a CMI 8738 with 5.1 support. Going onboard would not be an option since it would consume some of our precious resources. The card costs a cheap €9.95 at LDLC.fr. The speakers used would be the Hercules XPS 510 classic which differs from the non classic version by its smaller nominal output value. With five 3.5w RMS satellites and one 12w subwoofer, it should suffice to wake up your flatmates with cries of pain and dying monsters. €38 at Rue Montgallet.

For the casing, the Heden B9202L1 which has a 400W PSU, enough for your power hungry G6800. In addition it has four 5.25" bays and two 3.5" bays, all external. Two front USB2.0 as well as two audio ports complement what is otherwise a bland product, made blander by its white neutral colour. Some modding would be welcomed here. It costs €27.40 at rue-montgallet. Keyboard and mouse are always the most important gaming devices. You might have the best graphic card around but combine it with a slightly handicapped ball mouse and you've got your ticket to DOOM III hell. The Logitech Desktop set featuring a multimedia Wireless Keyboard and a Wireless Mouse. Even in OEM version it is outstanding value for €37 from rue-montgallet. The keyboard is white as is the three-button mouse. Even though there is no red light, it seems to be perfect to play as per reviews of this bundle.

Where would you be without your screen? On ebay, a 19-inch Professional Philips monitor, the Brillance 109MP. It features a 0.26mm dot pitch, integrated speakers, one D-Sub and one BNC connection as well as Crystal Clrear and Super High Contrast technologies. It supports up to 1600x1200 resolutions and should be more than enough for watching your DOOM III adventures. Also at €58 on ebay.fr, it is almost as cheap as chips.

So, for less than €1000, get yourself a fully configured 64-bit PC with a 19" monitor, a Geforce 6800 graphic card, an Athlon 2800+ CPU, one GiG memory and a DVD Writer.A similar configuration from Dell.fr will cost you more than €1600. That is quite a lot. µ