First post, by squareguy
- Rank
- Oldbie
HP DC7900
Product Specifications
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01549447.pdf
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetDocument.aspx … cname=c04287292
FYI THESE THINGS ARE PROPRIETARY, PROCEED WITH THAT IN MIND.
These things are cheap and available and here are a few highlights. There are 3 different models. A Small Form Factor (SFF), a Convertible Minitower (CMT) and an Ultra-slim Form Factor (USFF). Do NOT get an USFF because these things are not upgradable and only have a 135-Watt PSU. The CMT is the most desirable of the 3 models with a 365-Watt PSU, support 75-Watts to PCI-e slot and have the most room inside. I have a couple CMT’s and SFF’s that I use daily and really like them.
I am going to focus on a budget build for a SFF DC7900 with 4GB DDR2, E8400 CPU (Core2 Duo 3.0-GHz), an upgraded video card and Windows XP SP2. Why? Well because they are small, usually cheap and are more of a challenge (which I like) due to one main issue. The PCI-e x16 slot only provides 35-Watts officially. Yes a CMT would be much more flexible, keep that in mind.
These things make easy Hackintoshes and that is how I found out about them a few years ago but we will not be covering that other than to talk about video cards. The best video card I could find that met the three main requirements (<35-Watt, low-profile and supported by Mac OS) was the Nvidia GT635 OEM graphics card which was a slightly faster GT630 Rev 2 (GK208 variant). A newer card from Nvidia is a much better choice now. It is actually the same card, only upgraded. Both use the GK208 GPU but this one has been upgraded to DDR5 for a massive increase in memory bandwidth. Meet the Nvidia GeForce GT730 version 3 (the one with the DDR5) with a maximum TDP of 38-Watts.
So what does the GT730 card offer? 7.22 gigapixels/second, 14.4 gigatextures/second and 40 gigabytes/second bandwidth. This is a serious upgrade from only 16 gigabytes/second memory bandwidth of the GT635 OEM card. GigaFLOPS and newer abilities aside (so just fill rates and bandwidth), that puts it on par with a 7900GT. Basically all Nvidia did with this card was to take a GeForce GT640 Rev 2 (GK208) DDR5 card, lower the core clock by about 150-MHz (reducing the TDP from 49-Watts to 38-Watts) and slap a new label on it.
Nvidia is so bad about confusion. Jim says, “Hey I just got a GT640!” Bill says, “Which one?” Jim says, “I don’t know but it’s a GT640.” Bill says, “It might be good, or it might suck.” Jim says, “F Nvidia, this is confusing.” I agree with Jim.
Now for audio. Either use the onboard sound, the GT730 HDMI audio, or you can install a low-profile PCI-e or PCI sound card. I guess you could even use a USB 2.0 external sound card but I never was a fan of those.
If I were to build a DC7900 CMT, I think I would choose a GTX750. Make sure to get a single slot card though because of the board layout and the fact that it is BTX. I have put a GTX750 in one before and I can say that the ASUS single slot card fits just fine.
Ok, enough rambling. I have an unused DC7900 SFF sitting right here with a GT635 OEM card in it. What benchmarks would you like to see, ones that might be useful? I will try to get a GT730 card soon as an upgrade for this box and then do a comparison of the benchmarks.
Gateway 2000 Case and 200-Watt PSU
Intel SE440BX-2 Motherboard
Intel Pentium III 450 CPU
Micron 384MB SDRAM (3x128)
Compaq Voodoo3 3500 TV Graphics Card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
Western Digital 7200-RPM, 8MB-Cache, 160GB Hard Drive
Windows 98 SE