YoYoTech Intel Spartan 300 Gaming System
External Appearance & Internal Specs
Published: 30th July 2008 | Source: YoYoTech | Price: £500 |
External Appearance
Based around the Antec Three Hundred case, the Spartan 300 immediately earns points for avoiding the usual flimsy generic "gaming" cases that often look like they've been beaten with an ugly stick. Although no mofidications have been made to the case, we need to remember that this is all about gaming on a budget, and as such the glitz and glamour of windowed side panels, UV lighting and LED fans has all been omitted.
For those who haven't come across the Antec Three Hundred before, the case can accept a total of four 120mm fans (two front, one side, one back) and a single 140mm fan in the roof. Out of these five positions, only two fans have been installed (rear 120mm / top 140mm). The case is very much similar in appearance to its bigger brother - the "Nine Hundred", but whereas the Nine Hundred can accept a total of nine 5.25" optical drives, the "Three Hundred" can only accept three (surprisingly!).
Around the back of the case it was quite surprising to see both serial and parallel ports on the motherboard blanking plate. Considering that both of these connectivity methods haven't been used on any consumer equipment for more than 5 years now, it would have been more favourable for YoYoTech to pick a motherboard that features more modern connectivity options such as IEE1394 or eSATA.
Internal Specs
When building a budget machine for a specific purpose such as gaming, it's often easy to put all of the money into one single area (for example a top-end graphics card) and neglect other important components of the system such as the CPU, Motherboard and Hard Disks. This creates a situation where one area of the system is bottlenecked and the performance of the PC as a whole suffers. With a limited budget of £500 it could be very easy for YoYoTech to fall into this trap, so let's check out the specs:
System Specs
• Antec Three Hundred PC Case
• Antec Basiq 550w Power Supply
• MSI P43 Neo-F Motherboard
• Sapphire 4850 512Mb DDR3 Graphics Card
• Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53Ghz @ ~3.5Ghz
• Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
• OCZ Reaper 2GB Kit (2x1GB) - DDR2 1066Mhz - PC8500 - 5-5-5-15
• Samsung Spinpoint 320GB SATAII Hard Drive
• Samsung 20x DVD Rewriter
• Onboard Sound
• Antec Three Hundred PC Case
• Antec Basiq 550w Power Supply
• MSI P43 Neo-F Motherboard
• Sapphire 4850 512Mb DDR3 Graphics Card
• Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53Ghz @ ~3.5Ghz
• Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
• OCZ Reaper 2GB Kit (2x1GB) - DDR2 1066Mhz - PC8500 - 5-5-5-15
• Samsung Spinpoint 320GB SATAII Hard Drive
• Samsung 20x DVD Rewriter
• Onboard Sound
In all honesty, the configuration of the Spartan 300 is pretty much spot-on. An MSI motherboard featuring Intel's latest P43 chipset along with a highly overclockable Core2Duo E7200 has been used as the base of the system, with a Radeon 4850 512mb serving up ample graphics power. OCZ's high performance "Reaper" PC2-8500 memory kit also makes an appearance in place of the generic branded memory used by most system integrators, which will undoubtedly help when overclocking.
The overall system build is clean and professional with a fair amount of attention being paid to cable routing and bundling. The PSU has also received a fair share of the system funds with a modular Antec Basiq 550w unit providing stable power to the components while also having plenty left over for future system upgrades. Also pictured above-right is the Samsung HD320KJ 320gb hard disk used in the build, which should be more than enough capacity for the average gamer.
As a side note, our system didn't come with any spares or accessories. While this doesn't bother us too much, those who may want to add additional hard disks or other components in the future will most certainly be needing the other modular cables provided with the PSU and any accessories included with the Motherboard.
One final observation was that all fans inside the Spartan 300 had been set to low speed. This certainly helped keep the noise of the system down to acceptable levels when using the system for both gaming and typing up parts of this review, but we'd be lying if we said the system was suitable for those seeking near-total silence from their next PC.
Most Recent Comments
I`ll open by being brutally honest in that I`ve never forgiven YoYoTech for advertizing the IX38-MAX, and it of course not making the shops 
However, great review Jim, and I have equally be honest that if some1 came to me with the story we all get "can u build me a pc" - for £500, I`d point them at this. Jim had to technicalities.. but here`s the beauty about it - the person who bought it wouldn`t be on my phone all the time with an issue
That my friends is priceless.
Once going and benching is pretty darn decent, and there`s a fair bit of expansion u can add to it in the future - which is the downfall of most pre-made systems.
Good stuff.
http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/demos/Imag...-animation.gif
However, great review Jim, and I have equally be honest that if some1 came to me with the story we all get "can u build me a pc" - for £500, I`d point them at this. Jim had to technicalities.. but here`s the beauty about it - the person who bought it wouldn`t be on my phone all the time with an issue
That my friends is priceless.Once going and benching is pretty darn decent, and there`s a fair bit of expansion u can add to it in the future - which is the downfall of most pre-made systems.
Good stuff.
http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/demos/Imag...-animation.gif
Cracking VFM, shame about the slight issues. Still, they've stretched £500 a long way
Several times you mention the mobo as a P45 chipset but it's not, it's a P43.
Rumour has it that P43 has been constrained to ~400fsb (way down on P45) for overclocking which I would love you to test if you still have the system.
Rumour has it that P43 has been constrained to ~400fsb (way down on P45) for overclocking which I would love you to test if you still have the system.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='BUFF'
Several times you mention the mobo as a P45 chipset but it's not, it's a P43.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by name='BUFF'
Several times you mention the mobo as a P45 chipset but it's not, it's a P43.
Rumour has it that P43 has been constrained to ~400fsb (way down on P45) for overclocking which I would love you to test if you still have the system. |
If you check the pics in the review, have a look at the model number printed on the PCB and punch it into Google.
Maybe MSI have done something to it...but to me it looked like a P45 with a sticker on it.
Out of curiosity I went to MSI's site and downloaded the manual for those board. By the looks of it, there are three different boards bearing the model number (P45, P43, and G45). From my reading, the P43 is essentially the same chip as the P45, just with a few features disabled (only 1 x16 PCI-E, weaker official memory support). Possibly low-binned P45's. The G45 is just a P45 with an integrated graphics solution. So I suppose you could look at this board as being a lower-binned, feature-capped P45 board
Thats really strange how they gave you an ES chip :S
Pretty cool if they gave everyone one though
Pretty cool if they gave everyone one though
Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='Jim'
From what I've been told the board that was used in that system is actually a P45 board and MSI have just changed the sticker on it to read P43 so that they can sell it at a lower price.
If you check the pics in the review, have a look at the model number printed on the PCB and punch it into Google. Maybe MSI have done something to it...but to me it looked like a P45 with a sticker on it. |
This is by far the best budget gaming setup someone possible could get right now. The arctic cooler is great. Very nice choice of components.
£35 for them to build it, overclock and RTB warranty!!!! GREAT VFM!!!
1.445v Vcore !! ouch. I thought the 45nm chips were failing at voltage close to that. Seems a bit steep for Yoyotech to get stability?? Intel spec VID up to 1.365v. Very risky imo.
Great review. And hope this pc sells like hot cakes. It is miles infront of other system builders in terms of value!!
£35 for them to build it, overclock and RTB warranty!!!! GREAT VFM!!!
1.445v Vcore !! ouch. I thought the 45nm chips were failing at voltage close to that. Seems a bit steep for Yoyotech to get stability?? Intel spec VID up to 1.365v. Very risky imo.
Great review. And hope this pc sells like hot cakes. It is miles infront of other system builders in terms of value!!
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YoYoTech Intel Spartan 300 Gaming System