Status report - Cube upgrades

[J.C. Webber III]

I just wanted to share with the list my experiences upgrading my Cube.
I started with a single 450Mhz CPU, ATI 128 Rage, 5400RPM 20Gig drive, 
and 640MB memory.

I benchmarked this configuration using Xbench 20 (http://xbench.com)
and got an overall score of 47.26.

First I upgraded the disk to an 80Gig 7200RPM Maxtor and my score jumped
to a 57.24.

Next I upgraded the CPU to a PowerLogic 1.2Gig and my score leaped to
an incredable 105.87!  The 10th highest score out of 432 machines that
have submitted benchmarks.  I'm one happy camper (ahhh, make that cuber).

I got curious what configuration most of the folks had that were still
beating me in the benchmark, so I took a look at their benchmark
configurations and it looks like most of them have a better graphics
card and/or more memory.  So, a new graphics card is my next move.  I'm
going to start out with the GF2MX, but I'm keeping an eye out for an ATI
Radeon, cause it looks like it is better at the higher resolutions (and
I've got a 22" Cinema display, so I like to use high res whenever
possible).

Just a note about the CPU upgrade; the job went as smooth as it did
thanks to the DVD PowerLogic supplied laying out the step-by-step
proceedure.  I only had one problem and that was connecting the fan
power connector to the power board.  It's a TINY little connector and
even with my glasses on and a good flashlight, I still had problems
figuring out the proper orientation.  And even then, it would not
plug in smoothly.  I had to force it and ended up with the wires
popping out of the connector.  I grabbed some tweezers and forced them
back in and tried pushing on the connector again.  It finally went
on and the wires stayed in place, but I'm still not sure if they're
actually making contact.  I don't hear anything from my cube and
I don't feel much air coming out of the top, but it's not getting
*too* hot, so I think it's probably making contact ok.  But I don't
think I'll feel really comfortable about it until I can verify that
the fan is actually working.  Maybe I'll have to put power to it
while it's apart so I can see the fan turn.  Oh well....the amazing
thing to me was it fired right up first try.  Isn't it great when
things work out that way.

Keep your eyes on the Xbench scores for Cubes.  I'll be posting
again as soon as I install the new graphics card.  I hope to climb
my way to the top of the list 8^).

Later....
-- 
J.C. Webber III       
Technical Lead, Unix System Administrator, Apple Computers
jcw at apple.com (work) jcw at kingoblio.com (home) www.kingoblio.com