Darren Yates provides provides detailed benchmark results and manufacturers' specifications for his PC feature in this month's PC User magazine.
As well as making our own qualitative assessments on the PCs based on years of experience, we used two benchmarking suites in our $1 million ACP Labs facility to objectively test the performance of the PCs. Here are the results:
Winstone 97 results |
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| Business Winstone 97 | Database | Desktop Publishing | Word processing/ spreadsheets | |
| Computers Direct Australia Multimedia Plus |
43.2 | 4.12 | 4.86 | 4.18 |
| Computers Direct Australia Multimedia Pro |
47 | 4.57 | 4.97 | 4.63 |
| Dick Smith Electronics P200-MMX | 34.2 | 3.44 | 3.39 | 3.42 |
| MiTAC Pentium II | 46.1 | 4.7 | 5.03 | 4.41 |
| Gateway 2000 GP6-233 | 48.4 | 4.96 | 5.05 | 4.71 |
| Dell OptiPlex Gn+ | 43.5 | 4.39 | 4.83 | 4.15 |
| IBM Aptiva S | 51.1 | 5.86 | 5.32 | 4.81 |
| Dell Dimension XPSD300 | 56.4 | 5.78 | 6.33 | 5.32 |
| Notes: The higher the number, the better the performance. Winstone 97 is a `real world' benchmark suite. The Business test, for example, runs eight top-selling business applications. The word processors and spreadsheets include: Microsoft Word 97, Microsoft Excel 7.0, Lotus WordPro 96. Graphics and desktop-publishing applications: Adobe PageMaker 6.0, CorelDraw 6.0, Microsoft Powerpoint 7.0. Databases: Microsoft Access 7.0, Borland Paradox 7.0. Business Winstone 97 scores are a weighted average of the database, desktop publishing and word processing/spreadsheet scores multiplied by ten. The three individual scores represent the speed factor over a 486DX2-66MHz desktop PC under database, DTP and word processing/spreadsheet applications. Note: Winstone and WinBench are registered trademarks of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company of the United States. These tests were performed without independent verification by Ziff-Davis and Ziff-Davis makes no representations or warranties as to the results of the tests. |
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Winbench 97 benchmark results |
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| Business Disk Winmark 97 | CD-ROM Winmark 97 | CPUmark-16 | CPUmark-32 | Business Graphics Winmark 97 | |
| Computers Direct Australia Multimedia Plus | 931 | 1340 | 383 | 452 | 79.9 |
| Computers Direct Australia Multimedia Pro | 964 | 1010 | 451 | 591 | 132 |
| Dick Smith Electronics P200-MMX | 750 | 1100 | 384 | 366 | 51.8 |
| MiTAC Pentium II | 770 | 1060 | 452 | 593 | 84.3 |
| Gateway 2000 GP6-233 | 947 | 1340 | 446 | 590 | 114 |
| Dell OptiPlex Gn+ | 985 | 1310 | 394 | 374 | 76.9 |
| IBM Aptiva S | 974 | 772 | 445 | 582 | 108 |
| Dell Dimension XPSD300 | 1110 | 1310 | 562 | 727 | 139 |
| Notes: The higher the number, the better the performance. WinBench 97 is a low-level benchmark suite that tests the key individual components of the PC: Business Disk Winmark is an average data transfer score of the hard disk dirve in KB/second. CD-ROM Winmark is an average data transfer score of the CD-ROM drive in KB/second. CPUmark-16 and -32 scores reflect the processor's ability at processing set 16- and 32-bit instructions. Business Graphics Winmark reflects the graphics card ability to process graphics data. Data tested from memory only. Note: Winstone and WinBench are registered trademarks of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company of the United States. These tests were performed without independent verification by Ziff-Davis and Ziff-Davis makes no representations or warranties as to the results of the tests. |
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Computers Direct Australia MultiMedia Plus
Processor: AMD 200MHz K6
Screen: NEC 15-inch C500 monitor
RAM: 32MB SDRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst
Hard Disk Drive: 2.1GB EIDE Quantum Stratus
Graphics: Matrox Millennium II with 4Mb WRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 33.6Kbps Dynalink internal fax/data/voice
CD-ROM drive: 24X speed Panasonic
Sound card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 (PnP)
Speakers: 240W stereo
Software: Lotus SmartSuite 97, Windows 95
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: three-years on-site
Price: $1999 inc. tax.
From: Computers Direct Australia, phone (02) 9967 3488
Computers Direct Australia MultiMedia Pro
Processor: Intel 233MHz Pentium II
Screen: NEC 15-inch C500 monitor
RAM: 32MB SDRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst with LX chipset
Hard Disk Drive: 3.2GB EIDE Quantum Stratus
Graphics: Diamond Viper 330 (AGP) with 4Mb SGRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 56Kbps Dynalink internal fax/data/voice
CD-ROM drive: 2X speed Hitachi DVD-ROM drive
Sound card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64 (PnP)
Speakers: Jaz 300W stereo
Software: Lotus SmartSuite 97, Windows 95
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: three-years on-site
Price: $1999 inc. tax.
From: Computers Direct Australia, phone (02) 9967 3488
Dick Smith Electronics DSX P-200MMX
Processor: Intel 200MHz Pentium-MMX
Screen: MiTAC L1564FS 15-inch monitor
RAM: 16MB SDRAM
L2 cache: 256KB pipelined burst
Hard Disk Drive: 2.6GB EIDE Quantum Stratus
Graphics: S3 Trio64V2 with 1Mb SGRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 33.6Kbps internal fax/data
CD-ROM drive: 24X speed LiteOn Corp. drive
Sound card: ESS1869 sound system (PnP)
Speakers: none
Software: Windows 95, Microsoft Value Pack
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: 12-months return-to-base (RTB)
Price: $1999 inc. tax.
From: Dick Smith Electronics, phone (02) 9937 3200
MiTAC Pentium II
Processor: Intel 233MHz Pentium II
Screen: MiTAC L1564FS 15-inch monitor
RAM: 32MB DRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst with FX chipset
Hard Disk Drive: 3.2GB EIDE
Graphics: Virge PCI with 2Mb DRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 33.6Kbps internal fax/data
CD-ROM drive: 24X speed LiteOn LTN202 drive
Sound card: ES1869 sound system
Speakers: none
Software: Lotus SmartSuite 97, Windows 95, Microsoft Value Pack
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: 12-months return-to-base (RTB)
Price: $2999 inc. tax.
From: Dick Smith Electronics, phone (02) 9937 3200
Gateway 2000 GP6-233
Processor: Intel 233MHz Pentium II
Screen: CrystalScan 15-inch monitor
RAM: 32MB SDRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst with LX chipset
Hard Disk Drive: 2.1GB EIDE
Graphics: 128-bit STB Velocity (AGP) with 4Mb SGRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 56Kbps internal fax/data/voice (x2 technology)
CD-ROM drive: 32X maximum speed drive
Sound card: Ensoniq AudioPCI (PnP)
Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS41 speakers
Software: Windows 95, Microsoft Office 97, Small Business Edition
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: 12-months
Price: $2999 inc. tax.
From: Gateway 2000, phone 1800 061 813
Dell OptiPlex Gn+
Processor: Intel 200MHz Pentium-MMX
Screen: Sony 15-inch Trinitron monitor
RAM: 32MB SDRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst
Hard Disk Drive: 1.5GB EIDE Quantum Fireball ST
Graphics: S3 Trio64V2 with 2Mb DRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 33.6Kbps US Robotics Sportster internal fax/data
CD-ROM drive: 24X speed NEC drive
Sound card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 (PnP)
Speakers: Altec Lansing LCS490 stereo
Software: Windows 95, Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: three-years
Price: $2999 inc. tax.
From: Dell Computer, phone 1800 812 393
IBM Aptiva S
Processor: Intel 233MHz Pentium II
Screen: IBM 15-inch monitor
RAM: 32MB DRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst
Hard Disk Drive: 4.2Gb EIDE
Graphics: ATI Rage Pro with 2Mb SGRAM (upgradable to 4Mb)
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 33.6Kbps internal fax/data/voice (upgradable to 56K)
CD-ROM drive: 2X speed Hitachi GD-2000 DVD-ROM
Sound card: Crystal CS4610 PCI audio
Speakers: Bose Accoustimass
Software: Lotus SmartSuite 97, Windows 95
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: one year limited on-site
Price: $4499 inc. tax.
From: IBM Australia, phone 132 426
Dell Dimension XPSD300
Processor: Intel 300MHz Pentium II
Screen: Samsung 17-inch monitor
RAM: 64MB SDRAM
L2 cache: 512KB pipelined burst with LX chipset
Hard Disk Drive: 8.4GB EIDE
Graphics: 128-bit STB Velocity (AGP) with 4Mb SGRAM
Ports: serial (2), parallel printer (1), mouse, keyboard
Modem: 56Kbps internal fax/data/voice
CD-ROM drive: 32X speed max NEC drive
Sound card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE64 (PnP)
Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS490
Software: Microsoft Office 97 Small Business Edition, Windows 95
Bundled Printer: No
Warranty: one year
Price: $4999 inc. tax.
From: Dell Computer, phone 1800 812 393