AMD Place - The Tower Of Power

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::Project History::

The "AMD Tower of Power" was not created over-night. It took several months of planning and component price watching to decide upon adequate system configurations (not to mention many sleepless nights and hundreds of Coke cans). Ever since it's inception in 1997, the "AMD Tower of Power" has changed all of its' internal components at least once and has been in active service as my primary computer system.

The following is a detailed chronicle of the "AMD Tower of Power," from its' inception date in 1996 up to the current system configuration.

1996 - A Time of Enlightenment:

		Sitting at home on my Pentium 166 computer typing up a document in Microsoft Word 95, I am struck by an idea; "why don't I build my own PC that I can upgrade instead of going out and purchasing a brand new machine every 2 years?" Thus born is the idea of constructing a PC myself. Unfortunately, during this time, there are only a handful of computer retailers around and the prices for computer components are astronomical. Although it seemed like a great idea at the time, I couldn't afford to perform this type of a project right now. I took the idea and placed it on the "back burner" of my mind, where it would sit for what would seem like an eternity.

1997 - The Vision Is Rekindled:

		After running to the local conveinence store and buying the newest Windows Magazine, I was reading through the August issue and saw an article on this new fangled operating system from Microsoft called "Memphis." Now, this kind of caught my eye, since I remember the codename for the Windows 95 project was Chicago. If Microsoft was sticking to the "city names as code names" philosophy, then this could very well be the next Windows OS. After thoroughly reading the article, it came to my attention that there was going to be no way in hell that my good ol' Pentium system was going to be able to tackle this OS without seriously choking. I had to think of a way to increase my system performance. Then, it hit me. For more than 18 months, the idea of building my own computer system had been on the "back burner" of my mind. Sure, I would think about it every now and then, but for the most part, I just didn't think it was the right time to start to build one. However, with the announcement of Microsoft "Memphis," I finally realized that in order to fully utilize this new operating system, I knew that I would need a new computer system. Now, I could have gone out and purchased a new pre-built system from any of the major retailors, such as Dell, Compaq, NEC, Zeos, IBM and Gateway 2000, but from the bad experiences passed on to me from my friends, I knew that that was no longer an option. I wanted something that wasn't going to be obsolete in the next 12 months and wouldn't have to go back for warranty work because of crappy workmanship. The time was right to start planning for my very first home-built PC. After logging onto CompuServe and checking out the forums on Custom PC Building, I realize that I was not the only one throwing around the idea of constructing my own home-built PC. Many others before me had taken it upon themselves to construct a PC of their own and were quite helpful in assisting a n00b system builder like me. In August of 1997, I had finally decided upon the system configuration to create my first AMD Tower of Power (at least for the time). With an AMD K6 233 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 4.3 GB Hard Disk and a Diamond-based Riva 128 4 MB Video Card, the tower was finally coming together. Now yes, I can hear everyone snickering in the background, but at that point in time, this system was killer! I could turn hundreds of Quake 2 players into meaty chunks without the "AMD Tower of Power" even showing the slightest signs of fatigue.

1998 - The Tower Is Shaken, But Not Stirred:

		The current "AMD Tower of Power" (the aforementioned K6 233 system) was humming along quite nicely, running Windows 95 and was able to handle pretty much everything that I could throw at it (Photoshop, Visual Studio and Gaming). However, that all changed on June 26, 1998. Microsoft "Memphis" had been released and my suspitions were correct; it was a new Windows operating system. Dubbed "Microsoft Windows 98," it finally brought together Microsoft's idea of the integrated desktop and internet. Based upon key technologies in Windows 95 and NT, Windows 98 was a combination of Digital Media, Internet Connectivity and Enhanced Multimedia. After standing in line outside of Future Shop in Ajax, Ontario for nearly 48 hours, I managed to acquire a copy of this new "Windows 98" for the low, low price of $199.99 CDN. Once home, I ripped off the packaging and proceeded to read the manual. "Wow" I thought, this new operating system sounds a hell of a lot better than Windows 95. I couldn't resist it anymore and I formatted the "AMD Tower of Power" and proceeded to install and experience the world of "Windows 98." What a surprise I was in for. :) About 45 minutes later that evening, I had successfully installed Windows 98 (or so I believed). I was on the final restart of the system (you know, when it displays that "Starting Windows 98 For The First Time" screen) when I get a nice error.... OHH! I love "VFAT Initialization Error" blue screens of death when booting up. Scratch one Windows 98 install. Round 2! I had never ever used a Windows 98 Boot Disk prior to this. It came with the package, so I decided to give it a try. Wow! I can actually boot up my system with a disk and still use it like I could use it in the good old days of MS-DOS 5.0. I fired up FDISK and got some sort of message asking me "do you want to enable Large Disk Support?" I had no idea at the time that this new FAT32 file system would make managing my hard disks so much easier! After formatting and restarting, I was ready to tackle this Windows 98 monster yet again. Well, after attempting 13 seperate Windows 98 installations (yes, 13) on the "AMD Tower of Power," I knew something just was not quite right. No matter what I did, I kept getting the "VFAT Initialization Error" blue screen of death each and every time I would get to the "Starting Windows 98 For The First Time" screen. I knew that all of my system hardware was fine, so I "downgraded" back to the FAT16 file system and attempted yet another Windows 98 installation. Presto! I had managed to get the "AMD Tower of Power" to finally take Windows 98 as its' new operating system. Although the hype surrounding this operating system wasn't really justified, I noticed that Windows 98 running on the "AMD Tower of Power" had actually boosted the system's performance. I tested this out with a few rounds of Quake 2. Mmm... smoooooth. However, by the fall of 1998, I did notice that system performance was suffering and that this system no longer was really a "Tower of Power", considering that the AMD K6-2 had been released, running at a whopping 400 MHz. I had to get my hands on one of these babies! November 1998 rolled around and I became infuriated at my system. My friends had all recently gone out and purchased new Pentium II 333 MHz systems and I was completely left in the dust at the local LAN parties, watching my poor AMD K6 233 fail abyssmally when trying to play the latest round of games. It was time to upgrade. After a trip to the local computer store, I had managed to bag an AMD K6-2 400 MHz CPU, 128 MB's of PC100 SDRAM, an Asus P5A Motherboard, a Diamond Viper 550 TNT 16 MB video card and a massive Maxtor 18.2 GB Hard Drive. Doh! They wouldn't fit into my current Desktop AT Case. It was time for the "AMD Tower of Power" to officially take its' true form; Mid-Tower ATX Chassis, here I come. Once I finally had all the parts, I proceeded to disassemble the old "AMD Tower of Power" and began to salvage parts. About 90 minutes later, the new "AMD Tower of Power" had been assembled and was to be put to the test. Would it start up without any problems? What do I do if it lights on fire? These were just some of the questions going through my head at the time. I closed my eyes and pressed the power switch. To my amazement, the system powered up perfectly fine... well.... at least until it asked me to supply a boot disk. This time, my encounter with the FAT32 file system wasn't so bad. Finally I was able to get all of the 18.2 GB's of space under one drive letter. On the first attempt, the Windows 98 installation ran flawlessly. Yes! I could finally show off this new, super-fast system and make roadkill of my friend's Pentium II 333 systems. At the next LAN party, they were in disbelief and shock in how I spent less money upgrading the "AMD Tower of Power" then they spent in purchasing a whole new system, yet the "AMD Tower of Power" was noticably faster. The "AMD Tower of Power" had made its' first comeback.

1999 - The Tower Falters and Meets The K7:

		With the "AMD Tower of Power" restored to its' previous position of the most elite computer, I didn't feel the need at all to upgrade any of the system's components. For the next 6 months, the system performed admirably in most jobs (such as Photoshop, Visual Studio and Gaming). However, I did notice that any time I was using the computer for mundane office work, such as creating documents in Microsoft Word 97 or browsing with Internet Explorer 4.0, the system kept crashing. Now, this could have been attributed to the fact that the system was built upon a some-what unstable Super Socket 7 platform, but in the end it had nothing to do with that. It turned out that the AMD K6-2 400 MHz CPU that I had purchased 8 months ago had some cooling issues (who ever knew the damned thing would be running at 60 C!). I had burnt the damned thing up so much that it was becoming faulty and didn't respond well to office applications. Since there was no warranty of any kind on my CPU, I decided to go and check out what AMD processors were available at the time. After a quick trip to the local computer store, I came home with the newest offering from the AMD K6 line of processors; the AMD K6-3 450. With an additional 256K of Level-2 Cache, this processor was up to 35% faster when compared to an AMD K6-2 processor if the same clock speed. After a 5 minute surgical procedure, the new CPU was installed and the "AMD Tower of Power" was back up and running, kicking more ass when compared to my friend's P2-333 systems. However, that all changed when Intel decided to release the newest edition of their Pentium line; the Pentium III. Initially running at 450 and 500 MHz, these new Pentium III CPU's completely demolished their AMD K6-2 and K6-3 counterparts. I knew (as well as my friend's) that this new CPU would turn the tides on who would have the fastest system at the next LAN party. The "AMD Tower of Power" was in trouble. Serious trouble. As I suspected, the next time we got together at the LAN party, the "AMD Tower of Power" was beaten to a bloody pulp. While attempting to play Quake III Arena, my friend's machine based on the Intel Pentium III 500 and an Nvidia TNT2 video card completely destroyed the "AMD Tower of Power." I knew I could never convert back to the "dark side" of CPU makers (Intel), so I decided to hold off upgrading the "AMD Tower of Power" until I got wind of a new AMD CPU that was under development. This AMD K7 CPU was supposed to run circles around a Pentium III of comparable clock speed, while providing superior overall system performance in all areas of system use; applications and games. Patience is a virtue and mine were tested to the limit. June 23, 1999 proved to be a pivital day in the world of x86 processors. That was the day that AMD announced they had begun to ship their new AMD K7 (now named AMD Athlon) CPU's to system vendors and major retail outlets. I would finally be able to get the "AMD Tower of Power" back into the running. I knew that victory and supremecy would once again be mine! By August 1999, the local computer stores had begun to carry the AMD Athlon CPU's in all their flavours; 650, 600 & 550 MHz. It was time to start planning for the newest edition of the "AMD Tower of Power." After careful consideration and 2 weeks of planning, I decided it was time for yet another trip to the local computer store (yes, they love me there. I'm their largest customer.) Upon return from the local computer store, I had managed to bag the fastest x86 processor available on the planet; the AMD Athlon 650 MHz. Coupled with that was the Asus K7M Slot A Motherboard, another 128 MB's of PC100 SDRAM, dual Maxtor DiamondMax 6800 27.2 GB Hard Disks and a superpowerful NVidia GeForce 256 32 MB video card. It was time for the "AMD Tower of Power" to kick some serious ass. After completely dismantelling the "AMD Tower of Power" based upon the AMD K6-3 450 MHz CPU, I proceeded to salvage whatever parts I could. I managed to salvage the RAM, Sound Card, NIC, Modem, Speakers, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick, 18.2 GB Hard Disk Drive, CD-ROM Drive and Floppy Drive. About 90 minutes later, the new system components were integrated into the Mid-Tower ATX Chassis (along with the salvaged system components). The new "AMD Tower of Power" was born. Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition was installed, along with the newest drivers and a very long list of applications & games. It was time to test out the Quake III performance of the new "AMD Tower of Power." I swear, upto that point in time, I had never seen Quake III Arena look so smooth and run so smooth. Running at a resolution of 1024x768 at 32-bit color with all options turned on, the meaty chunks left from me fragging bots was so thick, your character had to wear boots just to walk through it. I "appropriately" burnt the "AMD Tower of Power" in by playing Quake III Arena for 36 continuous hours (yes, thirty-six). Stability was not a factor, since the system never even crashed once under the tremendous load of Quake III Arena. Right then, I realized that the next LAN party would be mine, all mine once again! Like I had predicted, the next time my friends and I got together at the local LAN parties, I showed them whose system was king. After kicking their asses in Quake III Arena, we decided to challenge eachother to a frag-fest in Unreal Tournament. One of my friends chose to swap out his NVidia TNT2 video card for a Voodoo 3 3500 video card. He figured that if he could run Unreal Tournament in Glide mode (compared to my Direct3D), he may be able to get better video performance. He was dead wrong. The power of the NVidia GeForce 256 SDR completed ripped the Voodoo 3 to shreds. In the end, I won the frag-fest and the "AMD Tower of Power" was back on top. The "AMD Tower of Power" had made its' second comeback.

2000 - Down The Road of Many Megahertz:

		For the next 6 months, the "AMD Tower of Power" reigned as the most powerful computer system that anyone had seen at the local LAN parties. Between upgrades of the video card (from an NVidia GeForce 256 to an NVidia GeForce 2 Ultra) and the CPU (from an AMD Athlon 650 MHz to an AMD Athlon 850 MHz CPU), the "AMD Tower of Power" continued to dominate any computer systems that dared to challenge it. However, with the introduction of the new "Coppermine" edition of Intel's flagship product, the Pentium III, the new AMD Athlon CPU was once again challenged (and beaten). This new version of the Intel Pentium III CPU no longer required a seperate daughtercard and plastic cartridge to encase the L2 cache, since it had been moved onto the CPU die. This allowed for more efficient cooling of the CPU and cheaper manufacturing costs. It also posed a very large threat to the very successful AMD Athlon processor. The "Coppermine" Pentium III was designed around a 0.18 micron process, resulting in the ability for the CPU to reach incredible speeds with less voltage (and consequently less heat). When compared to an AMD Athlon CPU of comparable speed, it showed a very impressive 45% increase in performance. Once again, I realized that the "AMD Tower of Power" would be in trouble if one of my friends were to get their hands on a system powered by one of these new "Coppermine" CPU's. Luckily for me, AMD was thinking exactly the same as I was. Within the next month, AMD had released their fastest CPU ever; The AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz. Even though the price tag on this new CPU was $1199.99 CDN, I couldn't help but feel the need to purchase it. Besides, if my friends had decided to purchase upgrades for their Pentium III systems, I'd still be ahead of them in almost every measurable sense. However, I didn't purchase this new CPU. I had gotten wind from another AMD enthusiast that AMD was working on a new variant of the Athlon. Dubbed the AMD Athlon "Thunderbird," this new variant of the original AMD Athlon core would include the reduction to a 0.18 micron manufacturing process, an integration of 256 KB of on-die Level 2 Cache and it would be packaged into a new 462-pin grid array (dubbed Socket A). For the first few months after introduction, AMD would also manufacture limited quantities of the new AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" in a Slot A configuration which would only be available to system builders and OEM's. Along with some fine-tuning of the CPU die itself, it was rumoured that the new Athlon "Thunderbird" would regain the "fastest x86 processor" title once again. I had to get my hands on one of these "Thunderbird" variants of the AMD Athlon. After calling up a friend of mine who works for a local computer company (whose name will be kept strictly anonymous), I managed to get him to purchase a new AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz "Thunderbird" CPU for me. Immediately, I had him ship the CPU to me. After about 3 weeks, the new CPU had arrived. I was so excited! Finally, a new part for the "AMD Tower of Power" to bring it back to the top. (While I was still using the "AMD Tower of Power" with the AMD Athlon 850 MHz CPU, my friends had taken it upon themselves to go out and purchase the newest Pentium III "Coppermine" available on the market; the Pentium III 1.0 GHz.). Man, would I show them at the next LAN party who was the undisputed leader. Again, after many gruelling hours of Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, StarCraft and Counter-Strike, the "AMD Tower of Power" came out as the undisputed champion of personal computer systems. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Back to the history lesson. :) After 8 months, the "AMD Tower of Power" continued to perform as well as could be expected. I kept throwing every new software package I could think at it, trying to find something that would bring the giant to the ground, but to no avail. The system just took the punishment and continued on its' way. I'm starting to believe that this thing is really indestructable. Unfortunately, Intel decided that they no longer wanted to be considered "second rate" when it came to computer CPU's. On November 20, 2000, Intel released its' newest flagship processor; the Pentium IV. Running at 1.4 and 1.5 GHz, these new bad boys were sure to topple AMD from the top of the CPU ladder. When coupled with Direct RDRAM and the new i850 Chipset series of motherboards, the Pentium IV becamse a serious threat to AMD. It would take almost a full year for AMD to make a comeback with its' newest variant of the AMD Athlon CPU (not to mention leaving the "AMD Tower of Power" at a serious disadvantage when compared to my friends and their new Pentium IV systems).

2001 - Feel The "X"treme "P"erformance of AMD

		Between January 2001 and October 2001, I had upgraded the "AMD Tower of Power" with a few key components, including the swapout of my old Creative Labs AWE64 sound card for a brand new Sound Blaster Live! 5.1, a set of new Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 400W Speakers and a new Samsung 1200NF 22" CRT monitor. On October 9th, 2001, AMD finally released their proposed answer to the Intel Pentium IV; the AMD Athlon XP. This new variant of the original AMD Athlon CPU included a set of 52 new instructions designated "3DNow! Professional Technology," a full 384 KB of full-speed, on-die Level 2 Cache and a new 266 MHz Front Side Bus. Man, this is one serious piece of hardware, designed to chew through anything that you can throw at it. I had to get one of these new processors. I figured it was time for a serious overhaul of the "AMD Tower of Power," since it had been inoperation for 11 months with no major hardware changes. The system had become somewhat obsolete when compared with the newest Pentium IV systems, packing 512 MB's of RDRAM, 21" CRT monitors and 80 GB hard disks. The "AMD Tower of Power" was crying for help, calling out to anyone who would hear it; I answered that call. After a shopping spree at the local computer store, I came home with an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU, 512 MB's of DDR SDRAM (PC2100), an ABit KT7-A Raid Motherboard and a GeForce 3 Ti 500 64 MB video card. After disassembling the old "AMD Tower of Power" and salvaging whatever parts I was able to, I proceeded to install the new system components and reconstruct the newest "AMD Tower of Power." After 90 minutes of hardware installation, the system was ready to accept its' operating system. Well, coinciding with the release of the AMD Athlon XP CPU was a new Windows operating system from Microsoft. Although the code name of "Microsoft Whistler" did suit the new product quite well, the final shipping name of the product turned out to be "Microsoft Windows XP." Coincidence? I think so. I took out the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition CD and began to install the operating system. About 30 minutes later, the installation was complete. All I can say is wow! Finally, an operating system that doesn't crash like the stock market and looks pretty! After installing a few games (such as Max Payne, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena and Counter-Strike), I fired each and every game up to see how they would perform with the new NVidia GeForce 3 Ti 500 64 MB video card. HOLY CRAP! I've never EVER seen these games move so fluidlike! Jagged edges... what jagged edges? Thanks to Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA), characters in 3D games no longer look like they are made of Lego blocks! It was time for a rematch at the local LAN parties. In my opinion, my friends with the Pentium IV systems have had the spotlight for long enough. It was time for the "AMD Tower of Power" to squash all remaining competition. That wouldn't happen until just after New Years Day, 2002.

2002 - The Digital Future of The Tower

		On January 2, 2002, my friends and I had got together to host a private LAN party. We invited members of the local computer stores to attend as well (most of which did attend with their so called "killer machines.") The rivalry between the Intel and AMD factions was quite heated. In the room, you could see how the Intel Pentium IV system owner's had all gathered into one specific area, while the rest of us AMD Athlon XP system owner's had gathered at the opposite end of the room. To our surprise, the split between Pentium IV systems and Athlon XP systems was pretty much 50/50. We busted out the games and began fragging away! After almost 17 hours of fragging and playing a total of 180 matchups, the AMD team came out on top, winning by a victory of 135 -to- 45 over the Intel team. Now, this could be attributed to the fact that the Intel team was using ATI Radeon cards, but somehow I think it's because they were afraid of us AMD guys. :) When the cooling period was over and we had all gone out for something to eat, we decided the only real way to decide whose system was best was to break out the benchmarks. Each system owner was allowed a 60 minutes to configure their systems in preparation for the benchmarking. Most of us just installed the best drivers for benchmarking and optimized our systems to remove any unnecessary programs and squeeze out every last little bit of performance. A whole slew of benchmarks were used, including 3dMark 2001, 3dMark 2002, PCMark 2002, Unreal Tournament, Quake III Arena, SysMark and SiSoft Sandra. In the end, the "AMD Tower of Power" came out on top, edging out the competition by anywhere between 3% and 15%. I had reclaimed victory and it was finally acknowledged by everyone in the room. Yes! All my hard work for the past 6 years had culminated to this moment. However, even though I had taken the title of "Fastest Computer System At LANFest '02," my plans for the "AMD Tower of Power" were far from complete. Digital Video Discs (or DVD for short) had become a mainstream in the world of digital media. New console games for Microsoft XBox and the Sony Playstation 2 were all being distributed on DVD and almost all new movie rentals were available on DVD. It was time for the "AMD Tower of Power" to move forward. No longer was the "AMD Tower of Power" going to be used for the sole purpose of playing games and creating documents; it would be used for home entertainment. With the right combination of hardware, I could eliminate the need to have a seperate DVD player or stereo. After a full 3 months of planning and hundreds of planned hardware configurations, I decided upon what new hardware would be installed for the "AMD Tower of Power" to become a full-fledged home entertainment system. A definite trip to the local computer store would be required. :) While at the computer store, I had informed my friend (who happened to be the business owner) of what I was planning to do. He said he would give me a good discount on the hardware items I was purchasing, considering that they would cost a substantial amount of money. I had managed to get a hold of an AMD Athlon XP 2100+ CPU, a Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM drive, a Plextor 40x/12x/40x CD-ReWritable drive and a Samsung 240TFT 24" LCD Flat Display with integrated speakers. Trust me, you do NOT want to know how much this all cost.... well.... maybe you do. Alright... are you sitting down? Good.... It cost over $13,000 CDN to go out and purchase these pieces of hardware. I'm sure you are wondering why in the name of hell would I go out and spend that much money on a few measly hardware components? The answer is that it was the 24" LCD that cost the much (a total of $10,000CDN alone before taxes). Add in the other components and a 15% sales tax figure and you arrive somewhere in the neighbourhood of $13,000 CDN. After the installation of all of these new components, I noticed that I had forgotten a few things. Back to the local computer store we go. After spending another $7,800 CDN, I managed to pick up a total of 8 Maxtor DiamondMax D540X 160 GB Hard Disks, an Asus V8640 Ultra GeForce 4 4600 128 MB DDR video card, a Pioneer DVR-A04 2x DVD-ReWritable drive, an Asus A7V333 Motherboard, 1024 MB's of DDR SDRAM (PC2700), a Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum EX sound card, a Promise ATA/133 Controller, 7 sets of rounded IDE cables (including 1 rounded floppy IDE cable), a bunch of 80mm fans, a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro keyboard, a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 mouse and a new high-back, leather executive chair with large armrests.. Finally, the vision of a home digital media center had come together. However, I ran into a serious problem when I got all of these hardware components home. After I dismantled the "AMD Tower of Power" to prepare it for the new system components, I realized that my good old Mid-Tower ATX Chassis and 300 W PSU would no longer be able to handle the load that the "AMD Tower of Power" would require. It wouldn't take me long to find an adequate replacement for my Mid-Tower ATX Chassis. After surfing the Internet for a couple of days, I came across a computer chassis company by the name of Yeong Yang. Although initially I was not impressed with their cases, I began considering the fact that I needed the largest case possible. I managed to find the YY-0221 Mini Server Case. It was exactly what I needed! Dual redundant power supplies, 13 Drive Bays, seperate motherboard and hard disk/optical drive compartments and a locking front door. This was the only case that would fit everything the "AMD Tower of Power" had to offer. I immediately placed an order for this new case, however I ordered it without any power supplies. I wanted 2 power supplies that could power everything inside of that case, even if one of them kicked out and the full load was put onto one of them. For this job, there is no better power supply maker than Antec. After surfing to Antec-inc.com, I ordered 2 of their largest power supplies; the Antec True 550 ATX12V power supply. After placing my order (along with over-night rush shipping on them), I was finally able to put together the "AMD Tower of Power." Once all of the components had arrived and I had layed them all out on the bench downstairs, the time for assembly had come. It took over 2 hours to get everything into place, including routing the the IDE cables correctly and making sure that each and every jumper on the hard disks and optical drives were set correctly. The moment of truth. The new "AMD Tower of Power" had been constructed. After firing up this new bohemoth of a computer system and setting up the BIOS correctly, I proceeded to install Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition. Once the Windows XP installation had completed, I loaded on every application that I required. Finally, after almost 3 days of system tweaking, burn-in time and bug squashing, I had achieved perfection. The "mecca" of computer systems was sitting on the desk infront of me. There was only one way to test to see if the expenditure of over $20,000 was worth it. From my DVD movie collection, I took out "The Matrix" and popped it into the DVD-ROM drive and queued up the "Lobby Scene." I dimmed the lights, turned on my green & blue lava lamps, sat down in my new executive leather chair and pressed play. :) Words could not describe what I experienced that day. Complete and utter amazement. The sound was shaking every bone in my body, the video coming to life on a perfectly flat screen. I could hear individual bullet casings smash into the floor. The echo from each and every gun shot woke up my neighbours who thought my house was the site of World War III. To this day, that first night was the BIGGEST thrill of my life. This is where the "AMD Tower of Power" project currently stands.