Kryotech’s SuperG 1GHz — THG.RU

Introduction

The PC-industry has finally reached a historical moment. The first 1 GHz PC is a reality and it’s not based on an Intel-processor. Kryotech’s new SuperG may not seem much more than a logical consequence after the introduction of the Cool Athlon 800 and then the Cool Athlon 900 systems, but it marks the crescendo of a long and sometimes difficult cooperation between ‘processor-underdog’ AMD and the visionaries from the hard working American South in West Columbia, South Carolina. While the ‘cool guys from the hot South‘ throw in the world’s most advanced CPU-cooling system, AMD provides the fastest PC-processor of today’s market. The ‘marriage’ of those two top-players turned out to be a perfect symbiosis and there couldn’t be a worthier winner of this millennium race for reaching the gigahertz-limit than those two companies.

SuperG is more than just a ‘Cool Athlon 1000’

I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that the SuperG had more than just the typical bells and whistles we have come to expect from Kryotech. The cooling system has had an efficient upgrade in size and weight in return for even more cooling power than ever before. Weighing in at 70 lbs. (10 lbs. more than the 800/900MHz units), the new SuperG sports a larger compressor that consumes 20 more watts than previous units but is able to dissipate up to a massive 150 watts of heat compared to the older models 65 watts. With this much cooling, the SuperG unit provides enough headroom for future processors as well as applications such as video-chip cooling and multi-processors. Not only is this new compressor more powerful but also the most energy efficient compressor in the industry. SuperG doesn’t come with all these new features and bragging rights for cheap, no sir. The new package will set you back $2450. Lets take a look at the differences between the new and old chillers.

The unit on the left is the older model Kryotech while the right is the newer offering. You will notice the larger compressor as well as the modifications to the fan and the condenser.

Noise levels

This is a very popular question among all of the Kryotech e-mail inquiries. We’ve never really used any sound measurements before, but we now have some data in the table below to help you better understand just how quiet this unit really is. A human breathing is about 10 dBA (decibels adjusted), whispering is about 20 dBA, elevator music 40 dBA and 70 dBA in a cabin of an airplane during flight. Now that you have an idea of what various dBA levels are, you can understand why the SuperG’s 39 dBA shouldn’t bug you more than any other system with a few fans. With a quieter compressor, a lower (but larger) fan speed and a softer sounding system power supply, the SuperG is able to keep the neighbors from complaining.

Weight

Probably the second most popular question is about weight. Tipping the scales at 80 lbs, this beast isn’t very fun to move around the lab. Moving the machine is like moving a large screen television around. Unfortunately the machine doesn’t have an easy way to lift it (no handles or straps) so you may need assistance moving it around. However, like televisions, we don’t move them a lot so this shouldn’t be too bad once you are settled in.

Show me more pictures!

Here we have both units next to each other. The SuperG (on the right side) has a slightly larger base as well as a bigger case, which has one extra 5.25″ drive bay.

Here we have the rear view of both machines. You can get another glimpse at the size difference between the two machines.

Show me more pictures! Continued

Here we have a view of both machines opened and their extra pieces to the side. The older unit has one piece that’s pretty annoying to remove and put back on. The new unit has more of a «tooless» design to it. You can slide and pull parts off versus having to unscrew everything.

Note the roomier interior of the SuperG on the right. You can see the extra drive bay and greater space for upgrades like multiprocessing systems.

Please note that the power supply in our evaluation unit has very few power connectors because it’s not the same one going into the released unit. The released unit will have five larger power connectors with two smaller ones. You can also see the Microstar MS-6167 motherboard that’s shipping in the SuperG. Kryotech has mentioned that they’ll be offering the Gigabyte GA-7IX motherboard as an option.

Platform Configuration

Here is a brief note on the Athlon cache speed. The tests were run at 1/3 cache speed as we did with the Kryotech 900 unit. The released Kryotech SuperG will be using a 1/2.5 divisor (we’ll have updated performance numbers soon). Anyone who currently owns a 900 MHz Kryotech with 1/3 cache speed can send in their units to have it upgraded to the faster cache settings free of charge. Kryotech says that the performance of the cache going from 1/3 to 1/2.5 gains around 4% performance. We’ll test this ourselves as soon as the testing is done.

Benchmark results

To give you an idea of just how powerful this machine is, we’ve run various business/gaming benchmarks in Win98SE and WinNT that are geared for CPU performance testing. We’re also using our fastest video card and testing in low resolution to keep the graphics bottleneck at the CPU end.

Windows 98SE Business Applications

Here we have some interesting results indeed since SuperG surpassed the performance level we expected. It looks as if the SuperG score should have tapered off just like the 900MHz cool Athlon did but instead it leaped a whopping 27 points. This could be due to tweaks Kryotech has done in the motherboard BIOS. We’re currently investigating this weird occurrence and we’ll keep you posted on what we find.

Windows NT Business Applications

Everything is looking good in WinNT as the SuperG pummels the fastest Intel system available to us. For the huge price tag you pay for this frozen powerhouse, you’d expect to see at least these types of performance gains.

CPU Scaling 3D StudioMAX

Here we decided to hammer the FPU of each processor and the results already look good for the Athlons in general. If you look at the Kryotech systems, however, you’ll see how valuable these units can be for people who need serious processing power. The SuperG towers over every other setup.

Windows 98SE 3D Gaming Performance — Dagoth Moor Zoological Gardens

Unfortunately it looks as if our beloved GeForce 256 DDR board has met its match in this given situation. The software doesn’t seem to run any faster with the GeForce card no matter what Athlon we run on it. If we can’t break the 70 FPS barrier from 600Mhz to 1GHz then we definitely have a bottleneck somewhere other than the CPU.

Windows 98SE 3D Gaming Performance — Quake3 Arena

Finally another interesting set of scores! It seems the Coppermine CPUs are not only giving the Athlon setups a run for their money but are beating them clock for clock. Unfortunately Intel is only offering us a 733MHz option and SuperG is offering us a Gigahertz so it brute forces its way to the top of the list.

Windows 98SE 3D Gaming Performance — Descent3 DirectX

Although the Coppermine 733 does really well, the SuperG pulls way too far ahead for it to catch up. Keep in mind that the Coppermine does have the advantage of a faster main memory speed and AGP4x.

Windows 98SE 3D Gaming Performance — Descent OpenGL

Switching APIs we still get the same basic picture of the SuperG brute forcing its way to the top of the performance chart. With its raw speed advantage, it just pulls ahead of Intel’s strongest offering. Note that we’re still seeing signs of that mysterious scaling going from 900MHz to a Gigahertz through most of our testing.

Conclusion

Smashing into the 1GHz realm, we have entered a new era in computing. The Kryotech SuperG is a premium product and it offers the very best in performance. This is what SuperG is, the best and that is without a doubt. In every single one of our tests it managed to beat out the very best that the competition had to offer. Even with a revised CPU core and enhanced chipset with higher bus speeds, which at times equals an Athlon at the same speed, the SuperG maintains a strong lead thanks to the wonders of arctic overclocking. It is hands down the fastest PC we’ve ever used. Not only is it the current performance leader but also it allows owners to step up to the next level thanks to the new design that has multiprocessing and hotter CPUs in mind. With this type of upgrade path they should remain the fastest PCs in the foreseeable future. SuperG isn’t for everyone and that’s obvious because it’s a premium product and we all know that you pay for it. At $2450 the only cost effective feature is the ability to upgrade the Athlon PCB as soon as AMD releases their latest products and at the ability to cool 150 watts, I think you’ll be set for quite a while. Another thing to remember is that this unit is by no means a little box that sits by the side of your desk. It isn’t just the fastest machine but it’s also the bulkiest and heaviest machine we have here in the lab. Don’t expect to move this all the time unless you’re looking to use it for a good workout.

Price and size aside, this unit will go down in the record books as the first consumer PC to hit the streets at the magical 1 GHz. Although 1 GHz doesn’t really do anything special, it has been a number that most of us have thought to be a leap beyond. I can only imagine what we’ll do when get our hands on a .18 Athlon to slap into the SuperG. If you’ve got the cash floating around and you want the best, Kryotech is undoubtedly your source one for the fastest PC in the world.