Construction - Under the Hood (continued)

The M:855 comes default configured with a single 512MB DDR PC2700 memory module. Our system came with 2 x 512MB DDR PC2700 memory modules.

While the K8T800 supports DDR400, SODIMM modules are still limited at DDR333, which is why Voodoo had to go with this memory speed. Additionally, though the K8T800 supports up to 4GB of system memory, SODIMM modules are limited to 1GB maximum per module, which means the M:855 has the ability to max out at 2GB of system memory due to its two SODIMM slot design. We should note that there is a dramatic increase in price when scaling up from 512MB SODIMM modules to 1GB SODIMM modules for both PC2100 and PC2700.

The mini-PCI slot on the M:855 comes default configured with the MSI MP54G 802.11g WiFi card. This is the only wireless configuration/mini-PCI configuration available for the M:855.

The mini-PCI slot is on the top side of the motherboard to the right of the Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro video chip. Directly below the mini-PCI slot is the modem riser interface, which is home to the Billionton MDC56S-I modem.

The bottom side of the motherboard is where most of the chips reside, including the National Semiconductor PC887393F-VJG Super I/O controller (for keyboard, PS/2, parallel, and serial port control) and the VIA VT6307L IEEE 1394 firewire controller.

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The M:855 has four hard drive configurations available: 40GB 5400RPM, 60GB 7200RPM, 80GB 4200RPM, and 80GB 5400RPM, all of which are of Hitachi’s Travelstar line. Our system came with a Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 60.0GB 7200RPM hard drive, though the default configuration is the 40.0GB 5400RPM solution. The use of a 7200RPM hard drive over a 5400RPM or 4200RPM solution comes with the sacrifice of some power consumption, but for a gaming system, a 7200RPM hard drive is very beneficial.

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Even though the Voodoo Envy M:855 is a desktop replacement notebook, Voodoo doesn’t seem to be packing that much in the audio department, as the speakers on the M:855 are one of the smallest we have seen before. Voodoo is likely working on increasing the size of the speakers; though because it is first and foremost a gaming system, gamers will be using headphones with their M:855.