Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level Guide - April 2004
by Evan Lieb on April 17, 2004 3:05 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Entry Level System Summary
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (OEM) - $52. Cooler Master HSF - $10 |
$62 |
| Motherboard | ASUS A7N8X-X (nForce2 400) | $69 |
| Memory | 1 X 256MB Kingston PC3200 ValueRAM (CAS3) | $55 |
| Video Card | 64MB Sapphire Radeon 9200SE | $42 |
| Monitor | Samsung SyncMaster 17" CRT (763MB) | $150 |
| Computer Case | CaseEdge TS1 Mid Tower plus 300W PSU | $40 |
| Sound Card | Onboard sound | $0 |
| Speakers | Creative Labs SBS270 2.0 | $20 |
| Networking | Onboard 10/100 Ethernet | $0 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 400BB (40GB) | $57 |
| CD-RW | Sony 52x32x52 CD-RW | $32 |
| Bottom Line | - | $527 |
$527 is the final price of our entry level system this week, not including any money that you'll spend on software (Windows XP Home or Professional, Office, etc.) or a keyboard and mouse.
This isn't going to come close to breaking any speed records, but entry level systems have started to perform better and better over the years and this great $527 system is the result of that progress. There are very few places where you can find a better system than this for the money.
Now, go build your system and let us know what you think in our comments section.
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qquizz - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
Try this Intel option for a value system I built for a client:(for those that gotta have Intel and a S/PDIF in out)Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M ATI 9100IGP P4 800FSB Skt478 DDR M-ATX Motherbaord (Prescott ready) w/400/533/800FSB, ATA/100, AGP 8X, 4DDR DIMM, 3PCI, USB 2.0, Audio, Video, LAN, S/PDIF (in,out) header.........$83 shipped (Newegg)
CPU: Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz 400MHz FSB, 128K Cache - Retail..........$72 shipped (Newegg)
The rest can be the same I guess but I would get NEC 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A for $85 shipped instead of SONY crapola.
Of course no discrete video card needed with this rig but can be upgraded if one feels the urge. Also support for 3.2C or 3.2E w/ current bios.
ZobarStyl - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
Even on a value rig, 512 is a must. As for the graphics card...remember the object of this guide is an entry level system...not a gaming tower.Cygni - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
9000 Pro is a much better choice than a 9200 non-LE for that price point.Pumpkinierre - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
Agreed #1,2,4,6 I'd go for a Duron 1.8 (more cpu speed than the 2000+), 512Meg RAM and low cost 9600. The extra memory is the most costly but would prove beneficial in HDD swapping reduction.TheDigitalDiamond - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
I pretty much have the same to say as #1. Upgrade the video just a tad, use Antecs beautiful little 300Watt PSU included cases. There's a time when you save money, and then there's a time when you stop being a cheap ass..farscape - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
I'd wish you'd consider the Shuttle AN35 ultra - save you a few bucks. Built a number of systems with it - never a prob and OCs like crazy. WDs work fine for me. I try to stay away from the SE cards tho.blckgrffn - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
First off, sorry about the blank post.I agree - 512 of RAM is all that I will put into a machine that I build these days. And, there is no reason not simpy opt for the 2500+, because you will have to spend at least $15 for a decent/quiet cooler (speeze falcon rock comes to mind) for the 2000+. So the price difference if only $13, and you get a lot of bang for you buck by going that route. You could pretty much absorb all of those costs by going with an nForce IGP mobo - the graphics are actually pretty good usually and the the biostar is cheaper than your ASUS. Lastly, beige drives with a black case???? Go with the black Samsung combo drive, that is what I would do. But, then again, I would simply buy an Antec case, either there copper of black ones, so to be assured that I have good power and cooling (12 cm fan!). Lastly, I cannot stand WD drives unless they be Raptors. I would opt for the Samsung drives - fluid dynamic bearings (NO WHINING!) and a 3 year warranty.
That's my opinion!
Nat
blckgrffn - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
newuser12 - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
I'm pretty sure this has already been noted on another buyer's guide, but:I think the alternative for the RAM should be 512 MB, not 256. I have an athlon 1800+, ECS mobo, geforce 4 mx-440 AGP vid card (running at 4x AGP not 8x), a 30 GB 7200 hard drive, and I can still play unreal 2004 on it....probably cause I have 512MB of RAM. its not even high-end RAM, i think its DDR 2100 (or maybe 2700), but it works nicely.
Anyways, my point was, A little extra RAM can go a long way. It even makes a noticeable difference in windows' performance, at least on my computer (that is, when I'm not on my linux harddrive playing unreal tournament ;) ).
DannyOcean - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
You could save $25 by going with an AMD Duron 1.6GHz and still have enough processing power to power anything a value-rig would need to run.A 128MB 9600SE goes for only about $10 more then 64MB 9200SE, both use 64-bit memory, and rather or not a value-rig would need such an upgrade is questionable.
A FoxConn/CasEdge case would likely have a PSU that is the equivilent of poor-quality Allied PSU's. A quality PSU is important even in value-rigs, as it helps keep down on the annoyingly noticable problems caused by poor power supply. An Antec SLK1600 (w/ SL 300W), $58-Shipped, or any AOpen QF50 (w/ FSP ATX-300GU) ATX case, around $50-60-Shipped), would be great cases for a value-rig.