Buyer's Guide - Mid-Range, October 2004

System Summaries

We have now listed a ton of options that could be used in a variety of ways. Hopefully, you have some idea of what you want. Here, we present complete Intel and AMD configurations, with prices and optional equipment listed below. Both systems come relatively close to our $1250 target, and this is for a complete setup, not counting an Operating System. You can subtract the cost of items that you already have to get the price down, of course. The AMD socket 939 system ends up costing a little more, but the performance is also better in most instances, and $30 in the price difference can be attributed to the use of a faster graphics card.

AMD Athlon 64 System
Hardware	Recommended Component	Price
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 512K 2.0 GHz 90 nm (939)	$215
Heatsink	Spire KestrelKing III	$20
Motherboard	MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum	$131
Memory	2x512MB Mushkin PC3200 2.5-4-4	$150
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB	$108
Hard Drive	Samsung 160GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Model SP1614C	$95
Optical Drive	NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A	$73
Computer Case & Power Supply	Antec SLK3700-BQE with 350W PSU	$91
Display	NEC/Mitsubishi FE991SB-BK 19"	$274
Speakers	Logitech Z-640 5.1	$53
Keyboard & Mouse	Microsoft Natural Multimedia and Intellimouse Optical	$53
Bottom Line	$1263

Intel Pentium 4 System
Hardware	Recommended Component	Price
Processor	Pentium 4 540 3.2 GHz 1MB Cache	$216
Motherboard	Abit AG8 i915P Chipset	$129
Memory	2x512MB Mushkin PC3200 2.5-4-4	$150
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon X300 128MB	$85
Hard Drive	Samsung 160GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Model SP1614C/td>	$95
Optical Drive	NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A	$73
Computer Case & Power Supply	Antec SLK3700-BQE with 350W PSU	$91
Display	NEC/Mitsubishi FE991SB-BK 19"	$274
Speakers	Logitech Z-640 5.1	$53
Keyboard & Mouse	Microsoft Natural Multimedia and Intellimouse Optical	$53
Bottom Line	$1219

Alternative Equipment
Hardware	Recommended Component	Price
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 512K 2.2 GHz (754)	$200
Motherboard	MSI K8N Neo Platinum	$122
	SOLTEK SL-915GPro-FGR i915G Chipset	$144
Memory	2x512MB OCZ EL 2-3-2-6 1T	$224
Video Card	eVGA 6600GT 128MB PCIe	$207
Hard Drive	Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 10000RPM 8MB Model WD740GD	$173
	Maxtor 300GB SATA 7200RPM 16MB Model 6B300S0	$209
Optical Drive	Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-167T	$30
Case & Power Supply	Thermaltake VA3000 Dream Tower Tsunami with 400W PSU	$135
SFF Case	Shuttle XPC SN95G5 (AMD socket 939)	$299
Display	ViewSonic VX715 17" LCD 25ms	$369
Sound Card	M-Audio Revolution 7.1	$92
Speakers	Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Certified	$159
Video Capture	Hauppauge PVR-250	$128
Operating System	Windows XP Home with SP2	$95
	Windows XP MCE	$140
	Windows XP Professional with SP2	$147

If you want something closer to the $1000 price point of old, we offer this configuration. Any parts not listed in this Guide can be found in our Entry Level Guide. Socket 754 provides the best solution for cutting costs, and so it is our choice.

$1000 Mid-Range System
Hardware	Recommended Component	Price
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 512K 2.0 GHz (754) - Retail	$158
Motherboard	MSI K8N Neo Platinum	$122
Memory	512MB Mushkin PC3200 2.5-4-4	$75
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB	$108
Hard Drive	Samsung 160GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Model SP1614C	$95
Optical Drive	NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A	$73
Computer Case & Power Supply	Antec SLK3700-BQE with 350W PSU	$91
Display	NEC FE771SB-BK 17"	$184
Speakers	Logitech Z-640 5.1	$53
Keyboard & Mouse	Microsoft Natural Multimedia and Intellimouse Optical	$53
Bottom Line	$1012

Conclusion

There are a lot of choices to be made when purchasing a new computer system and some people may feel overwhelmed. Hopefully, we have helped to narrow down the choices somewhat, but just like with the purchase of a car or a house, different strokes for different folks. This has been a rather long article, taking a look at what is arguably the largest and most competitive segment of PC hardware. Was it too long? Did we simply contribute to the information overload? Let us know in the comments section, as these Buyer's Guides are for you!