Gaming Buyer's Guide - November 2004

High-End Gaming System

We've covered the Mid-Range and Budget sectors, so all that is left is the High-End. While there is a lot of competition in the other sectors, there really are not that many options on the bleeding edge. If money is no object - and it shouldn't be if you're thinking of spending a couple of months' rent on a game system - you can go out and buy the best parts that are available. That is in essence what we have in our High-End rig. However, we really don't recommend that anyone actually spend this much money on a gaming system. A better plan would be to pick out a few of the items that you think are the most worthwhile and stick with the Mid-Range configuration for the remainder of the system.

High-End AMD Athlon 64 System
Hardware	Recommended Component	Price
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 1MB 2.6 GHz (939)	877
Motherboard	MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum	131
Memory	2x512MB Crucial Ballistix 2-2-2 1T	262
Video Card	Sapphire X800 XT 256 MB GDDR3 AGP	461
Hard Drive	Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 10000RPM 8MB Model WD740GD	173
Hard Drive	Maxtor 300GB SATA 7200RPM 16MB Model 6B300S0	207
Optical Drive	NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A	72
2nd Optical Drive	Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-167T	30
Sound Card	Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS	75
Case	Antec Lanboy Aluminum	88
Power Supply	Antec True480 480W PSU with Blue LED	95
Display	NEC/Mitsubishi FP2141SB-BK 22	634
Speakers	Logitech Z-680 5.1 THX Certified	236
Keyboard	Logitech Internet Keyboard	17
Mouse	Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical	24
Bottom Line		3382

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The choice of parts in some areas is not all that different from the Mid-Range configuration. Our motherboard recommendation remains with the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum; even more so than the Mid-Range sector If you are actually thinking about spending this much money on a computer, waiting for PCI Express motherboards with SLI support would really make sense. In that case, you could go with a 6800GT card now and upgrade your gaming performance with a second 6800GT when you need more performance. We expect the SLI-capable motherboards to begin appearing at retail within the next month. Until we actually see the parts on sale, we will not be listing them as an actual recommendation.

We also continue to go with the same NEC DVD burner as well as the keyboard and mouse. Some people really prefer wireless input devices, but for gaming, we personally continue to prefer wired variants. As before, go with what you're most comfortable using. The other components are all upgraded, but we are reaching the point of diminishing returns. The total system cost is roughly twice that of the Mid-Range system, and yet performance is, at best, maybe 25% faster. Let's look at the specifics.

We start with what is the fastest current processor, the AMD Athlon FX-55. Running at 2.6 GHz and with strained silicon, our initial results have shown it to be faster than any other CPU in games, and those looking for even more performance can try their hand at overclocking it. For the RAM, we have upgraded to some high quality, low latency Crucial Ballistix. With 2-2-2 timings at 200 MHz and low timings all the way up to its maximum clock speed of around 270 MHz, the Crucial RAM performs very well. Any memory that uses the latest Samsung TCCD chips is also worth consideration, and it can usually reach even higher clock speeds. OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 is one such example, and we use the Samsung TCCD DIMMs as our standard RAM for testing. If you don't plan on overclocking, however, there's really little to differentiate one set of 2-2-2 timing RAM from another.

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For the graphics card, we have selected ATI's X800 XT chip. The X800 XT Platinum Edition and 6800 Ultra are also possibilities for those who simply must have the best. The X800 XT strikes a nice balance between price and performance, as it outperforms the 6800GT in most games that don't have Doom 3 in the title and it costs $75 less than the slightly faster chips. Sapphire wins this category as the least expensive X800 XT card. For hardcore Doom 3 players, the NVIDIA cards remain the better choice, and if you're interested in SLI, there are two important things to remember. First, of course, is that you need to wait for PCI Express motherboards to become available, which may be a month or two out - we're sure that NVIDIA's partners are trying desperately to get the boards to market before Christmas. The other critical factor is that you will need to "downgrade" to a 6800GT. As the 6800 Ultra is a two-slot design, there will not be room to put two 6800 Ultras in a system - at least, not on the boards that we've seen. Two 6800GT cards are significantly faster than a single 6800 Ultra, though, so the tradeoff is worth it in our book.

Our hard drive selection may be overkill, but we have paired the fastest SATA hard drive available - the Western Digital Raptor - with a fast, but spacious, Maxtor DiamondMax 10 (a.k.a. Maxline-III) drive. The Maxtor drives are so new that we really don't have much data in terms of reliability, so if you have any personal experience with the drives, we'd like to hear from you. On the optical side of things, we have added a standard DVD-ROM drive to the burner, allowing for DVD to DVD copying - or CD to CD copying - if you need it. The speakers are Logitech's Z-680 5.1, which provide great sound at a reasonably affordable price. They compare favorably with Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers and cost significantly less. We have also thrown in a sound card for good measure - the Creative Audigy 2 ZS is designed with gaming in mind and provides better quality than most integrated solutions as well as slightly better performance.

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Finally, we wrap things up with the case and monitor selections. For the case, we have selected the Antec Super Lanboy paired with an Antec True480 power supply. It is very similar to the SLK3700-BQE in design, but uses an aluminum body instead of steel and has a case window on the side. Two 120 mm fans are included, and it also comes with a carrying harness that can come in handy if you're the type to haul your computer to LAN parties. Lian Li and Silverstone also make some very nice cases if you're willing to spend more money. The majority of high-end cases lack a power supply, so we used an Antec True480 480W PSU. The Antec NeoPower 480 and Ultra X Connect are also alternatives worth considering - they are 480W and 500W respectively, and they have detachable power rails so that you can avoid cluttering up the insides of your case with unused cables.

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Our choice of display is a large 22" (20.0" viewable) NEC monitor. Providing high refresh rates (85 Hz) at even 2048x1536 as well as the ability to run at other resolutions without interpolation - the Achilles heel of LCDs - we still prefer a large CRT to LCDs for games. It also comes with four USB ports, if that sort of thing interests you. There are other 22" NEC CRTs that cost less, but if you want a huge monitor for gaming, you'll want one that supports 2048x1536, as few games support the less common resolutions such as 1920x1440. The drawback for such a CRT is that it is large and heavy, making it less than ideal for transportation to LAN parties.

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If portability is your style, we recommend a good quality 19" LCD instead. Unlike CRTs, an LCD's viewable area is the same as their screen size, so a 19" LCD is really only slightly smaller than a 21/22" CRT (which both have a 20.0" viewable area). Low response times are the most important aspect of LCDs that will be used in gaming, and for this, we recommend the ViewSonic VP912B 19" LCD. With a 12 ms response time, there is virtually no ghosting. It does cost more, but it works great. The native resolution is 1280x1024, but we have not yet encountered any 19" LCDs that support 1600x1200 with a 12 ms response time. Besides, 1280x1024 is not quite as demanding of the GPU as 1600x1200 - if your LCD runs at a native 1600x1200 resolution, you'll need to either lower the resolution when game complexity increases or else, you'll need to upgrade your GPU more often. Neither one is very appealing. Remember also that you want a DVI-D connection on any LCD; otherwise, you're still stuck with an analog signal that can affect image quality, particularly at high resolutions.