System Summary
Here are the final system configurations for this month's Mid-Range Guide. We stuck with the recommended parts on the base AMD and Intel configurations, in order to keep overall price comparable. The AMD PCIe alternative uses most of the alternative parts in order to get improved performance, although we have also listed all the alternative parts in a separate table for reference. If we were looking for a good value in a computer purchase for ourselves, a relative, or a friend, all of these systems provide a great computing experience.
AMD AGP Athlon 64 System
| AMD AGP Athlon 64 System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Athlon 64 3200+ 512K 2.0 GHz 90 nm for 939 (Retail) |
215 |
| Motherboard |
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum (NF3 250Gb) |
139 |
| Memory |
Corsair Value Select Dual Pack 2x512MB DDR PC-3200 CL2.5 |
145 |
| Video Card |
XFX 6600GT AGP 128MB GDDR3 |
209 |
| Hard Drive |
Seagate 160GB SATA with NCQ |
105 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
64 |
| Floppy Drive |
NEC/Sony/TEAC/Samsung/etc. |
8 |
| Case |
Antec SLK-3000-B |
76 |
| Power Supply |
Fortron Source Blue Storm 400W Model FSP400-60THN-R |
59 |
| Display |
Samsung 997DF 19" |
211 |
| Speakers |
Logitech X-530 5.1 |
56 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Optical Desktop Combo |
25 |
| Bottom Line |
|
1312 |
Intel Pentium 4 System
| Intel Pentium 4 System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz) for 775 (Retail) |
215 |
| Motherboard |
ASUS P5GD1 (915P) |
116 |
| Memory |
Corsair Value Select Dual Pack 2x512MB DDR PC-3200 CL2.5 |
145 |
| Video Card |
Leadtek Winfast PX6600 GT TDH PCIe 128MB |
190 |
| Hard Drive |
Seagate 160GB SATA with NCQ |
105 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
64 |
| Floppy Drive |
NEC/Sony/TEAC/Samsung/etc. |
8 |
| Case |
Antec SLK-3000-B |
76 |
| Power Supply |
Fortron Source Blue Storm 400W Model FSP400-60THN-R |
59 |
| Display |
Samsung 997DF 19" |
211 |
| Speakers |
Logitech X-530 5.1 |
56 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Optical Desktop Combo |
25 |
| Bottom Line |
|
1270 |
AMD "Upgraded" PCIe Athlon 64 System
| AMD "Upgraded" PCIe Athlon 64 System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Athlon 64 3500+ 512K 2.2 GHz 90 nm for 939 (Retail) |
334 |
| Motherboard |
ASUS A8N SLI |
197 |
| Memory |
Patriot/PDP XBL Dual Channel Kit 2x512MB DDR PC-3200 2-2-2-5 |
224 |
| Video Card |
Leadtek Winfast PX6600 GT TDH PCIe 128MB |
190 |
| Hard Drive |
Maxtor 300GB SATA-II with NCQ and 16MB cache |
194 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
64 |
| Floppy Drive |
NEC/Sony/TEAC/Samsung/etc. |
8 |
| Case |
CoolerMaster Cooler Master Cavalier 3 model CAV-T03-WW |
112 |
| Power Supply |
Fortron Source Blue Storm 400W Model FSP400-60THN-R |
59 |
| Display |
NEC/Mitsubishi FE991SB-BK 19" |
259 |
| Speakers |
Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Certified |
153 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Optical Desktop Combo |
25 |
| Bottom Line |
|
1819 |
Alternative Equipment
| Alternative Equipment |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Athlon 64 3500+ 512K 2.2 GHz 90 nm (939) |
334 |
| Motherboard |
Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 (NF4 4X) |
146 |
| Motherboard |
ASUS A8N SLI |
197 |
| Memory |
Patriot/PDP XBL Dual Channel Kit 2x512MB DDR PC-3200 2-2-2-5 |
224 |
| Video Card |
Leadtek A400GT TDH 256MB GDDR3 |
377 |
| Hard Drive |
Maxtor 300GB SATA-II with NCQ and 16MB cache |
194 |
| Hard Drive |
Western Digital Raptor 74GB with NCQ and 10000 RPM |
177 |
| Optical Drive |
Pioneer DVR-108D |
79 |
| Case |
CoolerMaster Cooler Master Cavalier 3 model CAV-T03-WW |
112 |
| Display |
ViewEra V172D Silver 17" LCD |
264 |
| Sound Card |
Creative Audigy 2 ZS |
75 |
| Sound Card |
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 |
98 |
| Speakers |
Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Certified |
153 |
| Keyboard |
Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard PS/2 |
29 |
| Mouse |
Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless |
63 |
Conclusion
That wraps it up for this Mid-Range Guide. We'll also have an Overclocking/Enthusiast Guide targeting a similar price range in the near future, which will address some of the areas that we didn't get to here. There is really no point in upgrading your computer unless you are unhappy with its current level of performance. The ideal time to upgrade is whenever you feel that way, although it may or may not be necessary to purchase an entirely new system. If you like to stay close to the top in terms of performance, selling your current system for a moderate price can lessen the impact of trying to keep up with the latest developments in technology.
In the end, we're still waiting for better availability, pricing, and performance of Athlon 64 platforms with PCI Express. Three months ago, we were sure that all would have been taken care of before Christmas, but as with so many other recent product launches, retail availability has lagged far behind the initial launch and preview dates. There are reasons for the delays, of course: nForce4 had some silicon problems with A03 and they only released the initial SLI batches to Tier 1; VIA launched the K8T890, but no one picked it up right away; and ATI had problems getting Tier 1 and Tier 2 vendors to adopt the Xpress 200 chipset, particularly in non microATX form. We're not particularly happy with the delays, and we hope that the future will bring fewer paper launches. Everything mentioned in our Guides should at least be attainable were you to go out and try to purchase the parts today, which is about the best that we can do in trying to tame the dreaded paper launch.
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46 Comments
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JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
^^^ Er, Foxconn is at MonarchComputer.com, not GameVE.JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
44 - This was written by January 18th and published Jan 21st. Things change rapidly, which is why the Buyer's Guides are really just a snapshot in time. There are several NF4 boards now available at Newegg, including the Chaintech and an MSI Neo4 Platinum. Odd that the Chaintech lists "NVIDIA 7.1-channel audio" - is SoundStorm back with NF4? I don't think I had heard about that. The Gigabyte board is also available from quite a few other resellers besides Newegg, of course. There's even a $109 Foxconn NF4 board at GameVE. Interesting! Not that I've had any good Foxconn experiences, but $109 is attractive.jleandro - Wednesday, January 26, 2005 - link
Don't want to be a pain, you guys review whatever boards you think are worthy, but I just checked Newegg and here's what they had IN STOCK:CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU, Model "VNF4/Ultra" -RETAIL US$ 135
MSI "K8N Neo4 Platinum" NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL US$ 159
GIGABYTE "GA-K8NXP-SLI" NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL US$ 249
ASUS "A8N-SLI Deluxe" nForce4 SLI Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU -RETAIL US$ 265
Interesting that the Gigabyte K8NF-9 was actually not in stock.
hawksballer - Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - link
JarredWalton - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
41 - Guide editors changed a few months back. The "alternative" configurations have always been more expensive, and they include *all* the alternatives, usually. If you were to take this Guide's alternative (NF4) and stick with the recommend parts everywhere else, price would drop considerably. I haven't made a point of highlighting this, but I did change the pricing targets a bit on the Guides.For the budget, I typically try for $500, but I usually end up closer to $600. Compromises to drop the price are possible but undesirable, i.e. go with 1x256 MB of RAM. The Budget altenative I generally target slightly below the Mid-Range, so $900 to $1000 is usually where it lands.
The Mid-Range has been bumped to $1250 by default, which generally allows for a very good all-around system with few (if any) compromises. The alternative Mid-Range I try to keep under $2000, although closer to $1750 is desirable.
I haven't done any High-End or OC Guides, but High-End will be in the $2000+ range (maxing out at $4000 or so with *all* the trimmings), and the OC Guide is really just about any of the above price goals. I'm working on one of those.
Hopefully that answers your questions. If you want to trim costs a bit on the Mid-Range, going to a slower CPU and GPU usually cuts close to $200, but then it's no longer an all-around system.
-------------
#40: The Chaintech may very well be available in Hungary, but it is not at all available in the US right now. Newegg is the one of the few sites that even list it, and any boards have disappeared *FAST*. If you picked on up without difficulty where you live, more power to you! Lucky #@$^&*%! ;)
wilburpan - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Is it just me, or have the Mid-Range and Entry Level Buyer's Guides suffered from price inflation? It seems to me that way back when, the price points for these two were a solid $1000 and $500, respectively. Now the Entry Level Guide has a budget of up to $1000, while the Mid-Range Guide is pushing $2000.I can understand that picking price points is an arbitrary process, but I would think that for comparing what your computer dollar buys you over tme, it would be nice to remain consistent.
jleandro - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Can't understand why the Chanitech NF4 Ultra Zenith is not considered to be available.I live in Hungary (not the prime tech spot) and this board has been available for some time, most retailers have it.
In fact I just bought one today for ~110 USD and will pick it up tomorrow.
For instance, check http://www.e-connect.hu under "alaplapok" (motherboard in Hungarian).
JarredWalton - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
38 - Thanks. It's corrected now. The marketing for the drive states "with SATA-II features" and somewhere along the line that got put in as SATA-II. :| Basically, the drive has hot-swap capability and NCQ, which are both SATA-II. It does not support 300MB/s, but then burst transfer rates really matter much. With sustained transfer rates of even the fastest drives maxing out around 70 MB/s, it will be quite some time before SATA-II transfer rates really show real-world benefit.37 - 0dB computing? I'm not sure I'm the one to address that, but it's certainly something to think about. I'll pass that along and see if we can acquire the parts for such a test. They're relatively expensive in comparison to fan-based solutions, unfortunately.
AnnihilatorX - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
JarredWalton:A misleading information I just found and thought would like to point out...
The Maxtor Diamond Max 10 300GB with NCQ 16MB cache (6B300S0) is SATA-I/150 in terms of transfer speed, but not SATA-II/300 as stated in page 6.
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=232...
"Maxtor 300GB SATA-II with NCQ and 16MB cache"
ceefka - Monday, January 24, 2005 - link
Again a great guide. I was already interested in the Maxtor 300 GB SATA II. I guess in that case you'll have to go with the Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 or any of the other nForce 4 boards.Would it be a challenge for AT to build a 0dB PC with high end components with Intel and AMD and compare notes. This machine should at least be a mid-range performer or just as high as you can go on 0dB.
I wonder because I'd like to build something really quiet. I have already looked into components like Yesico FL420 and fanless CPU coolers, but I am not sure if all of that will work with also two Maxtor 300GB SATA-II's in http://www.blacknoise.de/shop/de_DE/produkte/id_is...