Mid-Range Buyer's Guide, September 2005
by Jarred Walton on September 19, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
System Summaries
That takes care of the recommendations for four different systems. We've included AMD and Intel variants for both platforms, though we have to say that we prefer two of the choices over the others. The Intel Gaming solution is really not the best fit for that market, while the Pentium D with 2GB of RAM really provides a lot of value for the Office and Professional market. (Yes, the AMD X2 is also very good in that market, though it does cost more.)
Gaming Systems
$1500+ for a "gaming system" seems like an awful lot of money, doesn't it? The $400 price of the upcoming Xbox 360 looks like a bargain by comparison! However, consider this for a moment: you don't need a display for the Xbox 360, as you use your TV - or alternatively, add the cost of a TV to the console. Furthermore, you can't do most business work on a console. Email, word processing, spreadsheets, surfing the Internet - some of those might be possible to a limited degree, but consoles certainly won't match the overall utility of a personal computer. If you're like many people, you already need a computer in your home. For gaming, you're pretty much just adding a $400 graphics card (and even a $200 graphics card would suffice).
If you can use your current monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse, and if you go with the EVGA bundle, you could get the price of a fully capable gaming system down to just over $1000, shipped. You could also go the other direction and buy 2x1GB of RAM, a faster CPU, a big LCD, and more HDD capacity (or multiple drives), resulting in a truly High-End system costing over $2000. Neither option is "correct", so spend what you want to spend and use this Buyer's Guide as exactly that: a guide on what you might want to purchase.
If you want other options on how to balance the Gaming performance against cost, drop the SLI support and get the Office motherboard selection, and drop to an Antec Sonata-II instead of the separate case and PSU. You save $114 on the either configuration. You can go with a cheaper graphics card as well - $230 for the X800XL, and you're right at the $1250 price point. Personally, though, we'd rather spend the extra money for the 7800GT.
Office Systems
Our Office configurations are a little less painful on the old pocketbook, ringing up at just over $1300. As with the Gaming setups, reusing your current display, speakers, etc. could reduce the cost quite a bit, getting under the $1000 price point. For the AMD setup, you might consider upgrading to 2x1GB of RAM, since multitasking that can take advantage of two cores is also more likely to surpass the 1GB RAM usage mark. The Intel system comes with 2GB of RAM, but the processor is definitely slower than the X2 3800+. It might be worth considering a CPU upgrade for the Intel system, but we're not really sold on the bang for the buck that it offers.
Some of you are probably wondering how the dual core CPUs perform in gaming systems. Many games work fine, though some have issues with two cores being present. (There aren't any current games that can actually utilize both cores, unfortunately.) Anand has mentioned recently that he's looking into gaming compatibility. We do have a modified version of the setaffin.exe Freeware program that might prove useful - unlike setaffin.exe and runfirst.exe, you can set the application to run on any CPU core instead of just CPU 0. If you'd like, give it a try - it's unsupported software, and we take no responsibility for what it might do to your system, of course. It's also available under the GPL license free of charge. (Thanks to Russell Pickett for providing the basis of the tool; simple, yet effective! We've avoided providing a direct link to his web page to avoid overloading his home server.)
Conclusion
We hope that you've found this Buyer's Guide to be useful, and we'll be releasing additional Guides more frequently in the future. Your comments, suggestions, and criticisms are welcome. As we've tried to make clear, there is no perfect system that we can recommend for every person. If you're willing to spend $1250 or so, however, there are plenty of decisions that can be made to tune the system to your needs.
We did not include an OS in the total cost of any system, so that would add $90 to $135 (when purchased with hardware) to the price for Windows XP. We should also mention that there has been some confusion about XP Home and dual-core support. XP SP2 will indeed support both cores; it is licensed as a single socket product, so it supports HyperThreading as well as the Pentium D and X2 processors. Even though it will work, we prefer the added flexibility of XP Professional and feel that it is worth the extra $45.
You could also ditch Microsoft altogether and go with Linux or some other Unix derivative - probably not for gaming, but OpenOffice with Linux actually makes for a rather potent office system. We wouldn't give such a setup to your grandparents, but more knowledgeable computer users shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out how to get such a system working properly.
That takes care of the recommendations for four different systems. We've included AMD and Intel variants for both platforms, though we have to say that we prefer two of the choices over the others. The Intel Gaming solution is really not the best fit for that market, while the Pentium D with 2GB of RAM really provides a lot of value for the Office and Professional market. (Yes, the AMD X2 is also very good in that market, though it does cost more.)
Gaming Systems
| AMD Mid-Range Gaming System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 512K 1.80GHz (939) - Retail | 146 |
| Motherboard | DFI LanParty UT SLI-DR | 165 |
| Memory | Patriot PC-3200 2x512MB Extreme Performance XBL | 150 |
| Video Card | XFX 7800 GT Overclocked | 379 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital SATA II 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE | 81 |
| Optical Drive | BenQ DW1640 Black (OEM) | 43 |
| Case | Cooler Master Cavalier 3 CAV-T03-UK | 76 |
| Power Supply | SunBeam 550W NUUO SUNNU550-US-BK Modular PSU | 86 |
| Display | Acer AL1914smd-8 19 inch 8ms LCD | 301 |
| Speakers | Labtec ARENA 685 5.1 Speakers | 48 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech Internet Pro Desktop | 23 |
| Bottom Line | 1498 | |
| Intel Mid-Range Gaming System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Pentium 630 2MB 3.0GHz (775) - Retail | 175 |
| Motherboard | ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe | 199 |
| Memory | Corsair PC-5300 2x512MB XMS2 C4 | 137 |
| Video Card | XFX 7800 GT Overclocked | 379 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital SATA II 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE | 81 |
| Optical Drive | BenQ DW1640 Black (OEM) | 43 |
| Case | Cooler Master Cavalier 3 CAV-T03-UK | 76 |
| Power Supply | SunBeam 550W NUUO SUNNU550-US-BK Modular PSU | 86 |
| Display | Acer AL1914smd-8 19 inch 8ms LCD | 301 |
| Speakers | Labtec ARENA 685 5.1 Speakers | 48 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech Internet Pro Desktop | 23 |
| Bottom Line | 1548 | |
$1500+ for a "gaming system" seems like an awful lot of money, doesn't it? The $400 price of the upcoming Xbox 360 looks like a bargain by comparison! However, consider this for a moment: you don't need a display for the Xbox 360, as you use your TV - or alternatively, add the cost of a TV to the console. Furthermore, you can't do most business work on a console. Email, word processing, spreadsheets, surfing the Internet - some of those might be possible to a limited degree, but consoles certainly won't match the overall utility of a personal computer. If you're like many people, you already need a computer in your home. For gaming, you're pretty much just adding a $400 graphics card (and even a $200 graphics card would suffice).
If you can use your current monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse, and if you go with the EVGA bundle, you could get the price of a fully capable gaming system down to just over $1000, shipped. You could also go the other direction and buy 2x1GB of RAM, a faster CPU, a big LCD, and more HDD capacity (or multiple drives), resulting in a truly High-End system costing over $2000. Neither option is "correct", so spend what you want to spend and use this Buyer's Guide as exactly that: a guide on what you might want to purchase.
If you want other options on how to balance the Gaming performance against cost, drop the SLI support and get the Office motherboard selection, and drop to an Antec Sonata-II instead of the separate case and PSU. You save $114 on the either configuration. You can go with a cheaper graphics card as well - $230 for the X800XL, and you're right at the $1250 price point. Personally, though, we'd rather spend the extra money for the 7800GT.
Office Systems
| AMD Mid-Range System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2x512K 2.0GHz (939) - Retail | 361 |
| Motherboard | EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra | 98 |
| Memory | Corsair PC-3200 2x512MB Value CL2.5 | 89 |
| Video Card | Connect3D Radeon X700 Pro 128MB | 98 |
| Hard Drive | Hitachi SATA 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Deskstar T7K250 NCQ | 120 |
| Optical Drive | NEC 3540A Black (OEM) | 42 |
| Case and Power Supply | Antec Sonata II + SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU | 115 |
| Display | Acer AL1914smd-8 19 inch 8ms LCD | 301 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-3e 2.1 Speakers | 73 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech Internet Pro Desktop | 23 |
| Bottom Line | 1320 | |
| Intel Mid-Range System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Pentium D 820 2x1MB 2.8GHz (775) - Retail | 248 |
| Motherboard | ASUS 945P P5LD2 | 132 |
| Memory | Corsair PC-4200 2x1024MB Value | 163 |
| Video Card | Connect3D Radeon X700 Pro 128MB | 98 |
| Hard Drive | Hitachi SATA 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Deskstar T7K250 NCQ | 120 |
| Optical Drive | NEC 3540A Black (OEM) | 42 |
| Case and Power Supply | Antec Sonata II + SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU | 115 |
| Display | Acer AL1914smd-8 19 inch 8ms LCD | 301 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-3e 2.1 Speakers | 73 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech Internet Pro Desktop | 23 |
| Bottom Line | 1315 | |
Our Office configurations are a little less painful on the old pocketbook, ringing up at just over $1300. As with the Gaming setups, reusing your current display, speakers, etc. could reduce the cost quite a bit, getting under the $1000 price point. For the AMD setup, you might consider upgrading to 2x1GB of RAM, since multitasking that can take advantage of two cores is also more likely to surpass the 1GB RAM usage mark. The Intel system comes with 2GB of RAM, but the processor is definitely slower than the X2 3800+. It might be worth considering a CPU upgrade for the Intel system, but we're not really sold on the bang for the buck that it offers.
Some of you are probably wondering how the dual core CPUs perform in gaming systems. Many games work fine, though some have issues with two cores being present. (There aren't any current games that can actually utilize both cores, unfortunately.) Anand has mentioned recently that he's looking into gaming compatibility. We do have a modified version of the setaffin.exe Freeware program that might prove useful - unlike setaffin.exe and runfirst.exe, you can set the application to run on any CPU core instead of just CPU 0. If you'd like, give it a try - it's unsupported software, and we take no responsibility for what it might do to your system, of course. It's also available under the GPL license free of charge. (Thanks to Russell Pickett for providing the basis of the tool; simple, yet effective! We've avoided providing a direct link to his web page to avoid overloading his home server.)
Conclusion
We hope that you've found this Buyer's Guide to be useful, and we'll be releasing additional Guides more frequently in the future. Your comments, suggestions, and criticisms are welcome. As we've tried to make clear, there is no perfect system that we can recommend for every person. If you're willing to spend $1250 or so, however, there are plenty of decisions that can be made to tune the system to your needs.
We did not include an OS in the total cost of any system, so that would add $90 to $135 (when purchased with hardware) to the price for Windows XP. We should also mention that there has been some confusion about XP Home and dual-core support. XP SP2 will indeed support both cores; it is licensed as a single socket product, so it supports HyperThreading as well as the Pentium D and X2 processors. Even though it will work, we prefer the added flexibility of XP Professional and feel that it is worth the extra $45.
You could also ditch Microsoft altogether and go with Linux or some other Unix derivative - probably not for gaming, but OpenOffice with Linux actually makes for a rather potent office system. We wouldn't give such a setup to your grandparents, but more knowledgeable computer users shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out how to get such a system working properly.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
56 Comments
View All Comments
vailr - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
No mention of the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset?And note that, it apparently:
"DOES NOT support the dual-core Pentium D 820 processor"
"The 820 does not work with Nforce boards, you have to get an 830."
See:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...amp;thre...
Also, maybe a mention of HD sound level quietness?
Samsung HD's appear to be the quietest, followed by Seagate as next quietest? Or: have newer drives from Hitachi, WD or Maxtor changed that idea?
JarredWalton - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
I've got one of the newer WD drives, and the fan noise overpowers anything from the HDD. Maxtors are still pretty loud, IMO, but mostly on seek noise. Thankfully, all of the HDDs are quiet on the bearing noise front. The older IDE drives from several companies were really bad. FDB has cleared up those problems.noxipoo - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
I thought midrange was... well mid priced as well. i've only been out of the country for 2 weeks, did something new come out that i'm not aware of?JarredWalton - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
Read it in the context of the article. Basically, if you're going to spend $1250 (give or take) on a computer, but games are really important to you, I'm recommending that you downgrade most other parts in order to get the 7800GT. A fast GPU is the most important item in a gaming system, in my opinion.yacoub - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
While there is a difference between integrated audio and discrete audio solutions, you'll need better speakers before it really begins to matter.Well there is also the 3D gaming performance difference, where the on-board solutions tend to suck up CPU resources something awful when compared to a peripheral card audio solution.
yacoub - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
$1250 is the right goal for pricing for a Mid-Range system. You can build a solid system for that amount that will run the latest games fine and offer plenty of performance for everything else. Good call on that price range (within $250 either way makes sense, but under $1350 is ideal).archcommus - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
I don't know what this world is coming to when the recommended MID-RANGE video card is almost a frickin' four hundred dollars. How is the slightly lesser version of the most recent model of video card considered mid-range and not high end? I'd call that high end, with the top-level 7800 being ultra high-end.yacoub - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
One word: Marketing.That's the only reason companies have the balls to debut a new GPU at anything over $350 - they can convince people it's omg amazingly necessary and better.
JarredWalton - Monday, September 19, 2005 - link
The $400 video card is for gaming. For games, that fast video card is a LOT more important than getting a faster CPU. $370 for the X2 3800+ or $370 for the 7800GT? How dare they charge that much money!? For the record, I remember a time when Pentium MMX 200 processors cost $650, as did the K6 200MHz. Sure, graphics card prices have gone up, but so has the importance of the GPU relative to the rest of the system - again, for games only.yacoub - Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - link
Like I said, marketing. Good to see it's working, too. That'll keep them encouraged to keep upping the new card debut prices every six months since they can find suckers to buy them at those prices. Eventually I'll just move to console gaming while some of you take out loans for overpriced PC hardware. (And this is coming from a PC gaming fanatic who dislikes most current console offerings - yes, I will be that certain of not wasting money that I will sacrifice the latest PC gaming simply to avoid being price raped.)I've never paid $400 before yet have always been able to buy a new GPU that runs the top games at high enough res smoothly. In fact the most I've ever paid for a hot new GPU was $300. I'm currently ready to upgrade from my 9800 Pro 128mb and will go with something again around $300 which will play all the current games just fine - and I'm not even playing BF2 or FEAR so it's even easier for me to 'make due' with an X800XL or similar card.