Buyer's Guide: High-End Systems - July 2000

High-end SOHO
The small office/home office machine has a unique set of requirements. It must provide quick and snappy 2D performance and be very stable. The keys to good performance on such a machine is lots of RAM and a fast hard drive. This system should be able to handle just about anything a typical business user might throw at it.

Processor – AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 800 - $275
Although CPU performance isn’t the most important factor for many office applications, there are some where CPU performance is critical. At similar clock speeds, the Athlon holds a significant advantage in price, and for that reason, we’ve chosen a Socket-A Athlon 800, which means that it's using the new Thunderbird core with on-die cache.

Besides the direct performance benefits of full speed on-die cache, we also get the side benefit of enhanced overclockability. If you're willing to overclock our CPU, you can save some money by going with the 700 MHz model, most of which will hit 900 - 950 MHz at default voltage, all without exotic cooling. The 800 MHz chip will overclock to the same range, so there's little point in spending the extra money on it if you do plan to overclock.

For more information on all Athlon processors, read our Athlon "Thunderbird" 1GHz Review and our Thunderbird / Duron Overclocking Revealed Aritcle.

Motherboard – FIC AZ-11 - $140
Socket-A motherboard selection is still relatively weak as boards are still trickling into retailers. While the FIC AZ-11 is not exactly a ground breaking motherboard, it does get the job done. More importantly, it's one of the few standard ATX models currently available. Unlike the upcoming ASUS A7V or ABIT KT7, the AZ-11 does not allow unlocking the Socket-A multiplier in its shipping form.However, our recent Thunderbird/Duron Overclocking Article gives you all the information you'll need to modify the AZ-11 to enable this feature. The modifications are not for the faint of heart, but the AZ-11 is one of the few boards available now that support such overclocking. Those that don't feel so comfortable with a soldering iron, we recommend waiting for the ASUS or ABIT boards to be released.

For more information, read our FIC AZ-11 Review and our Thunderbird / Duron Overclocking Revealed Aritcle.

Memory – 256MB Corsair or Mushkin PC133 SDRAM (2x128MB DIMM’s) – $180 x 2
Even though memory is relatively cheap these days, 256MB is more than enough.  We could have dropped down to 128MB, but the savings didn’t justify the performance loss.  Besides, this is our high-end SOHO machine, and there’s room in the budget. 

As for the exact brand of memory, we recommend Corsair or Mushkin modules.  We use them in our test systems and have had absolutely no problems with them. 

Video card – Matrox G400 32MB Dual Head - $125
We’ve always found Matrox cards to do an excellent job in business environments, and their latest card, the G400, is no exception.  You’ll get snappy 2D display, DVD playback, and excellent display driver utilities that include useful features like virtual desktop.  With the option for dual head, you can add a second monitor to potentially double your workspace.  And if you need to take a break from work, the G400 is ready to frag away ;) This month, the price is down $60. Thank the release of faster and faster products from NVIDIA and 3dfx for that price drop.

For more information, read our Matrox G400 & G400 MAX Review.

Monitor – iiYama VisionMaster PRO 450 - $600
If you’re going to be sitting in front of your monitor for hours a day, it’s critical that you have a crisp monitor that can provide a flicker-free refresh rate at your resolution of choice.  Using a Mitsubishi Diamondtron NF, the iiYama VisionMaster Pro 450 provides a perfectly flat display surface using the same technology in Sony’s FD Trinitron models, but at a lower cost.  The VisionMaster PRO 450 is a 19” monitor and has been highly acclaimed here on AnandTech and by owners alike.  If you’ve got the funds, we highly recommend you go with the 22” VisionMaster PRO 510 for around $1000.

For more information, read our iiYama VisionMaster PRO 450 and VisionMaster PRO 510 Reviews.