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

Video card – Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS 64MB - $350
RealMagic Hollywood Plus PCI - $60
We knew the call between the ATI Radeon and the NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS would be a tough one, and it's largely a matter of preference. We've settled on the GeForce 2 GTS simply because of driver stability - NVIDIA's drivers are much more mature, while ATI's track record with drivers is quite poor.

Hercules was the first on store shelves with a 64 MB version, the 3D Prophet II GTS 64MB. While it's a bit pricey at around $400, Hercules has thrown in everything but the kitchen sink, including a DVI port, TV-out, a blue PCB, and even RAM heatsinks.

The GeForce2 Ultra will most likely be the chipset of choice for the Dream System as soon as cards are actually available, which currently still looks to be about a month away. Be forewarned that those cards will cost almost double what a GeForce2 GTS sells for.

This month, we've also added a RealMagic Hollywood Plus hardware MPEG-2/DVD decoder card. While the GeForce2's DVD playback is pretty good, it's still not up to par with a dedicated hardware decoder, especially since a dedicated decoder will have Dolby Digital AC-3 output among a few other features that video cards generally do not include. Besides, at just $60 it's hard to go wrong with such an addition to a system like this.

For more information, read our GeForce 2 GTS Review, GeForce 2 GTS 64MB Review, and our Hercules/Guillemot 3D Prophet II GTS 64MB Review.

Monitor – Sony GDM-F500R - $1800
This pure flat monitor is without a doubt the best monitor we’ve ever set our eyes on.  The FD Trinitron tube insures the screen is completely flat, but what makes the GDM-F500R so special is the 0.22mm stripe pitch across the whole screen.  Support for resolutions up to 2048 x 1536 @ 75Hz rounds out the package.  You’ve got to see it to believe it – one look and you’ll be hooked.  But at $1800, it remains just a dream for the vast majority of us.

Case – Addtronics W8500-400A - $400
We took a look at the Addtronics W8500 not too long ago.  For those that don’t remember, it’s a WTX case, meaning that it’s backwards compatible with today’s ATX standard and will also accept future boards based on the WTX standard.  A grand total of 9 fan locations ensure that you’ll always have plenty of cooling available, while 11 drive bays handle expansion.  To ensure that we have enough power, we’ll go with the 400W power supply option from Addtronics – that should be plenty for just about anything we could throw at it. 

For more information, read our Addtronics W8500 Review.

Sound Card – Sound Blaster Live! Platinum - $200
The sound card selection for the dream professional system was as tricky as any other component.  But some careful thought shows that the Sound Blaster Live! is the best choice.  The first problem is that a number of sound cards out there don’t have drivers that work properly with SMP systems under NT 4.0.  Further, the ideal sound card would also have driver support under Windows 2000, Linux, and BeOS. 

The Sound Blaster Live! provides all the features we need in a sound card and thus it is the only choice for this system.  It’s got full support under Windows NT 4.0 and is one of the first cards with a feature complete driver set under Windows 2000 with the recent release of Live!Ware for Win2000.  Creative also has their own set of Linux drivers, while BeOS has built in support for the Live! 

Specifically, we chose the Platinum model since we don’t have to worry about price and, besides, the Live Drive of the Platinum is a nice addition to any system. In the next month or so, look for 5.1 versions of all Sound Blaster Live! cards to be available that will allow your Live! to handle Dolby Digital decoding. For the Dream System, this won't make any difference since we already have a Dolby Digital output on our DVD decoder card and Dolby Digital decoding in our speaker system.

Speakers – VideoLogic DigiTheater DTS - $600
We loved the Video Logic Sirocco Crossfire speaker system, but it's time to add Dolby Digital decoding to our Dream System. The natural replacement is another VideoLogic system, of coures, and that means the DigiTheater DTS. Although it's a bit pricey at $600, we wouldn't want anything but the best in the Dream System.