Buyer's Guide: High-End Systems - June 2001

Case
Supermicro SC760-A Full Tower ATX - $200
Fong Kai FK-320ATX Mid Tower ATX - $120
We need a case that can handle anything we can throw at it, but at a reasonable price level.  That case is the Supermicro SC760-A full tower and is available for about $200 with an Athlon approved 300W Sparkle power supply.  A total of ten drive bays and the ability to accept an extended ATX motherboard insures that this system will always have room for upgrades. 

If you want something a little smaller than the monstrous SC760-A for your home, consider the Fong Kai FK-320ATX. It offers plenty of room to work inside, is well built, provides excellent cooling, and even includes an Athlon approved Enhance 730-ATX power supply.

For more information, read our Supermicro SC750-A and Fong Kai FK-320ATX Reviews.

Sound card - Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $50
The "5.1" versions of all Sound Blaster Live! cards are now available that allow it to handle Dolby Digital decoding. This is only important if you plan on using a speaker system with 5.1 analog inputs that also doesn't its own Dolby Digital decoder. We only have stereo speakers on this system so no need to go with the 5.1 model.

The Live! 5.1 is now available in OEM form for about $25 more than the standard Live! Value if you want to go that route.

Speakers - Cambridge SoundWorks Digital - $100
The SoundWorks Digital is a 2.1 system that features the same drivers and sub as the highly acclaimed Desktop Theater DTT2500.  Need we say more?

For more information, read our Cambridge SoundWorks Desktop Theater DTT2500 Review.

Ethernet - Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20
We use Linksys products here in the AnandTech lab all the time and have never been disappointed.  Besides, at just $20 for a card with full support directly from the manufacturer under the major OS's, including Linux and Windows 2000, the EtherFast 10/100 is a deal that's tough to pass up.

Hard drive - 2 x IBM Deskstar 60GXP 20GB - $100 x 2
The fastest IDE drives on the market are currently made by IBM with the 75GXP and 60GXP series drives. The two families offer similar performance levels, but the 60GXP is newer and seems to be slightly faster with higher reliability, so we'll go with that. The only downside to the 60GXP is that the biggest drive available is a 60GB, instead of the 75GB available with the 75GXP, but that's not a major problem for most users. If you need an even larger drive, go with the Western Digital WD800BB which offers 80GB of space and almost the same level of performance.

We'll need two of these drives in order to reap the speed benefits of RAID striping. If you're work is disk intensive, considering going with a 10,000 RPM drive and an Ultra 160 controller.  The Atlas 10K II is widely available and is well known to be one of the faster drives available.

For more information, read our IBM Deskstar 75GXP Review.

Ultra ATA 100 RAID Controller - Promise FastTrak 100 - $100
Promise was one of the first manufacturers to bring IDE RAID to the masses, so it's no surprise that their latest model, the FastTrak 100 is our choice for the IDE RAID controller in these systems. Promise controllers generally have better compatibility and driver support than some of the other options on the market today. The FastTrak 100 supports RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 0+1.

CD/DVD-ROM - Pioneer DVD-106S 16X Slot Load DVD-ROM - $80
What high-end system is complete today without a DVD-ROM?  Pioneer continues to lead the pack with their DVD-106S, a 16X DVD-ROM drive. Of course, it also reads CDs as well at a swift 40X max clip.  

CD-RW - Plextor PlexWriter 16/10/40A CD-RW - $225
Plextor remains the performance leader in the EIDE CD-RW market with their latest 16/10/40 burner. It beats out Yamaha's CRW2100EZ, which is also a 16/10/40 burner, by using a constant linear velocity (CLV) motor that allows it to burn at 16X across the entire disc. The Yamaha, meanwhile, is a CAV drive, meaning that only the outside edge of the disc is burned at 16X. The Yamaha is a great drive as well, and even costs $50 less if you're looking to save a bit of money.

OS - Windows 2000 - $200
You want to get work done, right?  Well, you definitely don't want your system crashing and destroying unsaved work all the time.  Windows 2000 is the only way to go for rock solid stability.  If you don't need all the features of Windows 2000, but want a more tried and true solution, drop back to Windows NT 4.0, but note that you'll lose access to the vast array of USB peripherals out there.

Bottom Line: $2,300 (without software or shipping)