Hard Drive(s)
Recommendation: Western Digital 400BB (40GB) 7200RPM (2MB cache)Price: $57 shipped
Western Digital continues to make well priced budget drives that aren't noticeably slower than the 5400RPM variety. Depending on what type of office tasks you perform, a 7200RPM drive like the Western Digital 400BB is going to be faster than pretty much any 5400RPM hard drive on the market, and for not much more money. 40GB should be more than enough if you're just storing mostly Outlook or Word/Excel/PowerPoint documents, a few games, and some MP3's. Of course, as we preached at the beginning of this guide, reliability is always a big deal when you're talking about important data, and luckily, this particular series of Western Digital drives has gained wide acceptance around the industry as extremely reliable drives. We, here at AnandTech, share this same sentiment, as we have used several WD drives (Caviar series) not only for our personal systems, but our test systems as well.
Runner-up: Western Digital 400JB (40GB) 7200RPM (8MB cache)
Price: $64 shipped
Like the 400BB, the 400JB is a 40GB 7200RPM hard drive. The only difference is in the size of the cache (or buffer) that each drive uses to store data. Basically, the 400JB is going to be faster than the 400BB because it can store more data in its cache (8MB instead of just 2MB) for use later on in a fetch sequence, and overall that gives your system a performance boost. In general, however, the difference isn't huge, but definitely does shave off some time in common everyday tasks like unzipping files or installing an application, for example.
Optical Storage
Recommendation: Sony 52x32x52 CD-RWPrice: $32 shipped
There aren't too many differences between CD-RW's nowadays, save for reliability among various manufacturers. For the most part, Sony has done a good job with their high-end CD-RW drives and we have had great success with them in the past, which is why we decided to recommend them today. At $32 shipped, you really can't go wrong with this solution.
Runner-up: Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW
Price: $36 shipped
While Lite-On is slightly more expensive than the Sony CD-RW that we recommended, Lite-On's reputation for reliability is just about as good. We've tested and used multiple Lite-On drivers, from 24X to 52X recently and many more before then with great success. Plextor has gained wide acceptance as the gold standard for optical drives (reliability especially), and specifically CD-RWs, but their prohibitive pricing makes it an unrealistic choice for budget users, which is why we're recommending Sony and Lite-On drives instead.
UPDATED February 19th, 2004
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kherman - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
Love the article. I just wish a budget 19" was ercomended. That's probably the one major upgrade a budget user would want. Whether for gaming or office type work, that's an important choice.IMHO, in the future, several monitors of varrying sizes should be listed each week.
Just saying, in the future, consider multiple monitor sizes for each week's category that match the cost associated with that week.
I suppose the big argument is that for my needs of Office programs and occasional gaming, I need little more than a budget rig, but I still wanth te 19 inch monitor to give my eyes something big to look at. I suppose that's true for alot of 27 year old married people ;)
EXCELENMT REVIEW!
It's good to see these rig ideas again. Thanks for bringing them back. With time at a minimum, it's a VERY nice way to keep up with PC technology.
Karl
capodeloscapos - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
I cant believe that the photos are BMPs!!!!! (who is the HTML editor of that page?)In my 56 K modem its really annoying.
Change it for JPEG, please.
Cygni - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
I would have gone with a Duron 1.6 Applebred, a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra, and a Radeon 9100... but thats me.TrogdorJW - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
Weird... I really didn't double-post that. Clicked once, got the first 20 posts, went to page 2, and there were two posts. I guess it was just a glitch in the system. Or maybe a Ghost in the Shell? :pTrogdorJW - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
And no, I don't work for Newegg. That's just where I get all my parts. Personally, regardless of where you shop, I think it's best to get everything from one supplier if possible. It helps on warranty issues, and you usually save on shipping. I'm sure ZipZoomFly.com and several other places could end up at a relatively close price to what I list from Newegg.TrogdorJW - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
And no, I don't work for Newegg. That's just where I get all my parts. Personally, regardless of where you shop, I think it's best to get everything from one supplier if possible. It helps on warranty issues, and you usually save on shipping. I'm sure ZipZoomFly.com and several other places could end up at a relatively close price to what I list from Newegg.TrogdorJW - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
Actually, here's my take on a killer deal for a really good system. It has 1 GB RAM, 2500+, 80GB hard drive, 9600 video card, and 5.1 speakers. Anyway, it's a lot more than your budget system, but it could be downgraded (like only 512MB RAM and a 9200 video card, and drop the speakers) quite easily. For about $900 without software, or $1150 with shipping, two year warranty, and Windows XP Professional, it's more of the mid-range category. Still, I like it. I've built this exact system for one guy who only games occasionally, and he thinks it's great.Link:
http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=600488
TrogdorJW - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
I suppose you should probably start by giving a definition of "budget" systems. For me, I consider budget to be around $750, mid-range to be $1250, and high-end to be anything more than $1500. $500 is a "Dell Special" where you end up going with the bare minimum for a new system. An extra $250 spent would have allowed you to double the RAM, double the hard drive, get a 19" monitor, and go with a nicer case like an Antec. Oh, well.My biggest complaint about the setup has to be the monitor, though. I'm not sure about the Samsung, but I have a ton of NEC FE771SB monitors at work. (Okay, 140 of them, not a "ton".) They're okay, but at $175, that's way more than I would be willing to pay. First, image clarity is not that great, IMO. Second, the "Super Bright" option is just plain stupid. I would have liked to see a 19" monitor like the Samsung recommend as a runner up. It costs $20 more, but getting a really good monitor can be a very long-term investment. It's the one piece of equipment that could actually last ten years or more! (I have a Cornerstone 21" monitor that I purchased six years ago, and I'm still perfectly happy with it. $550 then, and a comparable monitor still costs $400.)
So, here's my recommended monitor:
Samsung 955DF-T/T for $175
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
Shipping would add about $20 or $25, depending on where you live. (I'm west cost, but east coast might be significantly more from Newegg.)
Evan Lieb - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
Actually, make that $135 OEM. Students get a discount on their OSes, but it depends on what university you attend. Check with your university book store.Evan Lieb - Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - link
Thanks for the comments guys.Yeah, there's a typo with the WinXP Pro price, it should be $137 shipped (OEM version). For some reason I didn't change that before posting the article.
As far as choosing the HDD is concerned, extra storage or speed really isn't all that important if it ends up costing more, this is a budget system. Though, I suppose I should have recommended the 9200SE instead, but that's why I put it in as a runner-up. :)