Weekly Buyer's Guide: Cutting Edge System - March 2004
by Evan Lieb on March 3, 2004 12:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Motherboard
Recommendation: ASUS K8V Deluxe (VIA K8T800 chipset)Price: $139 shipped
The ASUS K8V Deluxe offers several different advantages and features over other Socket 754 Athlon 64 motherboards that make it our recommendation today. First off, the K8V Deluxe's combined performance and price is superb; the K8T800 chipset's outstanding performance combined with features like Serial ATA (RAID), Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 1394 FireWire, SPDIF, and IDE RAID, among other nice features makes the K8V Deluxe a great high end board for the price. Normally, we could care less about the price for a cutting edge system like this, assuming we're not talking over $200, but for $140, it's truly amazing the number of cutting edge features that can fit on a motherboard these days. Of course, this is not to mention the renowned reliability of ASUS motherboards. Having extensively tested the K8V Deluxe, we can assure that you will indeed enjoy a reliable and trouble free experience for the most part. Overclockers may be especially pleased with this motherboard if they delve into Athlon 64 territory.
Recommendation: ABIT IC7-G MAXII Advance (875P chipset)
Price: $147 shipped
Last summer the Gigabyte 8KNXP was our pick for best high end Pentium 4 motherboard, but since then, we believe that the ABIT IC7-G has edged out the 8KNXP due to the fact that it offers virtually the exact same number of features and performance for $50 less, while last summer, the IC7-G was more expensive. Price usually isn't a concern with a cutting edge system like the one we're recommending here today, but saving $50 and getting a motherboard that's basically as good is never a bad idea how ever you cut it. Anyway, the ABIT IC7-G's mix of Gigabit Ethernet, SPDIF, 3 X IEEE 1394 FireWire ports, and Serial ATA RAID among other features, combined with the industry leading performance and stability of the Intel 875P chipset are the primary reasons why we choose ABIT's IC7-G. Another reason why we choose this motherboard for a cutting edge system is because we've tested virtually every high-end Pentium 4 motherboard in existence over the past 12 months, and to this day, we still can say confidently that the reliability and stability of this ABIT motherboard has been excellent. This exact motherboard is used in one of AnandTech's very own computer labs and I have personally built several high-end gaming systems centered on this motherboard. All in all, the performance, reliability and even the price are stellar.
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Modal - Friday, March 5, 2004 - link
I'm a little bit confused as to why you recommended the Asus K8V Deluxe for the Athlon 64. From what I can tell, its a great board but, you guys (AT) gave the AOpen AK86-L a glowing review a couple of weeks ago, so I'm wondering why the Asus board was picked over this one.Evan Lieb - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
Tulklas,I would recommend the Phillips. :)
Tulklas - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
Mr Lieb,I am in the market for a higher end monitor and am very interested in your reply to Bricksters question:
"I wanted to refer specifically to your monitor selections, and wanted to incur why you chose the Samsung 1100DF over the Philips 202P45?
Price being equal, which monitor would you recommend?"
Thanks
Evan Lieb - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
Brickster,I got your email and replied, thanks. :)
Brickster - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
Brickster - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
Mr. Lieb,I wanted to refer specifically to your monitor selections, and wanted to incur why you chose the Samsung 1100DF over the Philips 202P45?
Price being equal, which monitor would you recommend?
Just a but confused as you seem to tout the aperture grille a bit more in your runner up.
Thanks for your help!
Brick
yc6489 - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
joey2264, I also happen to run a page on computer configurations for 4 different budgets. My mid-range system is around $1500. Take a look: http://people.bu.edu/yc6489/osc/index.htmEvan Lieb - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
That's IC7-G MAXII Advance, not MAX AdvanceII. :)Evan Lieb - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
mostlyprudent,1) Not really available and not worth the extra cost.
2) Yes, they are, my mistake for saying they weren’t in my previous post. Price difference makes it illogical to pay double the price though assuming you don’t need more than 30GB+ of space. If you do, like I said in the guide, there’s nothing wrong with going with the slightly faster 74GB Raptor
3) Yup, I mentioned that as an option for users who needed additional storage. A big secondary ATA drive is not a bad idea by any means if you need space.
4) No problem. $7,000 is just insane. :)
VagrantZero,
Thanks for pointing that out, I must have had a brain fart regarding the speed difference in the 36 and 74 Raptors. Duh.
yc6489,
We recommended the z640s in our mid range guide here: http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.html?i=197...
Pumpkinierre,
It’s a tough choice either way, but ABIT comes out on top for slightly better features for the same price, not to mention great reliability. The new P4C800-E’s are tough to beat, but the IC7-G Max Advance II is by no means a slouch. In the end it’ll come down to personal taste. And those memory issues are long gone, that was only with early BIOS revisions.
Cygni,
It’s not, unless you overclock, that’s why we stated so in our memory section (with regards to the OCZ GOLD modules).
joey2264,
We could do that for a system between budget and mid range, but that would probably be pretty redundant. The best way to shave off a few hundred bucks is by opting for a 9800 Pro instead of a 9800XT, a 955DF instead of the 1100DF, and a 3000+ instead of a 3400+ A64. There are other ways too. :)
buleyb,
Price and performance.
agent2099,
It’s definitely practical, it just might not be as fast. There’s a point you get to where you have to ask yourself if there’s any point in spending another $200 for barely noticeable speed increase.
prazv,
Yes, all prices are listed in USD.
prazv - Thursday, March 4, 2004 - link
out of curiosity are the prices listed in american funds ?