Weekly Buyer's Guide: Cutting Edge System - March 2004
by Evan Lieb on March 3, 2004 12:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Cutting Edge System (continued)
Computer Case
Recommendation: Kingwin K11 Aluminum ATX casePrice: $70 shipped
We suggested Kingwin last week as the runner-up, but will place it as our recommendation this week because of how much we enjoy building systems with this case. Kingwin makes great aluminum computer cases; this particular one is dubbed the K11 series. Even with all your components installed, the case is still relatively light, even light enough to carry to a LAN party or to bring over to your friend's or family's house. It comes with four 5.25" Bays, two external 3.5" Bays and five internal 3.5" bays, four USB 2.0 ports, and one Audio, Mic, FireWire port. There are one top, one rear, and two front fans included as well. The case construction and quality is quite good; the material isn't cheap or flimsy by any means.
For a power supply, we suggest Antec's 400W PSU (SL400) for $55 shipped. It provides stable voltages, a good warranty, fairly quiet operation, low operating temperature, and in general is reliable and trusted among enthusiasts. Truth be told, a quality 350W or even 300W power supply may do the job just as well, but since the price difference is minimal at best and because this system draws a large amount of power anyway (3400+, 9800XT, etc.), you might as well not leave anything to chance.
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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 ?