Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level System - March 2004
by Evan Lieb on March 17, 2004 11:22 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Networking
Recommendation: Onboard networkingPrice: $0
As we did with sound, we are recommending the A7N8X-X's onboard Ethernet solution, powered by Realtek's 8201BL controller. Pretty much every onboard network controller is the same nowadays, so there's usually no need to worry about Internet speed/download issues. This is why a 10/100 solution like the one onboard the A7N8X-X (and NF7-S Rev.2 if you so choose) will suffice for your Internet needs. Gigabit or 802.11a/b networking just isn't necessary unless you have a home network that transfers a lot of data to and from multiple computers, or if you already have an AP (Access Point) setup in your home for wireless Internet.
Hard Drive(s)
Recommendation: Western Digital 400BB (40GB) 7200RPM (2MB cache)Price: $57 shipped
Western Digital continues to make well priced budget drives that are noticeably faster 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. 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.
Alternative: Western Digital 800JB (80GB) 7200RPM (8MB cache)
Price: $71 shipped
A very nice upgrade for $14 can be had with a WD 800JB hard drive. The 8MB cache and additional 40GB of space are both excellent reasons to upgrade to this hard drive. We've been lucky enough to receive several quiet versions of the 800JB and in our research, we have found that it's one of the quieter WD Caviar hard drives. In other words, you may have less of a chance of encountering the infamous WD "whine" sound from your hard drive if you purchase this model and not, say, a 1200JB. Yes, it really is that much of a crap shoot.
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. You can burn music CD's in mere minutes, and even a full 700MB or 800MB with the appropriate media can be burned in a matter of 15-20 minutes depending on exactly what type of files you're burning. At $32 shipped, you really can't go wrong with this solution.
Alternative: Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive
Price: $52 shipped
If you want to be able to watch DVDs, then you can always opt for a combo drive. Its function essentially integrates CD burning and DVD watching into one drive. The added benefit is that you're getting a better price for this combo drive versus purchasing an additional drive. The price difference isn't all that huge ($10-$15) if you were to buy a separate drive, plus that second drive allows you to watch DVDs while you burn CDs, which isn't possible with the combo drive. In the end, the decision is up to you as to how you want to configure your optical storage.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on hard drives from many different reputable vendors:
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
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TrogdorJW - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
I realize this is on a budget, but since the CPU/motherboard alternative was an extra $40, the graphics an extra $20, the hard drive and extra $18, etc. I would think that suggesting 512 MB of RAM as an alternative might be a good addition.It doesn't help in a lot of systems, but if someone is going to add in the 9200 (Pro?) graphics card, the 2500+ CPU, and the NF7-S motherboard all in hopes of making their budget system a more capable gaming system, then the 256 MB of RAM will be a serious problem. There aren't many games coming out that don't use more than 256 MB of RAM now, and several are already using up to 700 MB or so. At the very least, I think it would warrant mention as a *third* alternative in the memory area. Some people aren't going to go and read all of the other guides, after all.
However, that said, it's pretty impressive what you can put together for $500, especially when the monitor is one third of the price!
mostlyprudent - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
Just wanted to take a moment and tell you folks at Anandtech how much I enjoy and appreciate these buyers guides. I recently started a new job (outsie the IT field). My employer wanted me to start ASAP, but the OEM they normally buy their PCs from could not ship a system for over two weeks. I mentioned that I was capable of building my own system in a matter of a day or two, and to my surprise and delight, they took me up on it. I found these guides very helpful, if for nothing else than to ratify my own decisions.In case you're interested, here's what I assembled:
Foxcom Supercase 1150 BK
Fortron FSP300-60N 300W PSU
AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton
ABIT KV7 motherboard
ASUS 64MB Radeon 9200SE
1x512MB Corsiar Value Select PC-2700
Western Digital 40GB HD - 400JB
Samsung 19'' 955DF Monitor
Creative Labs SBS230 2.0CH Speakers
Floppy
16X-DVD
WinXP Pro
While this was far from my first build, it was really nice to have read the buyers guides and have them as a resource for decision making when I had such a short time frame.
Zebo - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
Were you using the LCD to compare the 9800 Pro to the Shuttle board's nForce IGP graphics? You're definitely a rare case if there's no noticeable difference between the two in terms of text sharpness.
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I did not compare side by side just stating I don't notice blurred text with the on-board graphics. Lucky? perhaps I do notice it's slower than molases at ~2800 3dmark2001.... Need a 9000/9100/9200 to test.
Ronnie - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
Out of some spare parts I built a system almost identical to that. The only difference was I had a 440mx card laying around and some kingston pc3200. I plan on giving it to my brother in-law.Evan Lieb - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
Thanks guys, corrections made.georgeg - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
On the summary chart, you list the Sapphire 64mb Radeon 9200 for $41.00. At that price, don't you mean the 9200SE?gherald - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
>Agreed guys, I'll change PC2100 to PC2700 next time.>Even though it means squat for entry level users, you're right,
>might as well go with the faster memory if the price is identical.
Ok, but make the 3200 the "alternative". Because, here's a possible scenario:
About two years from now this system will start to seem obsolete (cuz it's already entry level). When that happens, you'll have these extra PC2700 DIMMs that no one can use. Whereas if you'd used 3200 for just $5-10 more, you would be able to add that memory to a less-old system, such as once of the current P4 or A64s, and make a nice 2GB RAM file server or somesuch on the cheap...
Z80 - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
Where did you find a new Abit NF7-S motherboard for $82 shipped? Best I've found is about $100 unless you buy a refurb. Maybe you confused the NF7 price with the NF7-S?assemblage - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
I like these series of articles. I've been putting my own system together for years and like playing around with configuring different types of systems for different users.nastyemu25 - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
If you want to be able to watch DVDs, then you can always opt for a combo drive. Its function essentially integrates CD burning and DVD watching into one drive. The burning takes place at a slower 32X speed, but the added benefit is that you're getting a better price for this combo drive versus purchasing an additional drive.^^^^^^^ wtf? the burning takes place at a slower 32x speed?????? ummm, it's 52x32x52x16
I don't understand how CD burning is taking place at a slower "32x" speed..... there is NO caveat with buying a combo drive....