Weekly Buyer's Guide: Mid-Range System - March 2004

Networking

Nothing more than onboard networking is needed for a mid-range system like the one we're building today. However, a nice additional feature that the P4P800 Deluxe brings in terms of networking is its onboard 3COM Gigabit controller, capable of 10/100/1000 transfer speeds. This isn't going to change your experience on the Internet, but Gigabit is very useful for transferring large amounts of data to and from multiple networked computers in, for example, an office or within a family computers. Some will find the addition of Gigabit very useful for this purpose, while most will just stick to utilizing just the 10/100 capability.

Storage

Recommendation: Western Digital 800JB (80GB) 7200RPM (8MB cache)
Price: $70 shipped

Western Digital's Caviar series of drives are still the best price/performance drives on the market, and literally the best in terms of price and performance. The "JB" in 800JB indicates that your WD drive has an 8MB buffer, which means that your drive is able to store more frequently accessed data than a 2MB drive, vastly increasing performance. Thankfully, if you buy from the right manufacturer, you will receive a 3-year warranty with your drive, which is very useful if you're the unfortunate victim of hard drive death (usually identifiable by the "click of death" sound).

Alternative: Western Digital 1200JB 120GB 7200RPM (8MB cache) ATA
Price: $92 shipped

For an extra $22, you can upgrade your WD 800JB drive to 120GB, which, as you've probably guessed by now, offers an additional 40GB or so in storage capacity. This type of additional capacity can be exceedingly useful if you're someone who stores endless emails in Outlook, plays lots of games, listens to lots of MP3's, or simply needs additional space for the next 12 or more months down the road. Overall, the 800JB and 1200JB aren't any different in anything that you need to concern yourself about, as they both come with the same 8MB buffer and both perform almost identically. Be wary of WD drives that emit the infamous "WD whine" that continues to annoy users to this day. Depending on your vendor, you may be able to return your drive for a quieter version.

Optical Storage

Recommendation: Sony 52x32x52 CD-RW
Price: $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. We recommended this same optical drive in our Entry Level Guide last week, but it is equally useable for Mid-Range systems.

Alternative: Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive
Price: $52 shipped

If you want to be able to watch DVDs, 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 your burn CDs, which isn't possible with this combo drive. In the end, the decision is up to you as to how you want to configure optical storage.