Weekly Buyer's Guide: High End System - March 2004

Networking

Nothing more than onboard networking is needed for a high end system like the one we're building today. However, a nice additional feature (specifically of the ASUS K8V Deluxe) is an 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 of computers. Some will find the addition of Gigabit very useful for this purpose, while most will stick to utilizing just the 10/100 capability.

Storage

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

While WD's Caviar series of IDE hard drives (their BB and JB series) aren't as fast as their Raptor counterparts, they offer plenty more storage and are quite fast in their own right, considering their 8MB buffer and 7200RPM spindle speed. Anyway, this type of additional capacity can be exceedingly useful if you're someone that stores an endless number of emails in Outlook, plays lots of games, listens to lots of MP3's, or simply needs additional space for the future 12 or more months down the road. 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 if you receive one that whines consistently.

Alternative: Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA
Price: $213 shipped

In the last month, 74GB WD Raptor drives have dropped about $14 in price, from $227, being the lowest price a month ago, to $213, being the lowest price available today. This is definitely a welcome change because it means that high 10,000RPM HDD's will be pushed into the mainstream. Anyway, the 74GB Raptor is the faster version of WD's 36.7GB Raptor, outfitted with the same 8MB buffer and 10,000RPM spindle that we looked at about a year ago here. Besides the difference in performance, this Raptor still has the same 5-year warranty and outputs just about the same amount of noise. Previously, 10,000RPM speeds or a 5-year warranty were features only found on enterprise/SCSI drives, but thanks to WD, they have finally reached the mainstream desktop, more or less. The only "problem" with Raptor drives is that they just don't store a lot of data, with only 36.7GB and 74GB versions of the Raptor currently available. If you can't live with a 36.7GB or 74GB drive, then we suggest that you simply skip this alternative and stick with the recommended 1200JB. But that's only if storage capacity is very important to you.

Optical Storage

Recommendation: NEC 2500A 8X DVD+/-RW
Price: $90 shipped

Since we're trying to bring down the price of this system just a tad compared to our last high end system, we've decided to recommend a good "bargain" DVD burner this time. NEC's 2500A is probably one of the best reliable high end DVD burners that you'll find on the market today without spending over $100. It's able to play and burn just about every DVD/CD out there, and up to 8X DVD+/-RW to boot. You won't be seeing higher end DVD burners for quite some time (read: mid-summer), so this drive will last you many, many months.