Weekly Buyer's Guide: High End System - April 2004
by Evan Lieb on April 30, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Monitor
Recommendation: Samsung 1100DF 21" (20" viewable) DynaFlat CRTPrice: $470 shipped
Not only does Samsung make a great mid-range monitor with their 955DF series, they make a great high-end monitor with their 1100DF series too. The 1100DF is capable of refresh rates of 75Hz at 2048x1536 and 85Hz at 1280x1024 and has a dot pitch of 0.20mm. Text clarity is very impressive, glare is non-existent, and gaming performance is top-of-the-line.
Alternative: ViewSonic P225F 22" PerfectFlat CRT
Price: $610 shipped
ViewSonic's 22-inch P225F CRT is a stellar choice for gamers. The aperture grille is what makes this monitor particularly special. Going by its word for word definition, the aperture grille "is a series of vertical wires stretched vertically down the inside of a CRT to mask the beams from the electron guns at the back of the tube". What the P225F's flat aperture grille essentially does is help to minimize the geometric distortion that users will see on increasingly larger screens, like this 22" monitor. With this feature, the P225F is basically able to display a more precise and accurate picture with sharp overall text clarity compared to monitors without flat aperture grille technology. Because of this feature, the P225F is truly one of the best 22" monitors on the market that doesn't force you to take out a second mortgage on the house. Philip's 22" 202P45, the one we picked as the alternative monitor for our high end guide a month ago, is another excellent choice for less than $600.
Computer Case
Recommendation: Kingwin K11 Aluminum ATX casePrice: $70 shipped
Kingwin makes a great aluminum computer case, dubbed their K11 series. Even with all your components installed, the case is still relatively light, even light enough to carry to a LAN party or bring it 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 two front fans, one rear fan, and one top fan included as well. As we just suggested, a 360W Enlight power supply is recommended for a system that draws as much power as this one.
For a power supply, we suggest Antec's 400W PSU (SL400) for $50 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+, 9800 Pro, etc.), you might as well not leave anything to chance.
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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32 Comments
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00aStrOgUy00 - Sunday, May 2, 2004 - link
Why do the speaker recommendations give no comments on the sound quality, and just gives useless information such as, this has 100W and this has 150W...Seems like you've never even heard the speakers you're recommending.
yz426 - Saturday, May 1, 2004 - link
I would like to see them indicate where they buy the products for the price they claim. Where can you get. quate the Recommendation: 2 X 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level One Dual Pack (CAS2)Price: $239 shipped. Stop blowing smoke up my a** and say where you purchase the components for the price you say.
Mackintire - Saturday, May 1, 2004 - link
I shall REPEATThe Seagate 7200.7 is quieter, faster, runs cooler and does not have the habit of destroying its bearings.
For a Hard Drive IN THE SAME CLASS there is no comparason.
TrogdorJW - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
You know what they really need to do to appease everyone? They need to have this "high-end" system target the $2000 price range, and then they can put together a "dream" system in the up to $5000 range. Then maybe people would stop whining about the choices. :)For relatively high-end, this setup would be hard to beat. 10-20% more performance from the hard drives for more than twice the cost (you would need two 74 GB Raptors to equal the space offered by the 120GB) is a luxury most aren't able to induldge in. Same with the Athlon FX-53 - it's almost twice the price of the 3400+ and maybe 10% faster on average. It would also need registered DIMMs and a 940 motherboard, which would probably increase costs another $100 or so. So you could get a PC put together that would be 20% faster or so, but it would run closer to $3000 and would still only be the king of the mountain for a few months at best.
Anyway, I think the guide has a lot of good recommendations, but I still don't understand why alternatives aren't listed for some of the items (case) while the sound card had two options with very little difference in price or performance. No need for the four paragraphs extolling the virtues of the Inwin case (again) - list three or four good choices with a short blurb on each!
n4v3k - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
Don't you think that it would be wise to advise that people get a 480+ watt power supply since you mention the GeForce 6800 Ultra in your review and even suggest that it might be wise to wait for it?SonicIce - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
two drives in raid 0 would generate alot more heat and noise than just a single, bigger drive.IceVoltageccs - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
I see no point in using the WD120JB if you have the abilty to use SATA do it its up to you as far as which company you want to go with the 120JD is a fast drive and so is the seagate also sence this is a high end system why not. Also why not a Lan-Li or mabye a Thermaltake Case. Evan i just dont understand you case choices also how about some ram that you can find.IceVoltageccs - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
Gnoad - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
Yeah. I agree, bad choice on the hard drive and the case. Also, where's the FX-53? That must be better than the 3400+.Mackintire - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
I agree about using the raptor drive. I do think that this article should be relabled mid-high end.I have the 74gig WD raptor drive. And yes it does blow the WD 120JB out of the water. But for a machine sitting in my room on all night. I still would prefer the seagate 7200.7, possibly in raid 0. That would still saturate the PCI bus, just like the raid Raptors. Good Idea!