Weekly Buyer's Guide: Mid-Range System - May 2004
by Evan Lieb on May 20, 2004 12:05 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Memory
Recommendation: 2 X 256MB OCZ PC3200 EL (Enhanced Latency) CAS2.0Price: $135 shipped
We've talked about OCZ's troubled past and history in detail before, but thankfully, those issues have been resolved and OCZ is finally able to bring great memory to market, and has been doing so for over a year now. With that said, OCZ has had tremendous success with their EL series of modules for a reason: great price/performance ratio. At only slighty more than the Kingston ValueRAM that we recommended two months before, you get lower CAS timings (CAS 2-2-3 1T) with OCZ EL modules instead of high CAS timings (CAS 3-3-3 4T) with the Kingston ValueRAM modules. Lower CAS timings along with the EL series' overclocking capability translates into better performance for a great price.
Alternative: 2 X 256MB Mushkin PC3500 Level One Dual Pack (CAS2)
Price: $168 shipped (shipped together in same package)
We've recommended Mushkin's Level One memory in other Buyer's Guides due to its great performance, overclockability, and price, and that is exactly why we are recommending it in this Buyer's Guide today. However, we are recommending the 256MB versions instead of the 512MB versions that we had recommended before because this Buyer's Guide concentrates on mid-range systems where 1GB of memory (2 X 512MB) is usually overkill and users are still fairly sensitive to price. Basically, these modules give you an extra 33MHz (433MHz versus 400MHz) in speed and a lower latency (CAS 2-3-3 instead of CAS 2.5-4-4). You will experience a boost in speed, without any doubt, but how much depends on what programs you use. If you game a lot, the extra clock frequency and lower latencies of the Level One modules will definitely be useful. If not, you will probably not notice any difference in performance whatsoever.
Video
Recommendation: 128MB PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro, DVI, TV-outPrice: $133 shipped
Ever since the release of the ATI R300 cores and their later iterations, ATI has either led or has had a clear lead over NVIDIA in terms of performance and price. The same is still true of ATI at the moment, a whole 18 months since the release and availability of R300 core video cards. That's why, today, we highly recommend purchasing a 9600 Pro for your mid-range system, as it offers great DX8 and good DX9 performance for the price. To put it simply, the 9600 Pro is the best bang-for-the-buck video card on the market. PowerColor makes a nice 9600 Pro for just $124 or so shipped; the additions of DVI and TV-out for this price are unique, and overall, a great deal. 2D IQ quality is excellent, up to 1600x1200 desktop resolutions with the right monitor, essentially on par with retail ATI versions of the 9600 Pro. As previously mentioned, 3D performance is excellent in DX8 games and good in DX9 games, and 128MB of memory will be plenty until more intense DX9 games are released later this year and next year.
Of course, if you're not a gamer or don't plan on playing games more than once a year, or ever, a 9600 Pro would be a pointless purchase. We would instead suggest the ATI Radeon 9200SE that we recommended last week, which goes for about $40 shipped online currently. The 9200SE provides the excellent 2D quality non-gamers need, along with reliable drivers, great online ATI customer support, and up to DX8.1 support for future Microsoft operating systems. You could always opt for the cheapest of cheap ATI cards in the Radeon 7000, but you won't be getting DX8 support, which should be the bare minimum for computer systems that plan to be used beyond the next 18-24 months, when the next operating system's release will necessitate DX8 of some form for smooth operation.
Finally, we should mention that we are getting extremely close to seeing Radeon X800 cards and their entry level/mid-range iterations any week now. ATI's next generation mid-range card has been dubbed the Radeon 9550 and promises to provide significantly better performance at a reasonable (mid-range) price point. Some 9550 cards are already available, in very limited quantity, but we highly suggest that you wait for more extensive reviews and mature drivers before delving in head first.
Alternative: 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, DVI, TV-out
Price: $193 shipped
ATI's 9800 Pro has been rapidly declining in price for the last several months, and just last month, stabilized around the $200 mark. Even with the introduction of ATI's next generation X800 GPU, we don't see the 9800 Pro dropping more than a few more dollars in retail from where it stands now for the foreseeable future. ATI's soon-to-be widely available X800 GPU and the 9800 Pro's lower price are precisely why we believe that the 9800 Pro is a perfect alternative to the 9600 Pro (or even 9700 Pro) for your mid-range system. It offers good performance for tomorrow's games and great performance for the vast majority of today's games. The 128MB memory chips at their rated 3.3ns is standard these days and should fit the needs of a mid-range user. Thankfully, 2D IQ is still superb with high end retail ATI video cards like the 9800 Pro, so non-gamers have nothing to worry about in that department.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on ATI video cards 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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Pollock - Friday, May 21, 2004 - link
Well, if you've never noticed, the buyer's guides get recycled all the time...I do agree that a retail 64 2800+ would be much better than an XP 2800+ for only $67 more. Especially since socket 754 prices should fall a bit more when socket 939 comes out here soon (WHEN!?!).
Actually, TrogdorJW if you were paying attention to the weekly ads last week, you could have gotten 2 512MB sticks of Kingston HyperX 4000 for $200 from Best Buy.
gherald - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
#12, yes that is exactly what they are suggesting. Nvidia's FX debacle is well-known, and good luck finding products from any other company that are in the same league as ATI and Nvidia. (though this may change soon, cf. XGI and Creative Wildcats)Now I will admit that the newer 5700, 5950 and 5900 XT are viable cards compared to their god-awful predecessors, but they still do not quite offer the price/performance value ATI has.
It is a pretty well known fact that the ATI drivers still have slightly more compatibility problems than Nvidia's, but for the most part they work great, assuming the rest of your system is compatible. So if you were going to buy 100 cards for 100 random PCs then perhaps you would be safer going with Nvidia. But once an ATI driver and card are proven to work with a given rest-of-hardware combination -- as AT has no doubt verified for the purposes of this guide -- they by and large work perfectly thereafter and deliver somewhat better price/performance compared to Nvidia's offerings.
TrogdorJW - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
You know, I've been using WD hard drives in almost all of my systems for the past couple years, and finally, the whine got to me. I got a new Antec BQE3700-SLK case with nice, quiet 120mm fans. The whine of the hard drive is now *extremely* noticeable, and rather irritating if you're watching a movie with a quiet sequence. The drive in question is the WD 800JB suggested in this article.I just picked up some Samsung SATA 160 GB drives and a 120 GB IDE (using RAID on the SATA) in order to reduce noise from my hard drive. So, while performance may have suffered a bit, my ears are happier. I imagine that for the $85 price, the Antec case is also quieter than the CaseEdge and Kingwin cases you suggest. We could use a new configuration called "Quiet System" to add to the current mix? Heheheh.... Seriously, though, I would love to get more input on what parts make a truly silent PC (without watercooling).
Also, it kills me that for about $30 more, I picked up 1 GB of RAM (two Kingston DIMMs) for a friend only two and a half months ago. Ouch! And my 1GB Mushkin 3200 Level One "only" cost me $213 at the end of February as well. I guess with prices climbing this high, it's now hard to recommend 1 GB for mid-range systems. Too bad. Far Cry, Battlefield, and UT2K4 all benefit noticeably from the extra RAM.
lupis42 - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
One minor note. Both video and video alternative are ATI cards. Are you suggesting that there is no other manufacturer worth the money for a midrange card? I have had 2 ATI cards, and I have had major system stability issues with their cards and drivers.gherald - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
"However, we should note that the Athlon 64 2800+ comes with only 512K L2 cache instead of the standard 1MB L2 cache that come with the vast majority of Athlon 64 processors currently shipping."Er, the 3000 also has 512k. The 3200 and 3400 have 1MB. So in terms of models offered I'd say the 512k/1MB is split 50/50. That of course is ignoring the AthlonFX, though I think that's perfectly fair since we are talking mid-range systems here... but EVEN IF YOU INCLUDE THE FX, 33% have 512k, so saying the "vast majority" have 1MB of L2 is completely inaccurate. In addition, very few FXs are being shipped, so if you make the comparrison based on units sold my point is still valid.
"In addition, the $173 price tag is OEM, meaning that you have to buy your own cooling, which costs an extra $20-$25. So really, the lowest priced Athlon 64 is still going to cost near $200"
No, it is only $14 more for the retail version. Duh!
I see your...
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (retail) - $120
ABIT AN7 (nForce2 Ultra 400) - $96
2 X 256MB OCZ PC3200 EL (CAS2) - $135
CaseEdge TS1 Mid Tower plus 300W PS - $74
... and I'll raise you a ...
AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (retail) - $187
ABIT KV8 Pro (K8T800 Pro) - $104
1 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Series EL Platinum Edition (CAS2) - $130
ANTEC SLK1600 with 300W Antec PSU included - $42
... for only $38 more. The way I see things, that is a small price to pay for a better performing 32bit system that will not become obsolete as quickly due to the promise 64bit holds.
To confirm my prices and see item descriptions, go to newegg.com and paste these into the search box:
19-103-452
13-127-178
20-146-889
11-129-121
One final note: there is a $15 shipping charge for the SLK1600 from newegg, but I am confused as to how AT came up with their $74 figure and which PSU they are recommending. But either way, I still think the SLK1600 is a better deal.
hans007 - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
i think that rather than get extra expensive ocz memory , a amd 64 2800+ and a single stick of 512mb pc3200 elixer or lower brand name memory (such as stuff on sale at frys) would make this a better system and cost about the same.ZobarStyl - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
Great guide, perfect mid-range system...and guys, with mobo sound like that it IS a midrange system...every guide that comes out someone asks for nicer things when frankly the point of the budget/mid guides is to give you the most bang for you buck. I agree with dankim for any system that's isn't ultra high-end media encoding a 64 would be a much better solution, and the 2800 A64 is only 8 bucks more expensive than that P4...it's only a matter of time before the A64 drops under the P4 in price...then what are they going to recommend as an alternative to AMD? =)dankim333 - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
Good point XRaider. I just skipped to the end just to see the price comparison between the two, but nada...Oh, and of course, the point could be made that the alternative Intel configuration costs about as much as an AMD64 2800 solution, which is definatively superior in most benchmarks. But, I'm just picking nits...
XRaider - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
Opps.. sorry about above..Maybe you should also price out the alternative system (intel) so people could compare prices/performance on all of these guides you publish. Thanks.
XRaider - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link