Weekly Buyer's Guide: Mid-Range System - May 2004
by Evan Lieb on May 20, 2004 12:05 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Keyboard and Mouse
While trivial, it's still important that you purchase the right keyboard and mouse. Different people have different preferences for a keyboard's look and feel, and the same goes for a mouse. Therefore, we suggest that you personally try out a keyboard and mouse for yourself. Recommending purchasing these items online is misleading, as there are too many users with different preferences for this type of thing. Visit your nearest PC outlet to try out a keyboard and mouse yourself; a PC Club, Best Buy, CompUSA, or Circuit City store will do. We suggest that you start with Microsoft and Logitech keyboards and mice. Make sure you also check out optical mice from Microsoft and Logitech as well. A good solid optical mouse from either manufacturer should run about $20, but in some cases, can run as little as $10 if you can find the right deal.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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Evan Lieb - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
Actually thatsright and Cygni, the only reason I suggested onboard sound is due to the fact that we recommended the ABIT NF7-S Rev.2/AN7, which comes with the MCP-T South Bridge and therefore nForce2 APU (SPDIF and optical out included via the I/O panel). But maybe I'll add a note about adding an add-in sound card next time.Cygni - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
I agree, onboard sound is great for Entry level or Budget systems, but by the time we are hitting mid range, its time to spend the $23. ESPECIALLY when using nice a$$ speakers like those. And especially when you can get a Via ENVY 24HT-S based card for $23 at Newegg. Some of the best sound quality in the business at $23? WELL worth the money, imho.thatsright - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
Great put-together for a mid-range system. Right now, I lean a bit toward the P4 CPU's, but for low-Mid range systems, the Athlon XP can't be beat. But of course, a few suggestions:-If your trying to keep the overall price tag below $1K, I would still suggest upgrading the video card choice to the Radeon 9800 Pro. Thought it costs an extra $70 more than the 9600 pro, you get such a HUGE performance jump due to the double pipelines
-Even a 'old' Sound Blaster Live 5.1 for around $25 is infinitely better (perhaps with the exception of the Nforce Soundstorm chip) than on board sound as it takes away horsepower from the CPU to do it's sound processing.
-I have the same Western Digital 120GB 8Meg cache HD for nearly a year. BUT virtually all HD's sold today only offer a 1 year warranty. You can get the exact same Western Digital HD from NewEgg for the same price, but it is backed by a 3 year warranty for the OEM drive. The #1 criteria when I buy a HD is the warranty length.
Thats it, really. I think this is the 1st Anand Tech Weekly buyers guide that I agree with wholeheartedly. Good Job Evan!
Evan Lieb - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
mkruer, it has been corrected, thanks.mkruer - Thursday, May 20, 2004 - link
Alright AMD deals listed twice (Once for the CPU and Motherboard Recommendations, and the other for the CPU and Motherboard Alternatives)Are you saying that the Alternative is also AMD based? LOL