Buyer's Guide: High End System - May 2004
by Wesley Fink on May 26, 2004 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Video
Recommendation: 256MB Radeon X800 ProPrice: $425 shipped
While the dust hasn't settled in this round of the video wars, we do know that the new generation of video cards from nVidia and ATI are twice as fast as the previous generation in many benchmarks. Knowing that, you simply can't ignore the new cards when building a high-end system. The only one of the new cards that we could actually find for sale right now is the ATI Radeon X800 Pro. The X800 Pro will eventually settle into the price range around $400, which is a good deal, cheaper than the $500 that you will pay for the X800 XT or nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra when they are finally available in the marketplace. Consider this round a victory for ATI for availability, but the war (or the best choice) is far from settled.
You will never have to apologize to anyone for choosing the X800 Pro for your new high end system, since it is an excellent performer that can hold its own - especially considering it is one slot, one molex connector, and can be used with most any quality power supply. For more information on the relative performance of the new generation of video cards, check out the AnandTech review of the X800.
Alternative: 128MB Saphire Radeon 9800 PRO 256-bit, DVI, TV-out
Price: $192 shipped
There really isn't very much difference in the performance of the 128MB 9800 PRO and 256MB 9800 XT, so we certainly would not recommend spending the $370 it would cost for a 9800 XT, when you can buy a Radeon 9800 PRO 256-bit (not the more limited 128-bit LE) for $192. What a bargain, if price matters somewhat on your high-end system. On the other hand, the X800 Pro is so much better than the 9800 XT that we would recommend spending the extra $50 if you had thought of the 9800 XT, and get a X800 Pro instead.
With the introduction of the new generation of video cards, there are clearly some real bargains available at what was the old high-end. You can also find an nVidia GeForce 5900XT for about the same price as the 9800 PRO, but the 9800 PRO is generally regarded as the better performer in a comparison of these two cards. Like the 9800 XT, the comparable 5950 Ultra is selling in the $370 range, another case where the difference in performance hardly justifies double the price.
We recommend that you stay away from the 9800SE video cards. With the 9800 PRO so reasonable these days, there is absolutely no reason to settle for a 9800SE that, at best, performs on par with or often even slower than a 9600 Pro in 3D games. Don't be fooled - - a 9800SE performs nothing like a full-blown 8-pipe, 256 bit memory interface 9800 Pro.
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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ghoti - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
Thanks for these Guides! I sure appreciate them.I'm about to build my first system.
Anyone know when the MSI K8N Socket 754 MB (mentioned in the Guide) will be available?
Also, assuming I get the MSI K8N, I plan to use the AMD 64 3200, and would like to put in 2GB(?) memory. Considering possible FUTURE use (in a dual channel application), I guess I'd get a PAIR of 1024's. In checking the MSI memory compatability table, I don't see anything I recognize. Do I need to worry about that? Can I just go ahead and get one of the highly-reviewed brands/ types (e.g., Mushkin Pro). I don't plan to OC, but considering possible FUTURE use in/ with some other MB/ processor, does it make sense to get a higher speed than PC3200?
Thanks for the input.
hifisoftware - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
Good to hear about the changes, hopefuly giuides will even be better with more time dedicated to them.Great review, nice choices.
I would choose few componenets differently though:
1. Secondary choice for the HD. Samsung seems to be faster then Segate in real world benches (From xbitlabs testing). Segate is one of the worst performing brands in their tsting.
2. DVD I like NEC DVD writer more since it cost about the same (+/- few $), but there is a hack to convert it to double layer version.
Still a great guide, lots of usefull info. Cool
Ma10n3 - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
For a total budget of $5,000 or less, why not opt for a mobo that can support two Opteron 250s, but only purchase one initially. The TYAN Thunder K8W supports AGP 8x/Pro, has 4 PCI-X slots (hardware RAID anybody?), and a legacy 32-bit/33MHz PCI slot. Also, the onboard gigabit ethernet chip is connected to the PCI-X bus... absolutely no bottlenecks there. And when the Windows 64-bit Home edition comes out you can slap in the second processor and 4 more DIMMS and effectively double your memory bandwidth, due to the NUMA support in Windows 64.My point is, if you're going to invest so much in a high-end system, why not make it as future-proof as possible by leaving open extreme expandability paths.
PCI-X rulez.
Zebo - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
My bad wesley I was comparing the $404 Opteron 148 (2.2) to the $728 FX 51 (2.2). However I'm building this system with the $210 Opteron 144;) and hope to get the FX53 speeds for 1/4 the price....Wesley Fink - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
#2 - The same speed Opteron is the 150 at 2.4GHz. It is a bit cheaper at $620 but it is hardly half the price. It is also multiplier locked where the FX is completely unlocked. If overclcoking is not important to you, then the Opteron 150 and 3200 Registered memory would be a good choice and save about $150 total.Your point about the Saphire Radeon 9800 PRO is well taken, and I have changed the Alternate to the 256-bit model, which I did find on Pricewatch for $192 shipped.
Zebo - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
#1 I agree or go for one of LG/Philips's 20" 16ms IPS LCD branded by Dell, Viewsonic, NEC, amoung others. At around $700-$1200 it's pretty competitive.Azmedaj - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
Typo on the storage page: "Those concerned about data security more than ultimate speed can configure the drives as RAID 0, or mirroring", it Should be Raid 1Zebo - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
Opteron is half the price as FX and is the same but for top locked multiplier, but with that ram recommedation you can OC with ease, if that's a concern.Also 128MB Saphire Radeon 9800 PRO for $175 shipped is the 128bit verison aka LE, I would get the 256 for $209 shipped.
JGF - Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - link
I like everything except for the CRT monitor. I would swap the samsung out for a 21" mitsubishi diamond pro 2070 or the equivalent NEC model the FP2141SB.