Buyer's Guide: High End System - July 2004
by Wesley Fink on June 30, 2004 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Video
Recommendation: Gigabyte GV-N68U256D 256MB GeForce 6800 UltraPrice: $539 shipped
While the dust is still settling 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. We also found in our testing of the new nVidia nForce3-250 chipset that it performs a bit better with an nVidia graphics card. With that in mind, we included a GeForce 6800 Ultra in our High End system to match the nForce3-250 Ultra-based MSI K8N Neo2.
While they are still all but impossible to find, you simply can't ignore the new cards when building a high end system. We ended up relaxing our rules by including the Gigabyte 6800 Ultra because several vendors are showing availability in the first 2 weeks of July. Several vendors are also showing prices closer to the $500 that we expect when cards are more readily available.
The 6800 Ultra features 16 pipelines, a GPU at 400MHz, and 256MB of DDR3 memory at 1.1GHz. It is a nice step up from the 12-pipe 6800 and the lower clocked 6800 GT, yet both of these 2 cards are still blazing performers, and are easier to find. There is also an even faster version of the 6800 family, called the 6800 Ultra Extreme, but as rare as 6800 Ultra cards are right now, we would hesitate to recommend an even rarer card, which is a higher-clocked 6800 Ultra. The best way to see what the 6800 Ultra can do is to read the latest AnandTech Video Card review, which compares ATI X800 and nVidia 6800 in both AGP and PCI Express flavors.
Alternative: Gigabyte GV-R80X256V 256MB X800 XT
Price: $545 shipped
If your prefer ATI video cards, there is only good to be said for the performance of the X800 XT. Once again, several vendors are promising Gigabyte products around July 7th for the X800 XT video cards, so that is our recommendation. On the basis of features and the future, the X800 XT should be considered the culmination of the series that began with the 9700 PRO; the 6800 Ultra should be considered the beginning of a new graphics chip series. Having said that, the chips perform almost exactly the same in our benchmarks, and the ATI is actually faster in a few benchmarks. This even performance between ATI and nVidia also extends to the PCI Express interface where the cards take different approaches to their interface to the PCI Express bus.
Our point is that you can choose either the X800 XT or the 6800 Ultra and be perfectly happy and perfectly competitive, although there are certainly differences beneath the hood that might sway you in one direction or the other. The ATI X800 XT would be an excellent match to either the Athlon 64 system or the Intel Pentium 4 system, and would perform very well on either platform.
If price for video is a concern, you can pare down quite a bit and still select a new generation video card. The basic 12-pipeline nVidia 6800 is available for about $300, while the 16-pipe 6800 GT and 12-pipe X800 PRO will cost about $400. The performance is pretty consistent with the price, although we do find the 6800 at $300 a very good value, particularly if you find one that overclocks well.
With the introduction of the new generation of video cards, there are also some real bargains available at what was the old high end. You can find either an nVidia GeForce 5900XT 128MB or an ATI 9800 PRO 128MB for around $200, but the 9800 PRO is generally regarded as the better performer in a comparison of these two cards. The 9800 XT and the comparable 5950 Ultra are still selling in the $370 range, which is a poor value compared to the nVidia 6800 at $300 or the 6800 GT or X800 PRO at $400.
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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Coherence - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
I'm a bit confused with the choice of hard drive setup. In this article, AT uses a RAID-0 setup ("2 x 74GB, 148GB total"), and yet AT follows up with another article that says RAID-0 is a waste of money due to the negligible performance gains and decreased reliability (due to halving the MTBF).I'd say future versions of their rig suggestions should just get rid of RAID-0, and suggest RAID-1 setups instead.
Just a suggestion, Anand may want to coordinate with his team a little better so these kinds of contradictions are avoided.
cKGunslinger - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
Is that really the best LCD for gaming? I thought the Dell 2001FP was still the top chioice? Did the Samsung de-throne the Dell when I wasn't looking?
mino - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
Just wanted to say taht this is the best giude published so far. Of course except the optical remends. Combo(or Plextor Premium for DAE-> best on the market) + LG 4120 would be preffered.ImJacksAmygdala - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
Wonderful article! I look forward to each and everyone from Anandtech. I usually see what Sharky Extreme has posted, but it always seems cooker cutter when compared to the indepth information Anandtech provides. I plan on building a HTPC around fall time and I plan on following Anandtechs recommendations to the letter. I only wish that Anandtech tech would also include a recommended HDTV in the high end article, $3000 price tag excluded. This way Anandtech gets to play on a 65" screeen and we get solid gaming performance and screen resolution information. HDTV is the future for high end gaming but it is hard to find the quality information such as the kind Anandtech provides. Thanks again for such a great informative article!crimson117 - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
I'd go with a dual-layer DVD burner, and a fast combo CDRW/DVD-ROM. I know dual layer DVD media isn't widely available yet, but those building a high end system won't want to have to go buy a new DVD burner in 3 months because their drive can't do dual-layer.Also, how about some real mouse/keyboard recommendations? I know it's more of an individual preference thing, but you could highlight some cool, innovative mice and keyboards. Like a stylish new wireless combo or a fast response time optical mouse. For me, I'm still using a slightly damaged compaq keyboard that I looted from my old job, so I'd love to be convinced that there's a keyboard out there with features I never thought about.
BalAtWork - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
The only thing I would change would be the flat monitor choice. What about the Apple new 30" lcd. High resolution and low response time. OF course this wuld push you over 6k ;)Calin - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
I saw once a 20 MB drive - 5.25" and full height, as big as a normal CD-ROM unit, and while working it became as hot as barely touchable.The computer industry surely advances in leaps :D
Calin
FishTankX - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
Yup, 148MB of total memory..Spuffin - Thursday, July 1, 2004 - link
Small suggestion: I would like to have the components individually selectable at the summary. For instance I could pick the alternative harddrives or sound card via drop down menu, and it would automatically update the prices. Just a thought, I'm probably the only one that wants it.TrogdorJW - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
#13 - both of the graphics cards are going to be very difficult to find, but if you're spending this much money, "settling" for anything less would just be stupid. It might take two more weeks to get the 6800U or X800XT cards, but I think it's a good recommendation to wait rather than buy an X800 Pro or 6800 GT.As for performance, it seems to be practically a tie between the two cards, but with the latest drivers, I belive the 6800U might have a slight edge. It certainly has more features than the X800 XT (although whether they're useful or not is a different question). IF (and that's a really big if) I were in the market for a $500+ graphics card, I would personally go with the 6800U over the X800XT (barely). Apparently, Wesley feels about the same.
Nice system, Wes. Too bad I will never buy it for myself! Unless I win the lottery.....