Buyer's Guide: High End System - July 2004
by Wesley Fink on June 30, 2004 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Networking
Recommendation: Onboard networkingPrice: $0
The two onboard Gigabit ports that you will find on-board our recommended motherboard is all that you will need for a high end system. One of the gigabit LAN ports on MSI K8N Neo2 is the on-chip nVidia gigabit LAN that removes at least one of the Gigabit LAN options from the PCI bus. Our Intel alternate, DFI 875B LAN Party, uses Intel's CSA bus, which also moves the LAN off the confines of the PCI bus. This makes both recommended motherboards capable of the best performance that you can achieve with Gigabit LAN - with no confines of a PCI bus. The practical reality is that you will likely find no real difference between PCI bus Gigabit LAN and the Gigabit LAN provided by either the MSI K8N Neo2 or the DFI 875B LAN Party unless you have specialized networking needs. Broadband won't be any faster than the 10/100 solution found on almost any motherboard these days, but on-chip Gigabit can be useful when transferring large amounts of data to and from multiple networked computers in an office or within a home network.
Keyboard and Mouse
While not a major item, it's still important that you purchase the right keyboard and mouse. Reality is that 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. Recommending purchasing these items on-line 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 that 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.There are also some great wireless optical mice out there, but it really depends on whether you care at all about a wireless mouse and are willing to spend the money to acquire it. It is also no value to buy a cheaper wireless mouse or keyboard just to find that you hate the feel of it. Wired or wireless, make sure you like to type on the keyboard or you like the feel of the mouse before you buy it. Most will be satisfied with a standard optical mouse from Microsoft or Logitech for gaming, as it offers similar or better precision and feel compared to most wireless mice. Whichever you decide to get - wired or wireless - stick with what makes you most comfortable. It is no fun to fight a keyboard or mouse that you hate every time you use your computer
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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Burbot - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
I wonder what do authors think about recommending good headphones as an alternate for those who do not want or like speakers? Grado SR125 will fit good enough here, wouldn't it?Neekotin - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
hey guys, is the Nu-tech drive capable of Dual layer writing? the NEC drive with a firmware upgrade would seem to be a better choice. although i can barely find some DL media. i also agree with #11 another combo drive would be nice, but that would just be splitting hairs. overall i agree with the guide. great job wes!Zebo - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
Perfect! I would change nothing. :)deathwalker - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
Certainly a very impressive assembly of parts, although I am surprised at the recommendation of parts that are largely not available. I find the selection of the NU-082 very dissapointing. I bought this burner based on a review/recommendation on AnandTech. I have been nothing short of dissapointed with this product..mostly is poor Media compatibility. Bottom line though this system will be a screamer.Sahrin - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
Great article, just one comment. I'd like to echo the concerns already expressed re: the choice of a 6800U. When nVidia's own website is seeking PRE-orders for the card, I doubt it is feasible to recommend it for a system when the better performing-for-same-price X800XT is available right now (granted in limited quanities-you can make the argument that it hasn't been truly released, but there are gamers who bought X800XT's that have them-the same can't be said for any GF6 based card). Other than that, though...rock on.bigtoe33 - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
Only issue i found for me was the creative sound card.While i know they have awesome features etc i know from being a system builder they also cause a lot of issues usually hogging the pci bus etc.For me there are lots of other awesome cards either based on VIA chipsets or Crystal chipsets that are as good with less hogging issues and usually a little cheaper.The other sound card choice for hone recording was fine infact pretty awesome and a card i will be looking to buy.
Thanks for the awesome article.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
#1 - You make a very good point, as I wouldn't personally have a system without 2 opticals for copying, and I also use a high-speed CD writer for Digital Audio Extraction. Perhaps one of the better combo DVD-CDRW drives could be the 2nd drive to combine with the top DVD burner. We'll take a look at this in our next High-End Guide.rjm55 - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
#6 - While I don't have problems with the recommends in the article, I do agree a high-end system probably deserves an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 or a Terratec.Also, who is doing audio reviews at AnandTech? I don't recall seeing any in a long time, though it looks like Wesley knows something about audio.
SDwolverine - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
Just built very similar system - slight differences: Asus A8V Deluxe (with luckily a working PCI/AGP lock - thanks for the couple of emails Wesley!) & Athlon 64 3500+, OCZ 3500EB (had Corsair 3200XL but could not get to work), 74Gb Raptor, currently using a 9800 Pro, but have the X800 XT ordered ($434@Gateway 3 weeks ago, blah...good price though). Some benchmarks with the 9800 Pro are:3DMark01: 22,000
3DMark03: 6,100
Sandra Buffered: ~6250/~6150 (running memory 2.5-3-2-8 @ 448)
Have not maxed out any overclocking yet, but I believe I don't really need to, especially with the X800 XT coming.
Also, got the Samsung 193P (I'm used to LCDs, so any minor ghosting is not an issue), and it's unbelievable how crisp, bright, etc. it is.
I'm pretty psyched about the system, the only thing that bums me out is how fast "high end" becomes "mid-range". But I'm sure I'll be able to max out settings at 1280x1024 with AA/AF turned up for quite some time.
For workstation performance, I often work in Excel files that are 20MB+ with complex stat/modeling calcs - with older systems I get 2-3 second delays when processing sensitivities - none on this system and files pull up as fast as notepad docs. ;-)
danidentity - Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - link
Great article, just wanted to point out a small typo.On the "CPU and Motherboard Alternatives" page:
"The new Intel 925X/915 chipsets and Socket 775 processors were finally launched last week. There are many exciting new features that are available with the new 925X/915 chipsets, but performance is really no faster than the current 975P chipset, especially when combined with a Northwood processor."
That should say, "...but performance is really no faster than the current 875P chipset..." not 975P.