Buyer's Guide: High End System - July 2004
by Wesley Fink on June 30, 2004 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Computer Case
Recommendation: Coolermaster Praetorian (PAC-T01-E1) SilverPrice: $110 shipped
While there are cheaper Coolermaster cases with Aluminum fronts and steel bodies, the Coolermaster All-Aluminum cases are still some of the best for build-quality that you will find anywhere. The Praetorian is a classic Coolermaster Aluminum mid-tower case with 10 drive bays - 4 hidden and 6 front accessible. Coolermaster still includes four additional fans for heat dissipation - 2 front fans, a top fan, and a rear exhaust fan. Due to the popularity of the case, we have also seen a decent $16 price drop in the past month.
There is also a sliding panel on the front protecting a great selection of essential front ports - 2 USB, firewire, headphone and mic. You will also find a handy removable motherboard tray for easier mounting and the case is a tool-less design for easy assembly.
The build quality of the Coolermaster is superb, and the reinforced chassis makes the Praetorian stronger than most aluminum cases. Kingwin also makes a great aluminum computer case, and you will find the Kingwin cases for a little less money. The Kingwin 424 with a window would also be a great match to the DFI 875B LAN party, but there is an optional windowed side for the Coolermaster.
Power Supply
Recommendation: Antec True Power 480WPrice: $85 shipped
The new high end video cards have even higher power requirements, so we have upped our recommendation a bit to Antec's True Power 480W PSU for $85 shipped. The Antec True Power series provides very consistent power to the rails and has performed very well in AnandTech power supply roundups. It provides extremely stable voltages, a good warranty, quiet operation, low operating temperature, and is a tried and true Power supply. The True Power series, in particular, is one of the most trusted power supplies among enthusiasts. While a good quality 350W or 400W power supply might do the job for processors and video cards just below the high end, you will have the comfort of some reserve for the ever more power-hungry processors and video cards. You will also enjoy rock-solid stability with the top FX53 Athlon 64 combined with the power-hungry nVidia 6800 Ultra.
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.