Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level System - July 2004
by Evan Lieb on July 7, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Networking
Recommendation: Onboard networkingPrice: $0
Nothing more than onboard networking is needed for an entry level system like the one that we're building today. Pretty much every onboard network controller is the same nowadays, so there's usually no need to worry about Internet speed/download issues. This is why a 10/100 solution like the one onboard the A7N8X-X (and NF7-S Rev.2 if you so choose) will suffice for your Internet needs. Gigabit or 802.11a/b networking just isn't necessary unless you have a home network that transfers a lot of data to and from multiple computers, or if you already have an AP (Access Point) set-up in your home for wireless Internet. Though, if you're interesting in setting up some sort of home gateway, you may want to look into dual Ethernet and GbE.
Storage
Recommendation: Western Digital 800JB (80GB) 7200RPM (8MB cache)Price: $69 shipped
Western Digital's Caviar series of drives are still the best price/performance drives on the market. The "JB" in 800JB indicates that your WD drive has an 8MB buffer, which means that your drive is able to store more frequently-accessed data than a 2MB drive, vastly increasing performance. Thankfully, if you buy from the right manufacturer, you will receive a 3-year warranty with your drive, which is very useful if you're the unfortunate victim of hard drive death (usually identifiable by the "click of death" sound).
Alternative: Seagate 120GB 7200RPM (8MB cache) ATA
Price: $85 shipped
For an extra $16, you can upgrade your WD 800JB drive to the 120GB of Seagate's Barracuda IV series of HDDs. Seagate's Barracuda series is renown for their quiet operation and silent seeking (that grinding sound coming from your case). We are finally recommending Seagate drives because we've seen continued requests for emphasis on silent operation from entry level users over the last few months, and have now finally been convinced that there is enough demand for this type of feature.
Anyway, the additional capacity that you get with a 120GB drive over the 80GB drive, which we recommended as our first choice, can be exceedingly useful if you're someone who stores endless emails in Outlook, plays lots of games, listens to lots of MP3's, or simply needs additional space for the next 12 or more months down the road. Though, 120GB is mostly excessive if you're the only person using your computer. This may not be the case if you have family or friends consistently storing information on this system.
Optical Storage
Recommendation: Sony 52x32x52 CD-RWPrice: $31 shipped
There aren't too many differences between CD-RW's nowadays, save for reliability among various manufacturers. For the most part, Sony has done a good job with their high-end CD-RW drives and we have had great success with them in the past, which is why we decided to recommend them today. You can burn music CD's in mere minutes, and even a full 700MB or 800MB (with the appropriate media) can be burned in a matter of 15-20 minutes depending on the type of files that you're burning. At $31 shipped, you really can't go wrong with this solution.
Alternative: Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive
Price: $43 shipped
If you want to be able to watch DVDs in addition to having burning capability, then you can always opt for a combo drive. Its function essentially integrates CD burning and DVD watching into one drive. The added benefit is that you're getting a better price for this combo drive versus purchasing an additional drive. On the other hand, the price difference isn't all that huge ($10-$15) if you were to buy a separate drive; plus, that second drive allows you to watch DVDs while you burn CDs, which isn't possible with the combo drive. In the end, the decision is up to you as to how you want to configure your optical storage.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on storage 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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Evan Lieb - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
As far as the system you're recommending Tostada....if you really want to go with a bottom of the barrel manufacturer like Biostar, the absolute worst 2D and 3D video performance you can find on the market in the nForce2 IGP, and a 2MB cache 80GB HDD instead of an 8MB cache HDD, then be my guest. ;)Oh, and the Apex case comes with a no name 300W PSU. Another huge no no.
Evan Lieb - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
Degrador, it has been fixed. :)Tostada, no, even at 1024x768 the text quality difference between an nForce2 IGP board and an ATI 9200 board is quite noticeable. It's even fairly noticeable at 800x600. Not sure what IGP boards you have used, but I've used basically all of them. They're OK if you want cheap video with occasional gaming, but 9200 cards are better if you want even better gaming and noticeably better 2D text quality.
As far as the keyboard/mouse, we explained our reasoning quite clearly. A keyboard/mouse is a much more individualized purchase than, per your example, a set of speakers. You're constantly feeling and touching a keyboard/mouse, so our recommendation would be based purely on opinion, on personal preference. That's really not what we want.
WD 8MB cache drives are widely considered a bit faster than comparable Seagate/Samsung/Hitachi 8MB cache drives, are on the whole a bit cheaper, and are generally considered very reliable. They really don't run much hotter than comparable drives, and they are only noticeably louder than Seagate drives. The difference is minute, at best, either way you look at it.
I'm not sure what your definition of crippling is, but 256MB of RAM is hardly crippling for an entry level Windows XP machine. How many times is an entry level user going to notice a boost in performance with more than 256MB of memory? Hardly many times at all, and certainly not enough times that they would actually be compelled to spend $50 or more. And since you mentioned it, exactly where are these "many other places" that you could cut costs in this system?
Tostada - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
If I was going to spend $546 on an entry level system (with monitors and speakers), I think this would be a MUCH better system:$180 NEC 17" SuperBright Diamondtron
$57 Athlon XP 2000+ T-bred Retail
$61 Biostar M7NCG 400 nForce 2 dual-channel IGP
$64 Samsung 80G
$90 2 x 256MB Corsair PC3200 CL2.5 Value Select
$40 Sony 52x32x52x16 combo DVD / CD-RW drive
$32 Apex 300W case
$20 Creative SBS250 speakers
$544 delivered from newegg.
A better monitor, twice the RAM, a dual-channel board, and the ability to play DVD's for $4 less.
I would generally spend the extra $23 to get an Athlon XP 2500+ Barton, though.
Tostada - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
I really must (as always) beg to differ on this system. It makes me wonder if the author of the guide has built many entry level systems for average people.In this price range, buying a video card is a complete waste of money unless you need the DVI output (which the $40 Radeon listed doesn't have). The nForce2 IGP does very well, and text quality is perfect for the average user (who isn't going over 1024x768 anyway).
A computer pretty much needs a keyboard. I find it quite odd that the price of speakers is included, but a keyboard/mouse is not. You can use a computer without speakers.
I also find it odd that the guides are sticking to Western Digital drives, especially the WD800JB. WD's specs for their 80G drives are quite bad -- they reserve the right to give you 40G platters. WD drives (with exception of the Raptor) are generally louder, hotter and slower than most of the competition from Samsung/Hitachi/Seagate.
And honestly, 256MB is pushing the limits of what is acceptable. There are many other places to cut costs before you cripple a machine with 256MB RAM.
Frallan - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
I like this system I find it to be really good value for money since you acctually found good products that are also decent performers.But I would really like to se the Overclockers guide as well :0)
Degrador - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
I think I pointed this out last time too with the cpu alternative: "All this adds up to noticeably better performance that, depending on what applications are run, you may or may not notice". Please, please, please can you fix this? It really bugs me :)Apologiliac - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
*fondApologiliac - Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - link
I'm particularly found of this weeks budget system.