PERFORMANCE Doom 3: System Summary
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon 64 FX53 Socket 939 Retail | $825 |
| Motherboard | Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800 PRO) Socket 939 | $121 |
| Memory | 2GB (2 X 1024MB) OCZ PC3200 EB | $594 |
| Video Card | 256MB NVidia 6800 Ultra | $538 |
| Monitor | NEC/Mitsubishi FP2141SB 22" Diamondtron CRT | $664 |
| Computer Case | Coolermaster Praetorian (PAC-T01-E1) Silver $114 plus 520W OCZ Power Stream $138 Shipped |
$252 |
| Sound Card | Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 Retail | $83 |
| Speakers | Klipsch Pro Media Ultra 5.1 | $349 |
| Networking | Onboard 10/100/1000 Ethernet | $0 |
| Hard Drive | 74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000 RPM (BOOT) + Hitachi 250GB 7200RPM SATA (Model 13G0255 - 8Mb) |
$177 $183 |
| DVD/CD-RW | Plextor PX-712A 12X DVD+/-R/RW | $140 |
| Bottom Line | $3926 | |
For $3926 you can put together a Performance Doom 3 system that will be the standard to which everyone else will compare. It certainly is not cheap, but if you want the best Doom 3 experience that you can find, this system will not disappoint.
Keep in mind that you still need to purchase a keyboard, mouse, Operating System, and of course, Doom 3.
The combination of the nVidia 6800 Ultra, the 22" Diamondtron NEC/Mitsubishi, and the FX53 will crank a beautiful Doom 3 picture at the highest frame rate possible and the greatest detail of any desktop system today. Add the wonderful surround capabilities of the Doom 3 played through an Audigy 2 driving Klipsch Pro Media speakers, and Doom 3 can actually make the hair on your neck stand up.
There are many reasons why most gamers prefer a CRT for gaming, but if you prefer a flat screen monitor the big and fast 20" Dell 2001FP at its new $810 price would be a great choice for Doom 3 or any other gaming. Dell recently reduced the price of the 2001FP from $999 to $810 which makes this very fast flat panel an easier pill to swallow. If you want the biggest, best flat-panel monitor you can buy, our Display Editor still recommends the Samsung 213T with a 21.3" screen. The 213T has also recently dropped to around $1040, which is a nice decrease from the $1200 of just a couple of months ago.
We included 2GB of OCZ 3200EB in a kit with two 1GB dimms. We chose the 2x1GB configuration over 4x512MB since you can still use 1T Command rate with 2 dimms. 4 dimms require a slower 2T command rate on the Athlon 64. None of the 1GB dimms we have seen can match the timings of the best 512MB dimms, but the OCZ 3200EB comes much closer than most with rated 2.5-2-3 timings. We found the performance was very close to a pair of the fastest 512's with the added advantage of 2GB of memory for Doom 3. It is even possible to go to 4GB with four of the 1GB dimms, but that seemed overkill based on what we saw in testing the impact of total memory on Doom 3 performance.
The Plextor 12X DVD burner is used due to Plextor's superb reputation and responsiveness to customer needs. It is also the only 12X DVD burner we have seen with 8MB of cache, which could make a difference at high DVD burning speeds. As a personal side note, when I have problems burning CDs or DVDs, or I have a game CD/DVD that is unreadable I always got to my Plextor. It normally will read most anything, and I'm confident that if the Plextor won't read it, then it is likely nothing will read it. That is always great assurance on a gaming PC.
We also used a 74GB 10,000RPM SATA hard drive for the fastest boot and Doom 3 load you can get short of high-end SCSI, plus a 250GB Hitachi with quiet fluid bearings to store the games, downloads, images, and add-ons that a hard-core gamer will accumulate.
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Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
#29 and #30 -For $750 (after you added the value motherboard you forgot) you have:
1) A Video Card that is half as fast as the $998 Value System when playing Doom 3
2) A CPU that is 40% slower than the $998 Value system in Doom 3
3) A 17" Monitor instead of a 19" Monitor
4) NO CD or DVD at all
So for $250 savings (25%) you end up with a system that is a cumulative 60% slower than our Doom 3 Value System when playing Doom - with a smaller monitor and NO CD/DVD. That doesn't sound like value to me.
Did you not see the CPU charts for Doom 3 that show the Athlon XP at the bottom of perfromance charts? http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?... I also wish it were not so, but wishing will not change the performance we actually measured.
pliers - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
#29 link130 you also forgot to include a dvd or cdrw combo.link130 - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
oops, add $55 for a shuttle nforce2 ultra mboardlink130 - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
I agree with Avalon on the value pc. $1000 is ridiculous. For $1000 I can almost build a socket 939 3500+ system.This is My VALUE PC that can play doom3 at 10x7 high quality no problems
Total cost including shipping:
$690 - As built below
If I choose a 6800 instead of the 9800pro then just add $90 to run the game extremely well. Which is still FAR below the cost of $1000.
Bought mostly from newegg:
AMD AXP-M 2400+ @ 2.4ghz 1.7v - $77
Thermalright ALX-800 Heatsink + 80mm Fan - $21
Samsung 512mb 400mhz @ 2-3-3-7 - $83
WD 80gb 7200rpm 8mb IDE - $60
Powercolor 9800 Pro - $200
Thermaltake 420w PSU - $41
Logitech 640z 5.1 Speakers - $55
Aluminum ATX Case with 2 Fans - $35
XDS 17in X-Flat Monitor -$115
as you see, all my parts are good quality yet extremely cheap
link130 - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
Avalon - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
My mistake with the raptor drive. No need to point it out three times. I know perfectly well how to read, it's just a matter of remembering an older article.#26 - I can play it VERY well. Don't tell me I have to go buy a new $1000 system to play the game well, when my cheaper old rig does that already.
SKiller - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
#20 The guide is for people who want their system to play D3 *well*. When you fork over the money for a whole new system just so you can play 1 game (and maybe future games with eqivalent or greater requirements), you don't want it to play just OK. You want that system to play it *well*. Anything less would be a big waste of money. If you can't sepnd $1K on such a system, then you can't play it *well*, you *may* be able to play it OK, but then this guide is not for you.Embryo - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
LOL!pliers - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
#21 avalon if you had read the article correctly about raptor hds it was about using raptor hds in a raid-0 configuration on a desktop system not about using a single raptor hd on a desktop system. You must be reading this article wrong also [quote] We also used a 74GB 10,000RPM SATA hard drive for the fastest boot and Doom 3 load you can get short of high-end SCSI, plus a 250GB Hitachi with quiet fluid bearings to store the games, downloads, images, and add-ons that a hard-core gamer will accumulate. [/quote] Yes there is a mention of a raptor hd and another hd but just having two hard drives in a system doesnt qualify them as a raid-0 setup.ps: And if the main goal was just to be able to play doom3 im sure a review of a system with a 1.5ghz cpu, 384MB ram, a gefore 3, and a ata66 hd from 3-4 years ago could be mentioned but who wants to go out and buy that as your new "value" doom3 system?
Wesley Fink - Sunday, August 8, 2004 - link
The 6800 was selected for the Value System because it costs $278 vs. $200 for a 9800 PRO. That $78 buys you DOUBLE the performance at 1024x768 medium res in high quality - 80.1FPS vs.42.6. The 6800 also provides PLAYABLE frame rates at High res - something the 9800 PRO can not do.The two lowest priced cards to generate PLAYABLE (above 30FPS) rates at the low 640x480 resolution were the 9600XT and the 5700 Ultra. These cards are about 50% to 65% the price at $140 to $180. While they are playable at low res, moving to 1024x768 they drop to a barely playable 25.5 FPS - about 1/4 the performance of the 6800. If you need to save $100 to $140 on the value system price you could choose a 9600XT or 5700 Ultra and still play Doom 3 at 640x480 or 800x600 at playable rates.
In the end this is a Doom 3 Buyers Guide. We could try to sugar-coat the facts but would you really want us to? For a more traditional Value System you need to look at our Entry Level Buyers Guide.