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 - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
#11 - I've corrected the quote to the 9800 XT which is what was intended on page 10. The same information was correct in the summary on page 11. Sorry for the confusion. The 9800 PRO is around $200 these days but the 9800 XT is still priced at around $380-$390 for some strange reason.Mermaidman - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
[q]a plain, old 1024X768, the 6800 is 75% faster in Doom 3 than either the ATI 9800 PRO or the nVidia 5950, both of which cost about $50-$100 more than the 6800.[/q]I doubt that a 9800Pro costs $50-$100 more than a 6800.
Illissius - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
It's ok for the most part... some things are odd though. You measured that D3 uses up to 1.5GB of memory, if available. Why, then, did you put only 1GB in the Performance system? Should've been 2. Also, why, oh why did you not use an uber LCD? Dell 2001FP, or the Viewsonic VP201 if buying from Dell is a nono. Third, the mainstream system should've used value RAM - it costs almost half as much, and really isn't much slower than the fastest omg uber hyper enthusiast XMS turbo alpha street fighter platinum EXTREME stuff*, at all.Other than those, I agree with all of the choices, even the 6800 for the value system. I was about to suggest an even lower category, for the $500 guys, until I realized that you really can't fit anything half decent in if you have to include monitors and speakers.
* In the interest of full disclosure, this was Inspired by the following quote from bash.org:
* ArSa is not a scsi expert :
* slurpee was a scsi expert until they came out with 134533109 flavors of it
slurpee: like ULTRA 2 WIDE MEGA XL ALPHA STREET FIGHTER SCSI
jediknight - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
All I have to say is *damn*.A 6800 in the value system? Yikes! My poor 9800 Pro that'll be arriving whenever ATI gets around to it seems inadequate :-<
Godsend1 - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
I have never seen a value video card priced at $300.kherman - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
PERFORMANCE Doom 3 monior.OK it's nto a bad monitor, but I can think of better.
kherman - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
#2:640x480 low quality.
The categaory you complained about was value, not crap.
kherman - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
Ggiabyte 6800? NO! The BFG 6800 is the best. Damn complementary copy. Even the internet is doomed these daysRapsven - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
Considering that many Americans usually buy systems ranging from 1400-2000 on Dell, I'd think that's pretty 'mainstream'.You've been reading too many "i need a systemzorz for 500 bux plz" threads.
Regs - Saturday, August 7, 2004 - link
Please note that the listed hardware was for mainstream Doom 3 and not mainstream in general. A 1000 dollars for a computer that can run a game like D3 at 1280x1240 @ high quality is awesome. Dell would charge you well over 2 Grand if not more. Not only will you be able to play D3 at high settings, but Far Cry, Hl2 (if it ever comes out), and next generation games. I'd say that's great value.