Buyer's Guide: Mid-Range System - August 2004
by Evan Lieb on August 23, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Monitor
Recommendation: Samsung 955DF (19") DynaFlat CRTPrice: $224 shipped
To this day, the 955DF is still one of the best bang-for-the-buck 19" monitors on the market. The .20mm dot pitch, maximum resolution of 1600x1200 @ 68Hz, and well known reliability, usability, low price and picture quality of this monitor are all reasons why we highly suggest taking a look at it. We've had extensive experience with this monitor, having done a review of it back in April 2002. To this day, we are still impressed with this monitor and can still confidently recommend it. As you may have guessed by now, CRT technology (especially in the bang-for-your-buck price range) hasn't moved much in quite some time, but that is the norm in this industry. So, don't be surprised if we continue to recommend this monitor for mid-range Buyer's Guides for some time.
Alternative: NEC Diamondtron 19" CRT (model DP930SB-BK)
Price: $359 shipped
This NEC model is one of the best mid-range models of the famous Diamondtron series of monitors. Maximum resolution is 1920x1440 and dot pitch is an excellent 0.24mm. However, the clarity and refresh capability of this monitor are much better than the 955DF. So, if you're willing to dish out the cash, this is more than a capable alternative.
Computer Case
Recommendation: Antec SLK2650-BQE Mid TowerPrice: $79
Antec is one of our favorite manufacturers due to their superb track record for reliable and powerful power supply units (PSUs). They also make some excellent computer cases, though we've never felt it worthy of recommendation before until now. They certainly make a case worthy of a recommendation, especially when they include good fans for proper ventilation and relatively well organized interior space. It may or may not be aesthetically pleasing to some, though we are somewhat fond of its style (black with silver grey side panels). Probably the best feature about this case is the fact that it's designed well for users who are sensitive to noise; its steel construction and large (120MM) case fans makes it an exceptionally silent system with mid-range level hardware installed.
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KristopherKubicki - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
The 2510 is junk for dual layer burning. I think quality has gone up a bit in the last 4 months, but when it first came out it burned coaster after coaster.But then again, same for the QSI/Nutech stuff.
Kristopher
ceefka - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
BTW, I like these guides. They have proven to be helpful in understanding what vendors are offering.Most vendors keep their total set price low with crappy mobo's, slow and/or <512MB RAM, el cheapo AGP-cards etc. Very different from what happens here.
I've been reading these guides and comparing them with fixed offerings. I know now I will build my own machine. 2 years ago I knew next to nothing of PC's and I would have bought a Dell blindfolded... Thank you AT!
Booty - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
I was happy to see the Antec case recommended in this article. I think it's a much better case than some of the ones you've been recommending in the low-end and mid-range guides.ceefka - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
So let's say1. I'll replace the DVD-burner with the NEC 2510 2. put in 2x512MB of RAM
3. stick to my old Dell 17" CRT monitor that can easily handle 1248 x 1028
4. stick to the rest of the summary. Would I be happy with a system like this editing my Mini DV tapes?
I especially wonder if someone would recommend another graphics card. I liked the connectivity of the Asus V9520 Home Theater, Geforce FX 5200, 128Mb,TV because it featured S-VHS in. That way I could also commit things from VHS-tapes to DVD. There is also de Studio 9 DV/AV from Pinnacle that you could add on later, but of course that will cost you extra.
Illissius - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
I agree with most picks, but would have put the 9800 Pro as the default video card and perhaps a 6800 non Ultra as the alternative. An A64 3000+ coupled with a lowly 9600 Pro is among the more unbalanced gaming systems I've seen.RobertMcDonald - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
What about the nVidia 5900XT? Its predecessor (the 5900SE) did remarkably well for bang-for-the-buck back on the Q4 2003 graphics roundup. It's a bit more expensive than the 9600 Pro, but I believe the performance difference justifies it. Granted, it can't keep up with the *really* high-end cards, but in the mid-range, its bang-for-the-buck seems hard to beat.CeilingHoles - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
I agree with paxnot. Many people, including myself, have bought the NuTech DVD burner because of your recommendation. So far, all I've had is problems with this drive, and I'm not the only one.. The NEC 2150A is clearly the superior drive for the price range.paxnot - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
I generally believe that AT does a great job at putting forth excellent recommendation, but there is one recommendation in this article that is simply ridiculuos. I am talking about recommendation of the NuTech DDW-082 burner. This burner has been recommended month on month in this guide. But quite honestly, it's a piece of crap. I purchase this drive based mainly on AT's recommendation and I have regretted it ever since. I have tried several different media with this drive and the performance is still awful. If I burn movies faster than 1x, the movies come out with pixelated scenes. Further, the drive has abysmal read speeds. My year old vanilla-flavored dvd consistently outperforms the Nutech drive by a 20-50 margin. I believe that the NEC ND-2510A burner is superior to the NuTEch burner. Not only does it support Dual Layer media, but it has better media support. NuTech is a second rate company. It's website support is awful and limited. Furthermore, AT's recommendation rest on a $6 dollar price differential. 6 bucks!. You lose DL support, (yes, dl media is rare) but for 6 lousy bucks you get a resonable future proof drive from a trusted company. Shame on AT for recommending this inferior burner.thebluesgnr - Monday, August 23, 2004 - link
Nice article Evan - well done. I really enjoyed this one.I have one small comment though (of course ;)
"We should also mention that you don't have to get two pairs of 256MB modules if you think you'll be making big memory upgrades in the future. That is, you can opt for a 512MB OCZ PC3200 EL stick in order to save an additional DIMM slot for future memory expansion. "
It should be made clear that this comment is specific to the main mobo/cpu pick (Athlon 64), and if you go with the alternative (Pentium 4) two sticks is highly recommended.
There's also a small typo there - it says "two pairs" instead of one.
Thanks,