High End Buyer's Guide - September 2004
by Wesley Fink on August 30, 2004 12:22 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Recommended High-End System
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon 64 FX53 Socket 939 Retail | $829 |
| Motherboard | MSI K8N Neo2 (nForce3 Ultra) Socket 939 | $145 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) Crucial Ballistix PC3200 | $278 |
| Video Card | 256MB NVidia 6800 Ultra | $526 |
| Monitor | Dell 2001FP 20.1" Flat Panel | $809 |
| Computer Case | Coolermaster Praetorian (PAC-T01-E1) Silver plus 480W Antec True Power PSU |
$203 |
| Sound Card | M-Audio Revolution 7.1 | $94 |
| Speakers | Klipsch Pro Media Ultra 5.1 | $357 |
| Networking | Onboard 10/100/1000 Ethernet | $0 |
| Hard Drive | 2x74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148GB Total) | $356 |
| DVD/CD-RW | Pioneer 108D 16X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer | $97 |
| Bottom Line | $3597 | |
$3597 is the final price of our recommended Athlon 64 high end system for September, not including any money that you'll spend on software (Windows XP Professional or Home, Office, Photoshop, etc.) or a keyboard and mouse. This is a few dollars less than our last High End Buyer's Guide recommendation, even though we have significantly upgraded some components. Our monitor is now a fast 20.1" flat panel. The optical drive has been upgraded to a 16X Dual-Layer burner that can handle both + and - media at 16X write speeds. The audio card is now an M-Audio card based on the VIA Envy 24T audio chip. Many of you have suggested that we choose the best in these areas and we are happy to accommodate you. We have also updated memory recommendations based on the latest benchmarking at AnandTech.
$3600 is not pocket change, but we do believe that you will get a heck of a high end system for this $3600!! We've included the latest High End video from nVidia and the top Socket 939 Dual-Channel chipset from nVidia that is a particularly good match to an nVidia video card. The system also includes one of the fastest and most visually-pleasing flat panel displays tested at AnandTech in a large and satisfying 20.1" display. There are also CRT options at a lower price for those who prefer a CRT monitor, in addition to the $1050 21.3" flat-panel. You can spend a bit more at every price point, but we really don't believe that you will gain much, if anything, in performance.
Alternative High End System
Almost every recommendation in our alternative system is new, since we are now recommending an Intel 560 (3.6Ghz) on a new 925X motherboard as an alternative. The new Intel LGA 775 requires PCI Express, DDR2, and a 24-pin connector Power Supply in addition to the new processor, so parts are not generally interchangeable with the Recommended System.| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | Intel 560 (3.6Ghz) LGA 775 | $505 |
| Motherboard | Asus P5AD2 premium | $264 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) Crucial DDR2-533 | $362 |
| Video Card | 256MB ATI X800 XT Platinum | $545 |
| Monitor | Dell 2001FP 20.1" Flat Panel | $809 |
| Computer Case | Coolermaster Praetorian (PAC-T01-E1) Silver plus 480W Antec ATX v2.0 'NeoPower' PSU |
$248 |
| Sound Card | M-Audio Revolution 7.1 | $94 |
| Speakers | Klipsch Pro Media Ultra 5.1 | $357 |
| Networking | Onboard 10/100/1000 Ethernet | $0 |
| Hard Drive | 2x74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148GB Total) | $356 |
| DVD/CD-RW | Pioneer 108D 16X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer | $97 |
| Bottom Line | $3637 | |
Our Intel alternative system based on the new Socket T/DDR2/PCIe options totals about the same as our top-performing Athlon 64 system. The advantage of the cheaper Intel 560 is offset by the requirement for more expensive DDR2 memory, a more expensive motherboard, and an ATX 2.0 power supply. Where they are interchangeable, we have used the same parts recommended for the Athlon 64 system to provide a better comparison of the true cost of a top LGA 775 system vs. an Athlon 64 system.
By carefully choosing components from our alternative suggestions, you can reduce the price of either high end system to about $3000. The biggest savings would come with the alternative 200GB 7200RPM hard drive and the Mitsubishi 22" CRT instead of the fast 20.1" flat panel. Those two alternatives alone would reduce the total by almost $400. With the excellent on-board sound solutions provided by the motherboards - the 7.1 channel Realtek ALC850 on the A64 and Intel High Definition Audio on the Asus 775 - you can also reduce costs another $200 by using on-board sound and the alternative speaker system. Sound will still be outstanding and very satisfying for most end-users.
There are lots of changes in this High End Buyer's Guide. Take a close look at the complete High End Socket 939 FX53 system and the alternative Socket 775 Intel 560 system. Then, sharpen your pencil and start shopping for your dream high end system.
Please let us know what you think in the comments section at the bottom of each page. Your comments are always welcome, good and bad, and they help us refine our Buyer's Guides for the future.
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Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
Uff -The two FX53 I've tested both run fine at 2.6GHz (future FX55 spec) with stock cooling. While you will get more potential with better cooling, you are not locked out of using a higher multiplier just because you use stock cooling. The AMD Retail HSF does a decent job of cooling, though there are certainly better solutions available.
Uff - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
My point with FX-53 and stock cooling was exactly that: the main bonus you get with FX-53 is that it's multiplier unlocked but to make any use of that you need proper cooling.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
#40 - The DVD prices were pulled at slightly different times for the Recommended and Alternate systems. For consistency, both charts now show a $97 price for the Pioneer 108. Prices constantly change, so any published price will generally be off in a few days or weeks.Goi - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
Why is it that the DVD burner in the recommended high-end system costs $97 yet the exact same one in the alternate high-end system costs $96?krawl3r - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
every single time, these guides ignore 2 of the best PSUs on the market: the PC Power and Cooling 510Deluxe which is miles ahead of the antec. Also ignored is the Fortron 530s. In my experience, the Fortrons are at least on par with the Antecs of not equal.P.S. If you spend the money on an FX-53 you might as well get a server board and go with the 940pin version so you can plug in a SCSI RAID card and have an array of 73GB 15k drives....just my $0.02
neogodless - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
There is no "be all, end all" guide to anything, particularly in a rapidly changing technology environment. This guide is merely a guide. A place to start from, and go from there. They recommend getting the keyboard and mouse that is right for you, whether it be $70 or $10. However, I think there may be some logic in requesting that there's more of a reasonable scale from budget, mainstream, and high-end. This high-end guide tries to balance having enough money to buy the fastest computer with trying to make it affordable to a relatively wide audience, but really, I think there may be a different way to go about it. I think you could save a lot of money for a minimally slower computer, and by doing that, saving money for your next high-end machine. If you get the absolutely fastest machine, then there really should be no limits on money, and it should really be a no budget dream machine. If you're on a budget, even if it's $5000, you might want to be a little tiny bit stingier, and make sure that six months or a year from now, you still have a good budget for getting a high end rig.The only typo I saw was "could care less" in the audio section. Should be "couldn't care less".
The guides are a lot of work, and I think they are somewhat reasonable starting points. I appreciate them, even though I don't really use them for my own purchasing decisions. They are interesting, and hopefully helpful to some people.
jbritt1234 - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
How can you build a $3500 PC and then suggest a $10 mouse??? That's crazy! Lost a little respect for ya there.Wesley Fink - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
Uff - The improvements from Dual-Channel and 1024k cache vs. 512k cache are cumulative. So while either improvement alone is only 2 to 4% improvement, together the added cache and dual channel make the FX53 5% to 8% faster than the SC 512k 3700+ you suggest. If you want the top performance then the FX53 is the fastest.The FX53 is also completely unlocked, up and down, unlike the 3700+, 3800+, 3500+, or 3400+, which makes it possible to run at 2.6GHz for example at DDR400. All Athlon 64 are unlocked down, but only the FX is completely unlocked.
Uff - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
I'm just wondering why anyone in their right mind would buy an FX-53 and run it on stock cooling? Other than making more space in your room by taking out some of the spare piles of money, there is no real gain in it compared to say 3700+ (or even a 2.4GHz 3400+, since tests have shown little gain from the extra 512kb cache).Caligynemania - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
I am surprised that you reccomend mere computer speakers for a high end system. A receiver/speaker system (albeit more expensive) would be more appropriate for a high end system. I realize that this is outside the scope of a computer buyer's guide, but I think anyone who truly appreciates music/sound/noise would be willing to spend the $500 for a set of speakers that will last a lifetime (speakers dont go obselete or break). Combined with a good receiver (additional $100) you can output amazing sound from the radio, tv, computer, dvd. For $500 you can get the amazing NHT SB3 speaker system or the Klipsch RB25's.