High End Buyer's Guide - September 2004
by Wesley Fink on August 30, 2004 12:22 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Networking
Recommendation: Onboard networkingPrice: $0
The two onboard Gigabit ports that you will find on our recommended motherboard is all that you will need for a high end system. One of the gigabit LAN ports on the MSI K8N Neo2 is the on-chip nVidia gigabit LAN that removes at least one of the Gigabit LAN options from the PCI bus. Our Intel alternative, Asus P5AD2, also moves the LAN off the confines of the PCI bus and onto the much faster PCI Express bus. In fact, both gigabit LAN ports on the Asus are of the fast PCIe variety. This makes both recommended motherboards capable of the best performance that you can achieve with Gigabit LAN - with no confines of a PCI bus. The practical reality is that you will likely find no real difference in the Gigabit LAN provided by either MSI or Asus unless you have specialized networking needs. Broadband won't be any faster than the 10/100 solution found on almost any motherboard these days, but on-chip Gigabit can be useful when transferring large amounts of data to and from multiple networked computers in an office or within a home network.
Keyboard and Mouse
While not a major item, it's still important that you purchase the right keyboard and mouse. Reality is that different people have different preferences for a keyboard's feel and look, and the same goes for a mouse. Therefore, we suggest that you personally try out a keyboard and mouse. To recommend purchasing these items online is misleading, as there are too many users with different preferences for this type of thing. Visit your nearest PC outlet to try out a keyboard and mouse; a PC Club, Best Buy, CompUSA, or Circuit City store will do. We suggest that you start with Microsoft and Logitech keyboards and mice. Make sure you also check out optical mice from these manufacturers as well. A good solid optical mouse from either should run about $20, but in some cases, can run as little as $10 if you can find the right deal.There are also some great wireless optical mice out there, but it really depends on whether you care at all about a wireless mouse and are willing to spend the money to acquire it. It is also no value to buy a cheaper wireless mouse or keyboard just to find that you hate the feel of it. Wired or wireless, make sure you like to type on the keyboard or like the feel of the mouse before you buy it. Most will be satisfied with a standard optical mouse from Microsoft or Logitech for gaming, as it offers similar or better precision and feel compared to most wireless mice. Whichever you decide to get - wired or wireless - stick with what makes you most comfortable. It is no fun to fight a keyboard or mouse that you hate every time you use your computer
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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Avalon - Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - link
#30, the AMD system should be somewhat faster in gaming for you. As for 3D studio max, I'm not sure which.stevennoland - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
The vid card price list does not include the X800 XT! What gives? I've tried to find them, but I'm really beginning to belive they don't exist.stevennoland - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
jjkusaf - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
oh...and would an Intel system be better for gaming and 3D Studio Max?jjkusaf - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
OK...first of all thanks for taking your time in writing this guide.I am in the market of building a new computer and will pretty much use this guide to help make my decisions. My computer will primarily be used for gaming (Doom3, N2003, etc) and 3D Studio Max.
My first question is about the CPU cooler. I take it that the stock cooler was used (I do not intend on overclocking)? I do not intend on buying the FX...but just the plain ol' AMD 64 3800. If the stock cooler is not recommended...then what cooler is?
Also...any advantages of the N-Force3 over the Via chipset...and vice versa.
Thanks for the write up!
Wesley Fink - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
#25 - As was stated on the last page (Final Words) of the Geil Ultra X 3200 review, the Geil tops out around 466 on AMD Athlon 64. That is why we selected a Micron chip memory for the A64 in the Guide.#26 - typo fixed.
gherald - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
The mid-range system from last month came to just over $1000. Now you are recommending a $3600 system as "high-end"C'mon Anand, that's too big of a price step. Three and a half "mid-range" systems for the price of one "high-end" ?!?
There should be a guide at around the $2000-2300 mark for this to be balanced.
danidentity - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
Another small typo,Page 6, Storage:
"Anand has shown that there is little performance advantage to SATA 1, but striping is still useful for improving boot times."
I believe that is supposed to say "little performance advantage to RAID 0", as the link points to a RAID 0 article.
Andrevas - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
I'm surprised the OCZ Powerstream 520W wasn't chosen for both systems, IMO it is the best power supply, period.And I'd like to know how well the new Geil Ultra X DDR400 sticks fair with the AMD 64 platforms in OCing since they were able to hit DDR561 in your review on an Intel platform.
Plus no mentioning of the Logitech Z680s?
Other then those issues, I think the components chosen were great except for the case, but that's more of a matter of personal interest.
Wesley Fink - Monday, August 30, 2004 - link
#14 and #21 - That sentence was a cut and paste error and has been corrected on the AGP video page. The timeline for 925X/775 has also been updated by removing the time reference.