Buyer's Guide - Entry Level, October 2004
by Jarred Walton on October 6, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Optical Drives
Prices on optical drives have really bottomed out, and it is now possible to pick up a DVD burner with dual layer support for under $70. We do not feel that a budget system actually needs a DVD recorder, but the option is there should that sort of thing interest you. The only other thing worth mentioning is that you should make sure to get an optical drive that matches the front of your case. Since the two cases that we have selected are black (as you will see later in the guide), we went with black optical drives. Beige models of the same drives are also available.While you might be able to find a CD-ROM drive for less than half the cost of a CD-RW, we recommend that you "splurge" on the CD-RW for a couple reasons. First is that you never know when you might decide to start creating your own CDs, be they music, photo, or other content. Second, CD-R discs are extremely cheap and relatively fast, and they are far more reliable than floppy disks for storing data. Making periodic backups to a CD-R is relatively simply and painless, and each disc can hold a lot of data. There really is no reason not to get one.
Office CD-RW Recommendation: Lite-On SOHR-5238S 52x32x52x CD-RW
Price: $28 shipped
We have chosen to recommend a Lite-On CD-RW drive for this month's budget system. This change is not so much due to an inherent superiority of the Lite-On drive, but instead, it is meant as an alternative to previous recommendations. Nearly all current 52X CD-RW drives are within a few dollars of each other in price, and performance and reliability are all very close together as well. Aopen, ASUS, Sony, Samsung, Pioneer, Plextor, NuTech... for CD-RW drives, we have not seen any major issues that would cause us to seriously recommend one drive over another. Some users also report getting better burn rates and quality by using unofficial BIOS updates - proceed at your own risk if you decide to try out any of these mods.
Gaming CD/DVD Alternative: Lite-On SOHC-5232K CD-RW/DVD Combo
Price: $45 shipped
For gamers, we highly recommend getting a DVD/CD-RW or even a DVD+/-RW drive. There have been a few games recently that have appeared with special DVD-ROM versions, and even though the content is the same, worrying about only one DVD is more preferable to shuffling through four or five CDs, while you try to figure out which is the one that you need to have in the drive to be able to play your game. We can only hope that more future titles will begin to ship on a single DVD instead of multiple CDs, and to facilitate that, we suggest that all gamers have a system that can at least read DVDs. You also get the added benefit of being able to watch movies on your computer, of course. 8X DVD+R drives start at about $10 more, but as we mentioned earlier, we do not really feel that they are necessary, so we are cutting our costs a bit for now.
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skittlekiller - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
One thing that may be useful to inform buyers of is Miscrosoft's basic $15 optical mouse. I work with these very often, I find them to almost compete with Mice like my personal MX510. They're very nice, comfortable, and cheap. They'll do everything you want them to do, and will last you forever.JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
ksherman - even inexpensive SFF cases can cost $200 or more, and they are usually more difficult to work with (since they're cramped). For first time buyers, it is difficult to recommend a SFF. If you know what you're doing, though, go for it. We're still looking into recommendations for a SFF System. Stay tuned.We could also cut the gaming system down to $750 while sticking with the 9800 Pro if we go with a cheaper case, monitor, 80GB HDD, and socket A. The performance will suffer a lot, though, especially in the most recent games. A 9800 Pro is still 50% faster (or more) than a 9600XT, so the extra $70 is money well spent, especially if you have any interest in gaming. If you get a 9600XT, high detail modes really are not an option for the latest generation games (Doom 3, HL2, Far Cry, etc.) That's just our opinion, though, and we do mention the 9600 Pro/XT as an option.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
I made a few minor tweaks after reading the comments. I remember reading before that the A7N8X-X was single-channel only, but it's easy to forget with the similarity in names. Still, it's not like the single-channel mode really hurts performance, but with the suggestion of dual-channel RAM, we ought to stick with a board that supports the feature. Sorry for the confusion.Regarding case and monitor, I tried to make it clear that there are a LOT of options out there, and I don't think any two components are as personal a choice as those items. If money is an issue - and on a budget sytem, it almost certainly is - check out some local computer shops. You have to pay taxes, but you save on shipping, so it usually equals out. Searching for displays - both CRT and LCD - at local stores is also a good idea, especially if you have any large electronics stores like Fryes, CompUSA, or similar in the area. They often have sales on parts that can beat any online purchase.
ksherman - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
I think that $900 for an entry level gaming system is a little much... why not use a 9600XT (which still kicks, but costs signifigantly less) and an AMD XP 2600, that only costs $75 and still performes well for games. Also, a SFF computer should be considered as an entry level PC, and should have been inluded... but otherwise, i like the review!Ballistics - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
If you are looking for a 17" CRT monitor that can do high rez at high refresh rates look no further than the Viewsonic G75F. 1600 X 1200 @68 Hz and 1280 X 1024 @ 80 Hz. Natch!thebluesgnr - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
This article shows socket A is not quite dead yet - I wonder why AnandTech completely ignored the KT880 chipset.For what it's worth, I'd recommend ASRock's K7V88 instead of the ASUS A7N8X-X. Save almost $20 for a stable board with SATA support, better sound codec.
btw, the A7N8X-X doesn't support dual-channel like page 4 of the article says.
MemberSince97 - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
Very clear and informative Jarred. A concise guide for they noobler and confused first time PC builder...jensend - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
Seagate's recent PATA drives have all been the sucks. See storagereview.com. For PATA, go Samsung P80- same price, 3-year warranty, significantly better performance (25% or greater difference in every DriveMark 2002 test), lower noise (for details on that, see silentpcreview.com). Seagate's SATA drives are considerably better and I'd call them a dead draw with Samsung's (slightly faster than the P80 SATA drives, slightly louder and slightly more expensive).Spacecomber - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
"... the NEC FE771 is the same display [as the NEC 770] only with a beige enclosure."Actually, I believe that the NEC 770 is a shadow mask monitor, and the NEC 771 uses the Diamondtron aperture grill tube. Both models came in different colors.
Just being picky. I enjoyed reading the write-up.
Space
Illissius - Wednesday, October 6, 2004 - link
Solid recommendations. Why, though, do you insist on presenting two completely seperate price guides under the guise of a single one? It would be much simpler to, rather than have two pages for everything within the same guide, seperate it into two.