Buyer's Guide - Mid-Range, October 2004
by Jarred Walton on October 21, 2004 11:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Optical Drive Recommendations
Optical drives are one area where the price, performance, and features of competing products are extremely close. For most people, a decent DVD+/-RW drive will function well as a "Jack of All Trades", although some of you might want to add a second DVD-ROM drive in order to create backup images of a disc without storing data on the hard drive. CD-R and DVD-R discs can also function as a quick and easy backup medium for whatever sort of work you do on your PC. Long-term storage of the discs may not be 100% reliable, but if you back up your critical files weekly to a new disc, you should be pretty safe from data loss.
DVD+/-RW Recommendation: NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A
Price: $73 Shipped (OEM)
While we haven't officially reviewed it yet, we are very impressed with the newest NEC 3500A drive, and with a price of just over $70, we prefer it over most of the competition. The drive is also available in beige, should that work better with your case. About the only feature missing from the drive is DVD-RAM support. For a drive that supports 16X DVD+R burn speeds as well as 4X DVD+R DL, such an omission is not a deal breaker. We should also mention that finding media capable of 16X burn speeds is still difficult. Those willing to flash the BIOS to the latest version - or perhaps even a "hacked" version - may find that burn speeds and reliability are improved. The practice is becoming relatively common for those trying to get the fastest DVD burn speeds out of their drives. Lite-On, Pioneer, Plextor, Sony, and many other brands are also acceptable.
DVD-ROM Alternative: Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-167T
Price: $30 Shipped (Retail)
For those who like to have a second optical drive, we offer this selection. There isn't a whole lot of difference between the various DVD-ROM drives these days. They can all read DVDs at 16X and CDs at 48X or 52X. Seek times might vary slightly, but most uses of optical drives do not rely heavily on seek times. Just remember to match your drive with your case. While Lite-On is a popular model, it is also possible to get alternative colors for the face plate, which some people might find useful. The retail version of this drive includes Power DVD 5 and an audio cable, so for the extra $1, it seems like a nice addition.
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Tides - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
when i think mid-range i do find it hard to look below 9800/6600.PrinceGaz - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
This article wasn't focussing on a system where gaming will be a major consideration. The reason for recommending a 9600 Pro (or X300) for discrete graphics is that DX9 hardware will be required for Longhorn when it arrives. A 9800 Pro would be overkill for that.neogodless - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
Okay, the price on the 19" monitor IS definitely a typo though! Also, personally I'd spend a touch $100 more for a 9800 Pro (over the 9600 Pro) if at all possible because I think a ~10% increase in overall cost for a much better gaming experience is worth it...neogodless - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
n/m... I see it's the 939 pin part... going on the assumption that dual channel increases that chips performance enough for a 200+ higher rating...neogodless - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
The Athlon 64 3200+ (90nm) is a 2.0Ghz 512kb cache part? Is that a typo? Should that read Athlon 64 3000+ ?tappertrainman - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
Great Job! I definitely like these style "guides" rather than the CPU motherboard guides by themselves. Also, I think a great idea would be to start an "upgrade" guide similar to these. You could have an entry-level mid-level and high-end upgrade guide each month? Thanks for the hard work.gimper48 - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
Very good. I am impressed. However, are we going to see benchmarks in these anytime soon?southernpac - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
I am very inclined to take your recommendation and use a Raid 1 (mirrow) back up strategy. Do I incur a performance "price" for making the constant back-up? If so, will it be significant enough for a simulations gamer to really notice the difference (I'll be using a higher-end system)?Kong Basse - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
Thank you for another good article.The article was absolutly not too long, only proclaim that I have is: The 9600 id getting a little old by now, but then again, it still isnt too bad for gaming, even though it hardly runs Doom3 and HL2.
PrinceGaz - Thursday, October 21, 2004 - link
I've just finished reading it and amazingly, I can't fault any of your recommendations!I'd say you've covered pretty much everything you set out to starting with solid recommendations for a base system, and providing excellent reasons for why someone might want to choose one of the alternatives suggested.
Probably the best system guide to date. Well done.