Gaming Buyer's Guide - November 2004

Additional Components

The remaining components will not have as much of an impact on performance, but they are still important. A cheap display, for example, will limit your maximum resolution in games. The low-end power supplies that come with many cases can cause instabilities that are difficult to track down. Your hard drive might also run out of space if you find yourself installing numerous games at the same time, ripping CDs to MP3 format, and/or storing movies on your system. Here, then, are the remaining components, in no particular order.

Hard Drives
Target Segment	Component	Price
Budget	Seagate Barracuda 80GB EIDE model 7200.7 (PATA Hard Drives)	59
Mid-Range	Seagate 160GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Model ST3160023AS (SATA Hard Drives)	93
High-End	Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 10000RPM 8MB Model WD740GD	173
High-End	Maxtor 300GB SATA 7200RPM 16MB Model 6B300S0	207

The two major factors in the hard drive segment are capacity and performance. We recommend 80 GB 7200 RPM models with 8 MB of cache as the bare minimum for any hard drive, as getting less than this can noticeably affect performance while saving only $10 or $15. With the more expensive models, you get increased capacity, except with the Raptors, which instead go for faster access times and sustained transfer rates. RAID 0 is also an option for increasing transfer rates, but our testing has shown that you are not likely to notice the difference in many tasks.

Optical Drives
Target Segment	Component	Price
Budget	Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-167T	30
Mid-Range	NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A (DVDR Drives)	72

We have only listed two optical drives, a 16X burner and the other, a 16X DVD-ROM. 8X and 12X DVDR drives are also sufficient and can save you a bit of money. We suggest that anyone building a system should add in a DVDR these days, as they are very handy for doing large backups of critical data. If you're sure that you don't need the capability to burn CDs and DVDs, we prefer DVD-ROM drives. They only cost $10 more than CD-ROM drives and we are starting to see more games shipping on DVDs. It is much more convenient to install from a single DVD than from multiple CDs.

Cases and Power Supplies
Target Segment	Component	Price
Budget	Athenatech A602 Black/Silver with 350W PSU	62
Mid-Range	Antec SLK3700-BQE with 350W	91
High-End	Antec True480 480W PSU	95
High-End	Antec Lanboy Aluminum	96
High-End	Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU	98
High-End	Thermaltake VA3000 Dream Tower Tsunami with 400W PSU	135
Mid-Range SFF	Shuttle XPC SN95G5 (AMD socket 939)	299

Depending on your personal tastes, a case can be simply a box to hold your components or it can be a fashion statement. Some cases are built to be more accessible than others, but once a system is assembled, that doesn't matter anymore. The only factors that you will notice are the noise level and appearance. For appearance, SFF cases are a reasonable suggestion, while noise levels are harder to address. Some people can tolerate higher noise levels than others, and you can always try to find lower RPM fans or install a fanbus in order to reduce the noise levels. Larger 120mm fans can also reduce the amount of noise emanating from your case by moving the same amount of air as a faster spinning 80mm fan. The power supply will also contribute to the noise levels, but more importantly, a low end power supply can actually cause a high end system to crash. The AntecTrue480 and the Ultra X-Connect are both high quality parts that should allow even the most powerful systems to run reliably. They won't improve performance, but we value stability over performance.

Displays
Target Segment	Component	Price
Budget	Samsung 793DF 17 Black/Silver CRT (1280x1024@75 Hz)	139
Mid-Range	Samsung SyncMaster 997DF 19 CRT	234
High-End	Samsung 172X 17 LCD	429
High-End	NEC/Mitsubishi FP2141SB-BK 22	634
High-End	ViewSonic VP912B 19 LCD 12ms	710

Like the case of your system, displays can either be a functional unit or a statement of style. The latter generally requires the use of an LCD panel, as it is hard to consider a bulky CRT as stylish. If you can afford it and have the desk space, a large 22" CRT still provides what is arguably the best gaming experience. Whichever path you choose, remember that a high quality display can easily last through three or more computer upgrade cycles. The initial investment may be painful to bear, but $600 for six or more years of quality use is a good investment.

Speakers and Sound Cards
Target Segment	Component	Price
Speakers	Logitech Z-640 5.1	52
High-End	Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS	75
High-End	M-Audio Revolution 7.1	92
Mid-Range+	Logitech Z-5300e 5.1 THX Certified	159
High-End	Logitech Z-680 5.1 THX Certified	236

Finally, we come to the sound category. For most users, integrated audio is more than enough to handle even the most recent games. If you're something of an audiophile, we recommend spending more on speakers before you look into purchasing a better sound card. Once you're at the $200+ speaker price point, however, a separate audio card can provide a noticeable difference in sound quality. If you happen to notice a high-pitched hiss coming from your speakers, an add-in card can also cure that ailment. While the audio codecs and sound processing capabilities are usually sufficient with integrated audio, some motherboards do generate a lot of noise.

Of these parts, the only areas that we would really suggest that you take a look at are the displays and hard drives. Capacity is our primary concern with hard drives, so if you store a lot of movies and music on your system in addition to games and other documents, a larger hard drive would be almost a requirement. For the displays, given their longevity relative to the rest of the system, upgrades can be with you for years to come. For gaming, we definitely recommend getting a display that can handle the highest refresh rates possible. Enabling VSYNC (Vertical Synch) will avoid tearing, but it can have a massive impact on frame rates. Running with VSYNC disabled, on the other hand, will result in noticeable tearing in many games. (Tearing is what you get when the frame buffer is updated while the monitor is in the middle of refreshing the screen's content.) At refresh rates of 100+ Hz, tearing is very difficult to notice; however, at 60 to 75 Hz, we definitely feel that it results in a loss of image quality.