Buyer's Guide - Entry Level to Mid-Range, March 2005
by Jarred Walton on March 15, 2005 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Miscellaneous Components
That takes care of everything but the actual user interface to the computer: the mouse and keyboard. (Networking, as usual, will be supplied by the motherboard.) What we include here is merely a standard keyboard and mouse, and personal preference can always play a part. We like both Microsoft and Logitech input devices and are happy to use either. If you have a different preference, buy that instead, as there is generally little difference in "performance" as far as keyboards and mice are concerned - at least in the business market. The only "requirement" we have is that the mouse has to be of the optical variety, and it has to have a scroll wheel.
Click to enlarge.
Price: $25 shipped
Logitech gets our recommendation here due to the better value, although we reiterate that this is a personal choice. The keyboard includes additional shortcut keys that can be relatively useful, along with a good quality optical mouse. More expensive options always exist, like mice with additional buttons, but they can't beat the price of the Logitech bundle. If you like wireless input devices, Logitech also offers several cordless combos that only cost a bit more.
Click to enlarge.
Price: $36 shipped
We would prefer the five-button Microsoft Optical mouse, but others like the three-button design more. For those who type a lot, however, "natural" keyboards are a great way to reduce wrist stress. Cheaper and more expensive Microsoft bundles exist, but considering that the Natural Elite keyboard typically costs $29, the mouse is being thrown in for $7. Sure, that's only about $12 less than normal, but it's still a decent discount.
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jwf1776 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
my sources are showing Thermaltake W0013 Xaser Silent Purepower 480W at $60 as the cheapest acceptable atx 2.03 availablejwf1776 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
47 - the point is that it was "important to make sure that the alternative PSU included a 24-pin power connector" and it did notyou dig?
Jep4444 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
a 20-pin PSU will work on a 24-pin mobojwf1776 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
the alternative power supply EG375P-VE-SFMA doesn't have a 24pin rail!!http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_page.php?Tid=1&...
I ordered it at found out the hard way.
please make a correction!
Jep4444 - Thursday, March 17, 2005 - link
http://www.hkepc.com/hwdb/x300hm-5.htmlooking at those X300HM, you can clearly see the higher memory HyperMemory cards fair better with AA than the higher clocked low memory ones
scrolling down the page, their isn't a direct 32MB/64MB comparison of the 6200TC but both are benched and you can see the 64MB 6200TC is faster than the 32MB only when AA is on
I guess it doesn't entirely matter though given the 32MB one can't even be found on newegg ATM(or atleast i couldn't find one)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
41 - Ah, that could very well be. In that case, I'd be curious to see the difference in performance between the 32MB and 64MB 64-bit TC cards. :|JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
42 - I had no idea Rosewill was related to Newegg. Newegg itself is just the online reseller of another company, ABS Computers or some such. At least, that was my understanding. Rosewill's RMA process seems a little questionable (i.e. restrictive), which doesn't really jive with them being Newegg. Of course, maybe it's just Newegg's way to sell certain products without needing to provide as much customer support?Zepper - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
Just in case the author didn't know, Rosewill isn't an independent company. It is the in-house packaging division of Newegg (like Mad Dog is to CompUSA, etc.). You can often find the same item for less under its actual name than in a Rosewill box..bh.
Jep4444 - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
The one benchmarked in the article under the name 64b is the 32MB/64bit one as mentioned on the first page and the 32b is 16MB/32bitI've seen a couple benches suggesting that the onboard RAM only makes a noticeable difference when AA is turned on at which point the 32MB cards seem to hit rock bottom dropping a significant amount of FPS(the ATI one does it too)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
Jep4444 - I'm still not entirely sure on whether the 6200TC-32 is a 32-bit or 64-bit interface. Looking at the performance, it appears to be a 32-bit interface as the TC-64 beats it by a large margin. Then again, the presence of more local memory might cause the performance difference. Anyway, regardless of whether the TC-32 is a 32-bit or 64-bit interface, I would definitely stick with the TC-64 or full 6200 over the TC-16/32.