System Summaries
With the Intel and AMD options, we end up with four configurations. The true budget setups will use the cheapest components in each area, while the upgraded alternatives will use the more expensive components. If you only want a few of the upgrades, it is also possible to come up with something in between, but we're only providing the maximum and minimum cost budget configurations.
AMD Budget Summary
| Budget AMD Sempron System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
AMD Sempron 2800+ 1.6 GHz 256KB L2 |
$89 |
| Motherboard |
EPoX EP-8KDA3J |
$74 |
| Memory |
1x512MB PQI POWER Series CL2.5 |
$51 |
| Video Card |
MSI Radeon 9550 128MB DDR 128-bit 250/400 |
$67 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi 80 GB 7200 RPM 8MB SATA |
$60 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
$57 |
| Case |
Rosewill ATX with 400W PSU model TU-155 |
$59 |
| Display |
Samsung 793DF/793MB |
$145 |
| Speakers |
Creative Labs SBS240 2.0 |
$17 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Internet Pro Keyboard and Mouse |
$25 |
| Bottom Line |
|
$644 |
AMD Upgraded Summary
| Upgraded AMD Athlon 64 System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8 GHz 512KB L2 90nm socket 939 |
$146 |
| Motherboard |
Chaintech VNF4 Socket 939 |
$91 |
| Memory |
2x512MB PDP/Patriot PC3200, Model PDC1G3200LLK |
$131 |
| Video Card |
Leadtek GeForce 6600 128-bit 128MB PCIe 300/550 |
$109 |
| Hard Drive |
Seagate 160 GB 7200 RPM 8MB SATA |
$94 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
$57 |
| Floppy Drive |
NEC, Sony, TEAC, Samsung, etc. |
$8 |
| Case |
Antec SLK1650B with 350W PSU |
$65 |
| Power Supply |
Enermax Noisetaker 370W model EG375P-VE-SFMA |
$51 |
| Display |
Rosewill R710E 17" 16ms LCD |
$210 |
| Speakers |
Logitech X-530 5.1 or Z-3i 2.1 Speakers |
$57 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard and Wheel Mouse Optical |
$36 |
| Bottom Line |
|
$1055 |
Intel Budget Summary
| Budget Intel Celeron System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Intel Celeron D 325J 2.53 GHz 256K L2 Cache |
$84 |
| Motherboard |
EPoX EP-5EPAJ 915P |
$82 |
| Memory |
2x256MB GEIL Ultra Value 2.5-4-4-7 |
$62 |
| Video Card |
Leadtek GeForce 6200TC 64-bit, 64MB (256 shared) |
$71 |
| Hard Drive |
HItachi 80 GB 7200 RPM 8MB SATA |
$60 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
$57 |
| Case |
Rosewill ATX with 400W PSU model TU-155 |
$59 |
| Display |
Samsung 793DF/793MB |
$145 |
| Speakers |
Creative Labs SBS240 2.0 |
$17 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Internet Pro Keyboard and Mouse |
$25 |
| Bottom Line |
|
$662 |
Intel Upgraded Summary
| Upgraded Intel Pentium 4 System |
| Hardware |
Recommended Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Intel Pentium 4 520 2.8 GHz 1024K L2 Cache |
$152 |
| Motherboard |
Gigabyte GA-8I915G Pro i915G |
$99 |
| Memory |
2x512MB PDP/Patriot PC3200, Model PDC1G3200LLK |
$131 |
| Video Card |
Leadtek GeForce 6600 128-bit 128MB PCIe 300/550 |
$109 |
| Hard Drive |
Seagate 160 GB 7200 RPM 8MB SATA |
$94 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC DVD+RW 3520A |
$57 |
| Floppy Drive |
NEC, Sony, TEAC, Samsung, etc. |
$8 |
| Case |
Antec SLK1650B with 350W PSU |
$65 |
| Power Supply |
Enermax Noisetaker 370W model EG375P-VE-SFMA |
$51 |
| Display |
Rosewill R710E 17" 16ms LCD |
$210 |
| Speakers |
Logitech X-530 5.1 or Z-3i 2.1 Speakers |
$57 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard and Wheel Mouse Optical |
$36 |
| Bottom Line |
|
$1069 |
You'll still need an Operating System as well, unless you plan on running some free OS such as one of the many flavors of Linux. XP Home runs about $90 for an OEM version, which you can pick up from most online sites if you buy qualifying hardware, while XP Professional will run about $135. The Professional version includes a few networking and security extras that we like to have, but most people will be fine with Home. Running on older version of Windows is also possible, but we don't recommend it due to outdated drivers and other usability enhancements that are only available with XP. There's no point in buying new hardware and then using an old OS, especially considering that XP itself is now over three years old.
Conclusion
That takes care of our current recommendations for the Budget to Mid-Range segments. The difference in performance and upgradeability from the base recommendations to the upgraded alternatives is pretty dramatic. We'll be taking a look at the Mid-Range to High-End price segment in our next Guide, which should cover all the options from the budget systems up through fire-breathing SLI monsters. As always, questions or comments are welcome.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
59 Comments
View All Comments
LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
Note on the Hitachi hard disk drives:Hitachi is the ONLY major company that does not allow advance-exchange RMA of their hard disks. To me, this is huge when looking at a hard disk. Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor all have advanced exchange. After the nightmares I have had with IBM and Hitachi technical support, I could not in all honesty recommend them in a system. Personally, I can't afford that kind of downtime, having an advance replacement makes it easier to try and recover data from a crashed drive if necessary, and you aren't waiting in limbo while someone receives your defective drive, checks it in, diagnoses it bad, then sends you out a replacement, also placing you at the mercy of their stock-on-hand or whomever they choose to ship to you the replacement drive.
neologan - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
There's another buyers guide at http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=9 but it doesn't choose its recommedations due to a really strict budget. Worth a read though i guess.JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
26 - Thanks. Identity crisis indeed! I was originally looking at upgraded S754 instead of S939, but decided against it. :)As a side note, RAM prices have suddenly taken a massive cut. The PDP 2-3-2-5 is now $20 less than last week, and it's about $50 less than a couple months ago. Heck, you can even get 1GB (2x512) of Corsair CL2.5 for under $100 now - again, $50 less than last Guide!
chrisd154 - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
"Socket 754 Alternative Motherboard: Chaintech VNF4 Socket 939""Socket 754 CPU: AMD Athlon 64 1.8 GHz 512KB L2 90nm socket 939"
Your socket 754 motherboard and cpu are having a bit of an identity crisis (i.e theyre 939). You might want to correct that mate.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
24 - you want benchmarks of the speakers? Sorry, that's *way* beyond the scope of this Guide. Speakers costing $60 or less aren't being purchased primarily for their quality; they're being selected for price.If you mean benchmarks in general, that's something that would be great to have but not practical to do. Our various hardware reviews are meant to address the theory of what makes a good component/computer. For many of the parts in a budget system, price is a bigger factor than the final performance or quality. Sure, we'd like to have both, but the truth is you're not going to get SLI in a budget system. We do not have all of the parts available in one location for testing, and some of the parts may not even be in AnandTech's possession [anymore]. This is especially true of entry-level Guides, as many of the parts were new a year or more in the past
If you'd like specific information or you have a specific question, feel free to email me.
crimson117 - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
I'd appreciate if you could add some benchmarks to compare "beeps and boops" quality. This guide is pretty much worthless without them.JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
The MSI uATX is the only ATI Xpress 200 board currently available, and it's basically the same price as the Chaintech. Given that it's still pretty new, I'm a little hesitant to go with that over the "proven" nF4. Oh, and there are *no* overclocking options on the MSI board right now. Is that a BIOS problem or a chipset problem? I don't know. If you really like ATI or if you want a uATX form factor, it's definitely an option.kmmatney - Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - link
I'd consider the MSI ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 motherboard board for a budget system as well. From reviews I've read, using the on-board video doesn't seem to degrade overall 2D performance.Pair it with an Athlon 64 3000+ winchester for $235. A decent system for the non or light gamer, and you have the option of upgrading the video later. Too bad there aren't any budget 939 cpus.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - link
I haven't had issues with the Chaintech, but that's only one person's experience with a specific RAM/GPU setup. The documentation is pretty lacking, but other than that it works well. Are you speaking from personal experience, and if so, what was the exact configuration (RAM, CPU, PSU, etc.)? It works well in the following configuration, although I had to manually set the RAM timings:Athlon64 3500+
Chaintech nForce4 VNF4
ATI X800 XL 256MB PCIe
1GB (2x512) Corsair DDR400 CAS2.5
Antec True430 PSU
NEC ND-3520A DVD±RW
WD 200GB SATA
SB Audigy 2 ZS
As for the DVD+RW, why save $20 when there won't be anything faster than a 16X burner, and the ability to backup 4.5GB of data rather than 700MB can come in handy? (And if that sounds like too much data, consider that a lot of people take digital pictures these days. A few hundred high quality images will fill a CD.) I mentioned the possibility to downgrade the optical drive, but I'm not going to recommend it.
mostlyprudent - Tuesday, March 15, 2005 - link
Are you serious ... recommending a motherboard with compatability and stability problems just to save $10? And why put a DVD-RW drive in a budget system? Optical drives are quite simple to upgrade down the road. You would have to be crazy to skimp on the quality of the motherboard to fit in an upgraded optical drive. You can get a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive for about $20 less than the NEC drive you suggest. I would take that $20 dollars and invest it in a stable/reliable motherboard -- there is nothing worse than a finiky mobo as far as I'm concerned.