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Pre-AM2 Mid-Range Buyers' Guide, May 2006

 by Jarred Walton on May 9, 2006 6:30 AM EST
56 Comments | Add A Comment
56 Comments

Video Recommendations

Both platforms use PCI-E graphics, naturally, so at least we don't have to worry about that aspect of choosing a graphics card. Beyond that, there are a wide variety of graphics cards that are all suitable recommendations, especially depending on individual needs. If you don't care at all about gaming performance, we would still stick with a GPU that costs somewhere in the $125 range. On the low end, the Radeon X1600 and GeForce 7600 products are reasonable choices. We spent slightly more money in order to get more performance.

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Graphics Recommendation: EVGA GeForce 7600GT CO 256MB (580/1500)
Price: $184 shipped (Retail)

For only a few dollars more than the stock 7600 GT, the EVGA 7600 GT is factory overclocked (from the default 560/1400 clock speeds). The price difference is small enough and EVGA's warranty policy is so much better than average that we feel it's a good choice. If you can't find the EVGA card in stock where you live, just about any 7600 GT should be acceptable. The performance offered is slightly better than the old 6800 GT cards overall, due to architectural enhancements. That said, there are certainly games out there (Oblivion and F.E.A.R. for example) where you will still have to turn down the detail levels in order to get acceptable frame rates. If gaming is your only passion, you might consider one of the following upgrades - and you can always cut the cost of the processor if you're trying to stay within a budget, as most games will still be GPU limited at high resolutions.

If you prefer ATI cards, for a bit more money (about $200) you can go with the X1800 GTO. In benchmarks, the GTO trades places with the 7600 GT, and both are 12 pipeline cards. Priced at around $290, you can find the 7900 GT cards. Maximum performance (with factory overclocked models) is about 50% to 75% higher than the 7600 GT, so performance scales almost linearly with price. At just over $300, you can now find X1800 XT cards on sale. They don't have all of the architectural improvements of the X1900 series, but you do get 512MB of RAM which is starting to become useful in a few games. We would say it remains a reasonable alternative to the 7900 GT, and in games like Oblivion the X1800 XT comes out on top. Going beyond the $300 range, cards like the X1900 XT/XTX and 7900 GTX are available, but that's definitely moving out of the realm of midrange components.

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  • Spacecomber - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link

    Thanks for putting up an update to your buyer's guides. I always read these with interest to get other people's insights into what they think are the most useful criteria for selecting the best components to get the job done at a good price.

    For me, trying to sort through whose LCD monitors really offer the most in a given price range, such as the $290 to $300 range, continues to be one of the most frustrating areas of selecting components. The fact that manufacturers of LCDs seem to have no compunction about making up whatever technical specifications they think will best help them sell their products is maddening. Perhaps someone will eventually nail them with a class-action lawsuit similar to the one that got everyone to specify the difference between CRT tube sizes and viewable sizes.

    Anyway, with regard to your recommendations, I'm skeptical that any of these LCDs, except the 24 inch Acer, are actually true 16.7 million color LCDs. As you said, it's easy to get to hung up on one specification, but all these LCDs, with the exception of the Acer AL2416W, appear to be using TN based panels. This means that in addition to them most likely really only being 6-bit + 2-bit with dithering panels, they suffer from the narrowed viewing angles that is the TN panel's other main weakness. Fortunately, while most manufacturers seem to have little problem with declaring all their LCDs to be 16.7 million color monitors, many continue to still be a little more honest about the viewing angles (though even these are often fudged, as well). The viewing angles on the monitors you listed are what seem to give away the true nature of these displays. They are relatively narrow, and they show smaller angles for the vertical compared to their horizontal angles, which as far as I know is very charecteristic of TN panels.

    Anyway, my only point is that the more information you can dig up and provide us about what's what with LCD panels the better. This continues to be one area of computer hardware where facts and reviews are skant and hard to find.

    Thanks

    Space

  • KorruptioN - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link

    That BenQ FP202W 20" really is a TN panel. Some say it is a full 8-bit panel (16.7M) instead of a 6-bit panel (16.2M). I don't really know for sure. If it is indeed 8-bits, then I don't think I would hesitate to recommend it (for that price with rebate), even with the slightly restrictive viewing angles.

    That said, I would recommend people spend a little bit more and get the Viewsonic VX2025WM. It is a full 8-bit P-MVA panel from AU Optronics and offers the best of both worlds (response time, viewing angles, and colour depth). It can be had for just under $350. It has the height adjustment too.

  • kmmatney - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link

    The BenQ web site always lists the correct number of colors a monitor supports. In this case the web site lists 16.7 million colors, so its an 8-bit display. Its also a TN panel, so viewing angle will not be as good as an MVA panel.

    Here's a review, though:
    http://gear.ign.com/articles/699/699896p1.html">http://gear.ign.com/articles/699/699896p1.html

    My experience with BenQ's is that it takes some fiddling to get the colors right, but they are very nice after that. They are not so good out-of-the-box.


  • Spacecomber - Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - link

    Well, you might be right, but I remain skeptical about the BenQ FP202W being a 16.7 million color monitor. It seems like it would be big news if someone was successfully manufacturing TN panels with that many true colors.

    www.flatpanels.dk seems to think that this monitor is using a Chungwa panel (CPT CLAA201WA01) and that this panel is also found in the Acer AL2017. Acer lists their panel as supporting 16.2 million colors, typical for how 6-bit plus dithering panels are described.

    Again, this just seems to emphasize how hard it is to get factual information that you can rely on when it comes to LCD monitors.

  • JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - link

    I've got the 19" 2ms and the 20" 8ms both setup right now, and I couldn't tell you (with my eyes) whether they're 6-bit or 8-bit. I need better eyes, I guess (which is actually true). I've edited the display text slightly if you want to check it out.

  • JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - link

    Full reviews (with empirical data, rather than just using my eyeballs) will be coming soon.

  • Spacecomber - Wednesday, May 10, 2006 - link

    I look forward to those. With so much of the cost of a system potentially going into these monitors, not to mention their expected useful lifespan, more LCD monitor reviews will definitely be welcome.

    The trick will be how to go about getting those facts and then figuring out what they really mean. I know that ranslating numbers into users' experiences is easier said than done.

    I'm sure that one of the reasons that there aren't very many in depth reviews of LCDs available is because this is such a difficult piece of hardware to get a good, analytic handle on.

    Space

  • kmmatney - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link

    I meant to put in a few more reviews:

    http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?page=45...">http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?page=45...
    http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/BenQ_FP202W/4505-3174...
    http://www.gamerz-edge.com/hardware/reviews/fp202w...">http://www.gamerz-edge.com/hardware/reviews/fp202w...


    There is a review out there that compared the BenQ against a few other LCDs inlcuding the ViewSonic 20" widescreen, and the ViewSonic was deemed the better LCD.

  • punko - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link

    Thanks for the Guide, Jarred.

    I guess sometimes its worth whining!

    Punko

  • Yawgm0th - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link

    I can't quite understand the recommendation of a 400W Eneremax power supply. There are more powerful modular power supplies in the same price range, with some being cheaper, even the ones from reputable brand names. There are even better PSUs in the same price range without modular cabling. A modular PSU is hardly a necessity for a mid-range computer, but a good power supply is. Enermax makes some great PSUs, but I wouldn't want to try using a 400W in a system like this, especially when there are good 500W power supplies in the same price range.
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