Weekly Buyer's Guide: Mid-Range System - June 2004

Memory

Recommendation: 2 X 256MB OCZ PC3500 EL (Enhanced Latency) CAS2.0
Price: $120 shipped

We've talked about OCZ's troubled past and history in detail before, but thankfully, those issues have been resolved and OCZ is finally able to bring great memory to market, and has been doing so for over a year now. With that said, OCZ has had tremendous success with their EL series of modules for a reason: great price/performance ratio. At only slightly more than the Kingston ValueRAM that we recommended two months before, you get lower CAS timings (CAS 2-2-3-6 1T) with OCZ EL modules instead of high CAS timings (CAS 3-3-3 4T) with the cheaper no-name modules. Lower CAS timings along with the EL series' overclocking capability translates into better performance for a great price. Remember, this is PC3500; you can run it at DDR433.

Recommendation: 2 X 512MB Mushkin PC3500 Level One Dual Pack (CAS2)
Price: $306 shipped

While we have been using OCZ's Platinum modules as the standard for a majority of AnandTech's testbeds, we have also been using Mushkin Level One memory in conjunction with the OCZ. Unfortunately, it is getting harder and harder to find dual packs nowadays, but Mushkin Level One Dual Packs are available at large vendors like Axion and Newegg, so they're still out there. We've been able to do lots of testing with these specific PC3500 modules and they indeed run stably at PC3500 (433MHz DDR) on many currently available motherboards. There are many PC3500 modules that aren't capable of reliable DDR433 speeds on popular motherboards, so be wary. But motherboards such as the MSI K8N Neo Platinum and ASUS P4P800 Deluxe will run these modules very well, so we suggest that you take a look at them when purchasing your motherboard. However, don't get confused. PC3500 is not an officially sanctioned JEDEC spec, and therefore there are no motherboards on the market which can claim that they officially support PC3500 speeds. PC3500 is quite easily attainable with modern motherboards, but just be aware that PC3200, not PC3500, is the highest speed that your motherboard manufacturer will officially support under warranty.

Video

Recommendation: 128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro, DVI, TV-out
Price: $126 shipped

Ever since the release of the ATI R300 cores and their later iterations, ATI has either led or has had a clear lead over NVIDIA in terms of performance and price. The same is still true of ATI at the moment, 20+ months since the release and availability of R300 core video cards. That's why, today, we highly recommend purchasing a 9600 Pro for your mid-range system, as it offers great DX8 and good DX9 performance for the price. To put it simply, the 9600 Pro is the best bang-for-the-buck video card on the market. Sapphire makes a great 9600 Pro for just $126 or so shipped; the additions of DVI and TV-out for this price are unique, and overall, a great deal. 2D IQ quality is excellent, up to 1600x1200 desktop resolutions with the right monitor, essentially on par with retail ATI versions of the 9600 Pro. As previously mentioned, 3D performance is excellent in DX8 games and good in DX9 games, and 128MB of memory will be plenty until more intense DX9 games are released later this year and next year. We can also attest to the fact that these cards have been known to overclock extremely well, and usually come with 3.3ns Samsung memory chips.

Of course, if you're not a gamer or don't plan on playing games more than once a year, or ever, a 9600 Pro would be a pointless purchase. We would instead suggest the ATI Radeon 9200SE that we recommended in last week's Entry Level Guide, which goes for about $40 shipped online currently. The 9200SE provides the excellent 2D quality non-gamers need, along with reliable drivers, great online ATI customer support, and up to DX8.1 support for future Microsoft operating systems. You could always opt for the cheapest of cheap ATI cards in the Radeon 7000, but you won't be getting DX8 support, which should be the bare minimum for computer systems that plan to be used beyond the next 18-24 months, when the next operating system's release will necessitate DX8 of some form for smooth operation.

Alternative: 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, DVI, TV-out
Price: $204 shipped

ATI's 9800 Pro has been rapidly declining in price for the last several months, and over the last two months has stabilized around the $200 mark. Even with the introduction of ATI's next generation X800 GPU, we don't see the 9800 Pro dropping more than a few more dollars in retail from where it stands now for the foreseeable future. ATI's soon-to-be widely available X800 GPU and the 9800 Pro's lower price are precisely why we believe that the 9800 Pro is a perfect alternative to the 9600 Pro (or even 9700 Pro) for your mid-range system. It offers good performance for tomorrow's games and great performance for the vast majority of today's games. The 128MB memory chips at their rated 3.3ns is standard these days and should fit the needs of a mid-range user. Thankfully, 2D IQ is still superb with high end retail ATI video cards like the 9800 Pro, so non-gamers have nothing to worry about in that department.

Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on ATI video cards from many different reputable vendors:


If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.