Buyer's Guide - Entry Level, October 2004
by Jarred Walton on October 6, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Miscellaneous Components
We have covered all of the parts necessary for building a computer with a few exceptions. Network and audio are provided by the motherboard, and there is no reason to purchase a separate card to handle those duties. A Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS might make a nice addition to the gaming system, but we have already pushed the price of the budget gaming system up far enough. We also feel that the $80 that the Audigy 2 ZS costs could be put to better use in the graphics department, as that tends to be far more of a bottleneck than the sound processing.While it is not required, there are still instances where having a floppy drive comes in handy. Whether you want to spend the extra $10 or so is up to you, but many of us still insist on including a floppy drive in every PC. As long as you do not need to use it, you could probably care less, but for those rare occasions when you do need it, it can be a real life saver. BIOS flashing and installing hard drive controllers for XP are a couple of examples that often benefit from the presence of a floppy drive.
The last items that every computer needs are the keyboard and mouse. As before, we do not want to give a specific recommendation, as personal preference plays a large part in this area. However, we do like the Microsoft and Logitech models quite a lot. Products from both companies tend to have very good out-of-box support from Windows XP, which may not be the case with some of the other alternatives.
For the keyboard, office users might want to look into getting an ergonomic split keyboard in order to reduce the strain due to typing - most serious typists swear by them. Our one comment is that we really dislike keyboards that have the large enter key with the back slash moved elsewhere - people who have written any code or HTML can be very unhappy when certain keys are moved to the "wrong" location. If that sort of thing bothers you, remember to pay close attention to that detail when selecting a keyboard.
The only comment that we have to make about the mouse is that we really like optical mice. If you are used to an optical mouse and have to go back to an old rubber ball mouse, it can be an unpleasant experience. The precision and responsiveness of optical mice still varies, so you probably should not just get the cheapest mouse that you can find.
You can find mice and keyboards in both wired and wireless versions, and depending on your tastes, you may prefer one over the other. Wired versions are nice in that you never have to worry about batteries, but you still have to deal with the cords. Most likely, you already know what you like, so unless you are itching to try something new, you can stick with that.
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JarredWalton - Monday, October 11, 2004 - link
52 - ??? If you have such a high-end graphics card, are you actually thinking about pairing it with a budget systesm? Anyway, yes, it should work, unless it's an AGP Pro graphics card and your motherboard doesn't have a Pro slot. A 550W PSU should be sufficient, regardless. Anyway, you ought to look into getting an Opteron, Athlon 64, or Pentium 4 to go with that card. :pnurazlanshah - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link
can i use 3DLabs Wildcat Realizm 200 8x AGP 512MB G-DDR3 ($1500) with my NF2 8xagp motherboard even if i have 550w power supply?MasterFlash - Friday, October 8, 2004 - link
Nice article. I like your choice of components. My comp is similar to your recommendations: Antec SLQ-3700, Biostar MN7CD Pro mobo, Athlon XP 2500+, 2x512Mb DDR400 Crucial RAM, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 160Gb Seagate HDD, Toshiba DVD drive, generic 19" CRT.JarredWalton - Friday, October 8, 2004 - link
#49 - Foxconn and CasEdge have been suggested in our past budget guides, so I wanted to branch out a bit. :) I'm not too keen on their look, either, but that's just me.Bulldog66209 - Friday, October 8, 2004 - link
I've found that Foxconn/Supercase/CasEdge toolless cases offer good value, are easy to work with, and many are available with truly usable 400 watt power supplies. The local Micro-Center recently had a CasEdge TU-155 on sale for $31. The included power supply rated as capable of supplying 28 amps of 3.3V, 40 amps of 5V, and 17 amps at 12V at a nominal 400 watts. This compares favorably to the Antec which, although only rated at 350 watts, provides 28 , 35, and 16 amps.spartacvs - Friday, October 8, 2004 - link
To #41What the hell do you put on those HD? I have a 40Gb: few games, few applications, few videos, few mp3 and some small softwares (k9, avant browser, etc). It's only 2/3 full. And when it's 3/4 full, it just mean it's time for a little cleanup. Sure you can easily overload 2 x 120 Gb but your need are certainly not what most of the peoples needs.
mino - Friday, October 8, 2004 - link
#45 Nicely said.I completely agree,
It just seems to me it's very important to explicitly say what you mentioned here in your post.
It's beacause there is a HUGE amount of people who save those $20 or so, just because they have no idea what the result may be. The worst(not rare) case is, when such a person is a white-box builder...
Other than that I forgot to mention in my previous post that this guide is MUCH better then last one(not saying that was bad).
Keep good work Jarred.
And one suggestion for case to consider - since I think for value machine reliability is FAR more important than look - I recommend this YeongYang Cetus YY-5601 as an alternative with PSU I mentioned before.
We have been buying only these cases for a year now on and they ones of the best in $50-60 range.
they're available for inastance here http://store.yahoo.com/directron/yy5601.html
Ivo - Friday, October 8, 2004 - link
The review is very nice and useful but several additional aspects could be addressed too:1. The Video/Audio performance for 'Home entertainment' (without gaming - for older buyers :-).
2. The Cool & Quite (Eco) features of the components and systems.
3. The micro-ATX SFF systems (not barebones) for LAN-parties, Home-PCs etc.
4. The LCD-displays.
5. The long-term price (future software compatibility) of the systems.
In that sense, possibly, only systems with Athlon64 CPUs (with good cooler) are really interesting.
JarredWalton - Thursday, October 7, 2004 - link
Regarding several of the case comments, that's pretty much what I had in mind. I've built quite a few PCs for friends, family, and even myself. The downsides to the cheaper cases often more than outweigh the $20 or so you might save. Heck, if it were me, I would even try to get up to the SLK-3700 or Sonata cases by Antec (although oddly enough I prefer the 3700 over the Sonata - other than the PSU, of course). They're *so* much nicer to work with than a lot of the other sub-$100 cases.Really, cases are a personal choice. What I often consider gawdy or ugly, some people think is "l33t". Conversely, what I think is simple and elegant others will say is boring and dull. Buy what makes you happy, but if you get a cheap, generic PSU and it fails after a few months, don't say we didn't warn you!
Anyway, thanks to all for the kind comments. I'll look at including some other miscellaneous recommendations in the future. I do have to say that after reading Kris' MythTV articles, I've been itching to build a TiVo-esque PC. I just keep repeating to myselft, "You do NOT need another PC... you do NOT need another PC..." Heheh.
Neurorelay - Thursday, October 7, 2004 - link
Whoops, I see the 6600...okay, mistook the number. :)