System Summaries
With the selections that we've listed, we conclude once again with four system summaries. There are quite a few modifications that we've mentioned elsewhere that you might also find useful, as there is never a perfect system that will work for every user. We'll start with the Budget configurations.
Budget Recommendations
| AMD Sempron System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
AMD Sempron 2800+ 1.60 GHz 256K socket 754 (Retail) |
83 |
| Motherboard |
Foxconn nForce4 NF4K8AB-RS (754) |
78 |
| Memory |
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 2.5-3-3-8 2T |
83 |
| Video Card |
MSI Radeon X300SE 128MB PCIe |
53 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380 80GB SATA-2 |
57 |
| Optical Drive |
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-16P9S |
22 |
| Case and Power Supply |
Codegen 4C-4063S-CA Combo 350W PSU |
69 |
| Display |
Samsung 793DF 17" CRT |
153 |
| Speakers |
Codegen Speakers (with case) |
0 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Codegen Keyboard and Mouse (with case) |
0 |
| Bottom Line |
|
598 |
| Intel Celeron D System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Intel Celeron D 330J 2.66GHz 256K L2 (Retail) |
85 |
| Motherboard |
Biostar I915P-A7 |
79 |
| Memory |
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 2.5-3-3-8 2T |
83 |
| Video Card |
MSI Radeon X300SE 128MB PCIe |
53 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380 80GB SATA-2 |
57 |
| Optical Drive |
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-16P9S |
22 |
| Case and Power Supply |
Codegen 4C-4063S-CA Combo 350W PSU |
69 |
| Display |
Samsung 793DF 17" CRT |
153 |
| Speakers |
Codegen Speakers (with case) |
0 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Codegen Keyboard and Mouse (with case) |
0 |
| Bottom Line |
|
601 |
Priced at $600, the performance of our base recommendations is nothing to sneeze at - in most applications, either one will match up well against the $1000 to $1500 PCs of 18 months ago. While we would normally give the edge in gaming to AMD systems and a slight edge in encoding applications to Intel, these two systems are going to be extremely close in performance and it's hard to say that one is really better than the other. With a better graphics card, the Sempron would probably outperform the Celeron D, but the X300SE is going to limit both CPUs. For overclocking performance, we'd have to give the Intel system the edge, simply because the 533FSB will allow a lot of headroom on any decent motherboard. The maximum 8X CPU multiplier of the Sempron 2800+ is going to make overclocking rather difficult with the current selection of socket 754 boards.
Upgraded Budget System
| AMD Athlon 64 System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 512K 1.80 GHz socket 939 (Retail - Venice) |
146 |
| Motherboard |
MSI nForce4 (939) K8N Neo4-F |
85 |
| Memory |
2x512MB OCZ Gold Series 2-2-2-5 1T 2.8V |
143 |
| Video Card |
Gigabyte GV-RX70P128D Radeon X700PRO 128MB |
112 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 HDT722516DLA380 160GBSATA-2 |
87 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC 3540A Silver 16X DVDR |
48 |
| Case and Power Supply |
MGE CAG-M1-BK Black/Silver ATX with 400W PSU |
67 |
| Display |
Polyview V17E 17" 14ms LCD |
210 |
| Speakers |
Logitech Z-3e 2.1 |
71 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Internet Pro Desktop |
23 |
| Bottom Line |
|
992 |
| Intel Pentium 4 System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Intel Pentium 505 533 FSB (Retail) |
134 |
| Motherboard |
Biostar I945P-A7 |
98 |
| Memory |
2x512MB OCZ DDR2 PC4300 EL Gold 3-3-3-8 |
131 |
| Video Card |
Gigabyte GV-RX70P128D Radeon X700PRO 128MB |
112 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 HDT722516DLA380 160GBSATA-2 |
87 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC 3540A Silver 16X DVDR |
48 |
| Case and Power Supply |
MGE CAG-M1-BK Black/Silver ATX with 400W PSU |
67 |
| Display |
Polyview V17E 17" 14ms LCD |
210 |
| Speakers |
Logitech Z-3e 2.1 |
71 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Internet Pro Desktop |
23 |
| Bottom Line |
|
981 |
With the upgraded selections, our total cost increases to nearly $1000. You get quite a bit more performance and versatility as well as a nicer display, so the extra $400 isn't simply wasted. We have to give the performance nod to AMD on this setup, particularly at stock speeds. The X700Pro will allow both processors to stretch their legs, but the 505's 2.66 GHz clockspeed and 533 FSB are going to fall behind. Once you throw overclocking into the equation, it becomes a more interesting race. We've personally overclocked the MSI board with a 3000+ to 2.4 GHz without much difficulty, and the CPU/14 and CPU/11 memory dividers will allow you to reach that clock speed with any of the RAM that we've listed in this Guide without compromising performance too much. The Pentium 505 can actually reach very high clock speeds with a bit of effort, and even without exotic cooling, it should be capable of running at 3.4 to 3.6 GHz. We haven't tested the Biostar 945P board's overclocking abilities personally (yet), but the I915P-A7 has the necessary features to overclock 533FSB processors and we assume that the I945P-A7 will be similar. In the end, a 2.4 GHz Athlon 64 roughly matches a Pentium 4 3.8 GHz - with better gaming performance - both of which are possible with a bit of luck.
Conclusion
That takes care of another Buyer's Guide, and hopefully, you have a better understanding of the various options and the compromises that can be made in putting together a budget PC. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. One thing to remember when building a budget PC is to keep the requirements in mind. It doesn't make sense to get a decent graphics card if the system will never be used for gaming, and even speakers may be overkill for a simple office computer. Some requirements will increase the total price while others may reduce it, but it's still possible to put together a good computer for less than $750.
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OldPueblo - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
Doh. Anyway, the Asus website has the specs listed and they do say 700Mhz. Is the website wrong then? http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=Extreme%20N620...Graphics Engine NVIDIA GeForce 6200 w/TurboCache
Video Memory 64MB/64bit DDR onboard
Effective Memory Size 256MB
Effective Memory Bandwidth 128bit
Engine Clock 350MHz
Memory Clock 700MHz(350MHz DDR)
RAMDAC 400MHz
Bus Standard PCI Express 16X
Max Resolution 2048x1536
VGA Output Standard 15-pin D-sub
Vedio Output Composite
DVI Output DVI-D (Available only in TD model)
2nd VGA Output N/A
Adaptor/Cable bundled N/A
OldPueblo - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
Calin - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
JarredWalton, I would buy a 17" LCD - however, I think the resolution is just too small. So I will have to wait for a 19" LCD that has the same resolution, but the text has a readable size, in order not to experience all those artifacts generated by non-native resolution.Zebo - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
I still say a sub $75 TC videocards like you recommned is worthless for gaming, even at low res 1024x768 featured on 15" LCDs it studders.. Need 600/700pro or 6200/6600 minimum. Again what's wrong with $50 mobos with inegrated graphics for a budget setup? Millions of Americans who shop at Dell get integrated graphics every year and could care less. But I do bet they opt for 17" or even 19" LCD's with thier package.BPB - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
Geez, how'd I miss that? I was specifically looking for the RS480M2-IL too. Sorry.BPB - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
Geez, how'd I miss that? I was specifically looking for that too.kmmatney - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
They really need some Semprons for S939 - the MSI RS480M2-IL is not very compelling for a budget system without Semprons.JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
14/38: the MSI board is mentioned as an integrated graphics alternative. No OC'ing features at all, so not everyone will like it, but I did mention that the cost of a discrete graphics card basically makes the MSI+939 the same price as the budget mobo+CPU+GPU and you get a faster CPU. (See page 2, last paragraph.)BPB - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
#14, I agree with you. Got the MSI RS480M2-IL and built a very nice system for my daughter. With the saving on video card got a better CPU. When she needs it I'll get her a better video card. I started out with the same hard drive as the article and then added another, bigger drive. For a monitor she has the Samsung 17" 730B purchased at Staples, on sale for about $200. Very happy with everything. Also, the MSI board supports the X2 CPUs so it has great upgrading potential should I decide to use it for my video editing system and build something else for her.JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Due to an error in specifications, we have changed the budget GPU recommendation to an X300SE - the cheapest PCIe card with DVI that we could find. It turns out that the ASUS does *not* have 700MHz RAM - in fact, we couldn't find any 64-bit 6200TC cards with 700MHz RAM. The price of the better TurboCache models is getting dangerously close to that of faster models, so we decided to simply cut the price $20 and go with a cheaper card. The graphics page and summaries have been updated accordingly. If you can find a card that offers substantially better performance in the $50 to $65 range, send me an email.(Grumble: The overlapping specs on the low-end graphics cards is a nightmare of confusion. /Grumble)