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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bob661 - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Thanks Jarred.JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
#15 - Bob,OCZ has quite a few overlapping RAM offerings these days, all of which have a place. I recommended the BH5 based Gold that runs 2-2-2-5 1T at 2.8V as opposed to the VX offering that requires 3.2V for 2-2-2-5 1T. Here's the link:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_e...
You can also find the RAM at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
The VX is about the same price, but it doesn't have "Gold" in the name.
----------
WRT the displays, I would much rather have a larger display. Getting people to go from $600 for the basic setup to $750 for a 19" LCD is a tough sell, unfortunately. I really like 19" LCDs (and I like my 2405FPW even more), but few people are willing to shell out over $300 for "just the display". As Hacp mentions, a lot of people just don't realize what they're missing. I know plenty of people with 17" to 19" displays that still run them at 1024x768 - even on LCDs. They just don't realize that resolution is something most people should adjust.
SDA - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
#31, I'm not sure where to start with you.First: Anyone can see the difference between 17" and 19".
Second: You won't notice any difference between a fast system and a (reasonably) slow system when watching movies, writing letters, or surf the web. otoh, you WILL notice a difference between a good monitor and a bad monitor when playing games and editing photos. You're using your monitor every time you're at your computer, but most of the time you don't need a fast CPU at all.
Third: Image quality is important. If image quality wasn't important, people wouldn't buy high-end video cards for games.
IME, people who place I/O equipment (monitor, mouse, sound setup, etc.) at the bottom of the list do so because they have never used genuinely good I/O equipment for any reasonable length of time. I don't mean any offense here, this is just what I've seen.
Zebo - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
sprockkets - just the opposite.. prescott uses about 30% more power than a northwood at same hurtz.. and really starts leaking like crazy after 3.4 which a northwood never saw.Zebo - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Bob - http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...Hacp - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
I doubt that a budgetminded person would recognize the difference between 19 and 17 inches much. Heck, I would even go for a 15 inch LCD if it gave room to get a better video card/cpu or more ram. Screen size is the last thing I think about when I budget for a comptuer.Wellsoul2 - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
The Polywell LCD is a good one but I would go witha 19 inch monitor for around 40 to 50 bucks more.
The bigger LCD makes such a huge difference IMHO
compared to the bang for the buck you get putting
50 bucks anywhere else.
Hacp - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Btw nice guide. Didn't mention this before.sprockkets - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Yeah, but consider first that having a prescott core as opposed to a northwood core would save power, but also save more energy also since you don't have to spend money on the HVAC removing the excessive heat it makes too, and that system takes a lot of energy!At work, we have 2.8ghz stupid dell optiplex systems that have no ventilation slots whatsoever, and it is so funny to see all the dust collect on the back and the floppy drive because that is all it can intake from. But they don't put out much heat. However, the newer prescott based ones (same 2.8ghz) are much hotter; in fact, I managed to get prime95 on it, and the stupid computer had to turn on the processor fan to full blast, making it sound like a vacuum cleaner! It even speeds up when loading simple websites (gets louder while loading, then quiets down once the page loaded up)!
Btw, someone at newegg made this comment about not having cool and quiet on semprons: They don't need it! The 2600 and 2800+ (well, at least the 90nm Palermo cores) put out so little heat, I don't even think the fan is necessary! It runs 2-3 degrees over ambient, and around 5 when prime95 is running!
Other note about power supplies and Dell: Dell used to use Delta, then of course the fiance department cut that out and now they use crappy HIPoint. Again, where I work, with new 3.06 ghz systems, out of 30 some systems, nearly all have had the power supply replaced, and a good amount even twice. For exaple, do a search for Dell 4600 and see what I mean. It doesn't pay in the long run to use crappy power supplies for all the issues it causes.
siliconthoughts - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
While I like to build systems as much as the next guy, for a $600 system the new HP A1130n systems (at bestbuy/circuitcity/etc) are really hard to beat (3500+ athlon64 socket 939, 250GB SATA, PCIe, DVD, DVD-RW, integrated ATI X300, 1GB RAM) for ~$650 (w/ monitor and throwaway printer after rebate) Dell has nothing competitive with it.You generally don't build a system like this for yourself anyway - vendors have a purpose: keeping me from being the free-support guy.