Mid-Range to High-End Buyer's Guide, January 2006
by Jarred Walton on January 2, 2006 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
System Summaries
And there you have it: four systems, two budgets, and a whole lot of alternatives. There is plenty of room for substitution of parts that you feel are the most useful, so don't take these recommendations as the only systems that we would currently build. Budget and intended use are both critical factors, so if you want to make a CAD workstation, you would want to add an appropriate graphics card like one of the Quadro cards or a FireGL. If you want to make an HTPC, grabbing more hard drives for storage and focusing on low noise levels would be more important than a high-end graphics card. So, here are the final component lists; feel free to play "Mr. Potato Head" and come up with your own custom system designed to meet your requirements.
Mid-Range Systems
High-End Systems
The Law of Diminishing Returns is definitely in full force here: while the High-End systems cost more than twice as much as the Mid-Range configurations, there are very few cases where they will be anywhere close to twice as fast. A bit of overclocking and an upgraded graphics card would all but eliminate the performance difference in gaming, for example. However, there is unfortunately no way to overclock a 19" LCD into a 24" widescreen display, and the extra $700 spent in that area alone counts for a large portion of the price difference. I love having a huge display, and I'm willing to sacrifice performance in order to get it; many people would prefer performance, though, so do what you like. The speakers are also in completely different leagues: 2.1 sound vs. 5.1 with digital inputs and Dolby Digital decoding - overkill for some people and yet insufficient for others.
Short of having unlimited funds, even a "High-End" system needs to make some compromises, and it's difficult to make the case for a $1000 processor when you can often equal or surpass the performance of such a chip with a $300 CPU and some overclocking. Obviously, I like to overclock my systems where possible, but most businesses would want to avoid that. Most businesses don't need anything more than a budget computer, though, so unless you're doing 3D modeling, video work, or some other computationally-intensive task, having the fastest PC in the world won't turn you into an incredibly productive worker.
Conclusion
Going back to the introductory remarks, remember that building your "dream computer" is all about what you want. Focus on the areas that will improve performance in the applications and tasks you use most. If you're constantly downloading and uploading files from the Internet, but you do very little gaming or other high-end work, cut costs on the computer and spend a bit more money on your internet connection (if possible). If you play a lot of games, but you don't download any large files or store music and movies on your PC, you can cut back on storage space and drop to a single core CPU in order to upgrade to the fastest GPU possible - and probably overclock the CPU a bit just for good measure.
If all of this talk of components and options seems overwhelming, you might just want to forget about tuning for performance and spend money on a decent OEM system instead. These custom systems are more like the hotrods and sports cars of the computing world, and some people just want a safe, reliable family vehicle. You're not going to set any benchmark records with a Dell, HP, Gateway, etc., but you get an easy-to-assemble system for a reasonable price. Pick up one of the business PCs and you can also get a 3-year onsite warranty, which guarantees that your $1000+ won't turn into an unused paperweight for at least that long.
Comments and suggestions are welcome, and if you have other parts that you're considering, but are unsure if they're good or not, feel free to ask. Our forums are also full of people willing to chime in with their two cents. Just don't forget that the search function was invented for a reason.
And there you have it: four systems, two budgets, and a whole lot of alternatives. There is plenty of room for substitution of parts that you feel are the most useful, so don't take these recommendations as the only systems that we would currently build. Budget and intended use are both critical factors, so if you want to make a CAD workstation, you would want to add an appropriate graphics card like one of the Quadro cards or a FireGL. If you want to make an HTPC, grabbing more hard drives for storage and focusing on low noise levels would be more important than a high-end graphics card. So, here are the final component lists; feel free to play "Mr. Potato Head" and come up with your own custom system designed to meet your requirements.
Mid-Range Systems
| AMD Mid-Range System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Athlon 64 3200+ 512K 2.0GHz Venice (939) - Retail | 161 |
| Motherboard | DFI nForce4 Ultra Infinity (939) | 98 |
| Memory | Crucial PC-3200 2x512MB Ballistix | 124 |
| Video Card | eVGA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB | 196 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE | 99 |
| Optical Drive | BenQ DVDR DQ60 (OEM) | 41 |
| Case and Power Supply | Antec Solution SLK3800B + 400W SmartPower 2.0 | 116 |
| Display | Acer AL1914smd 19 inch 8ms LCD | 293 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-2300 2.1 | 112 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 + Optical Mouse | 30 |
| Bottom Line | 1270 | |
| Intel Mid-Range System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Pentium 4 630 2MB 3.0GHz (775) - Retail | 174 |
| Motherboard | ASUS 945P P5LD2 (775) | 125 |
| Memory | G.Skill PC-4200 2x512MB Extreme | 72 |
| Video Card | eVGA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB | 196 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE | 99 |
| Optical Drive | BenQ DVDR DQ60 (OEM) | 41 |
| Case and Power Supply | Antec Solution SLK3800B + 400W SmartPower 2.0 | 116 |
| Display | Acer AL1914smd 19 inch 8ms LCD | 293 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-2300 2.1 | 112 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 + Optical Mouse | 30 |
| Bottom Line | 1258 | |
High-End Systems
| AMD High-End System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2x512KB Manchester (939) - Retail | 400 |
| Motherboard | ASUS nForce4 SLI X16 A8N32-SLI Deluxe (939) | 230 |
| Memory | OCZ PC-4000 2x1024MB EL Gold | 233 |
| Video Card | eVGA 256-P2-N516 GeForce 7800GT 256MB | 304 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Caviar SE16 | 115 |
| Optical Drive | NEC DVDR ND-3550A | 43 |
| Case | Lian Li PC-6077B Aluminum | 138 |
| Power Supply | ePOWER/Tagan TG-530-U15 530W | 120 |
| Display | Acer AL2416Wd 24 inch 6ms LCD | 980 |
| Sound Card | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS | 73 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-5500 5.1 w/Dolby Digital | 253 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3100 (Laser tracking mouse) | 95 |
| Bottom Line | 2984 | |
| Intel High-End System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | Pentium D 830 2x1MB 3.0GHz (775) - Retail | 320 |
| Motherboard | ASUS nForce4 SLI X16 (775) P5N32-SLI Deluxe | 208 |
| Memory | GeIL PC-5300 2x1024MB Ultra | 217 |
| Video Card | eVGA 256-P2-N516 Geforce 7800GT 256MB | 304 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Caviar SE16 | 115 |
| Optical Drive | NEC DVDR ND-3550A | 43 |
| Case | Lian Li PC-6077B Aluminum | 138 |
| Power Supply | ePOWER/Tagan TG-530-U15 530W | 120 |
| Display | Acer AL2416Wd 24 inch 6ms LCD | 980 |
| Sound Card | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS | 73 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-5500 5.1 w/Dolby Digital | 253 |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3100 (Laser tracking mouse) | 95 |
| Bottom Line | 2866 | |
The Law of Diminishing Returns is definitely in full force here: while the High-End systems cost more than twice as much as the Mid-Range configurations, there are very few cases where they will be anywhere close to twice as fast. A bit of overclocking and an upgraded graphics card would all but eliminate the performance difference in gaming, for example. However, there is unfortunately no way to overclock a 19" LCD into a 24" widescreen display, and the extra $700 spent in that area alone counts for a large portion of the price difference. I love having a huge display, and I'm willing to sacrifice performance in order to get it; many people would prefer performance, though, so do what you like. The speakers are also in completely different leagues: 2.1 sound vs. 5.1 with digital inputs and Dolby Digital decoding - overkill for some people and yet insufficient for others.
Short of having unlimited funds, even a "High-End" system needs to make some compromises, and it's difficult to make the case for a $1000 processor when you can often equal or surpass the performance of such a chip with a $300 CPU and some overclocking. Obviously, I like to overclock my systems where possible, but most businesses would want to avoid that. Most businesses don't need anything more than a budget computer, though, so unless you're doing 3D modeling, video work, or some other computationally-intensive task, having the fastest PC in the world won't turn you into an incredibly productive worker.
Conclusion
Going back to the introductory remarks, remember that building your "dream computer" is all about what you want. Focus on the areas that will improve performance in the applications and tasks you use most. If you're constantly downloading and uploading files from the Internet, but you do very little gaming or other high-end work, cut costs on the computer and spend a bit more money on your internet connection (if possible). If you play a lot of games, but you don't download any large files or store music and movies on your PC, you can cut back on storage space and drop to a single core CPU in order to upgrade to the fastest GPU possible - and probably overclock the CPU a bit just for good measure.
If all of this talk of components and options seems overwhelming, you might just want to forget about tuning for performance and spend money on a decent OEM system instead. These custom systems are more like the hotrods and sports cars of the computing world, and some people just want a safe, reliable family vehicle. You're not going to set any benchmark records with a Dell, HP, Gateway, etc., but you get an easy-to-assemble system for a reasonable price. Pick up one of the business PCs and you can also get a 3-year onsite warranty, which guarantees that your $1000+ won't turn into an unused paperweight for at least that long.
Comments and suggestions are welcome, and if you have other parts that you're considering, but are unsure if they're good or not, feel free to ask. Our forums are also full of people willing to chime in with their two cents. Just don't forget that the search function was invented for a reason.
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archcommus - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
Not just music, but DVDs and games, as well.JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
The Klipsch are also very good speakers - some would say better, others would just say they're different. When you start getting into high-end speakers, a lot of stuff becomes more subjective. I don't know if this still holds, but in the past, Klipsch was regarded as having great customer support. I can't say the same for Logitech, but then I've never personally used customer support for either one. I think the Klipsch Ultra 5.1 speakers go for about $350 new, so they're more expensive and they lack the digital decoder. They probably sound a bit better, though.yacoub - Wednesday, January 4, 2006 - link
Well Klipsch had quality issues for a while with dead and fried amps. Then again Logitech's lower end models were pretty poor quality as well.Either way both systems are likely close enough in quality that you won't notice the difference hooked up to the same soundcard. You would find a much greater difference by improving the soundcard over switching from one of those two speaker systems to the other.
Also, if you're so anal as to be able to detect a huge difference between the two you probably aren't going to be happy with either one and should instead get a real home theatre system and hook your soundcard to the receiver. Then you have no more limitations of a computer speaker system and can swap in and out your separates as you wish and really configure it all finely and use much better quality components.
yacoub - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
There's no reason for the high-end case recommendation to be anything other than the Antec P-150, which is essentially the perfect case. If more room is needed (which would be the rare instance) the P-180 would be the alternative recommendation.jiulemoigt - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
one were the crt left out due to shipping costs? I got my 75lbs 22" Philips shipped free simply by buying from a local (ground shipping was free, fedex 2 day was several hundred dollars so I can see why shipping costs on a decent size crt could be an issue) based estore. I just wondered as I have yet to see a lcd that comes close to a professional crt in color or crispness, and if your willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a videocard to play games why not three to five on the monitor?the other question is I keep hearing about corsairs 3500 ll xms is it vaporware or did you guys simply miss this one or does it not live up to the hype? I did not see it on the price link or really any mention of it which leads me to wonder?
JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
On the CRTs, there are no new CRTs being made with good specs. I've been over that ground in previous Guides. Basically, you can get a new 22" CRT that is worse than 4 year old models, or you can try to find a 4 year old model, or you can give in and upgrade to LCD. It's unfortunate, but profit margins are better on LCDs, consumers like them more ("oooo - it's THIN!"), and so all R&D is now focused on improving LCDs rather than on CRTs. I fought the CRT battle for a few years, and now that I've upgraded to LCD I just don't miss the CRT anymore. 24" WS and plenty of desk space - what's not to love? :)Turin39789 - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
I'm sticking with my dual 22'inch crt's, a few years old made them available for ~150 each shipped and I like the colors/refresh rate/resolutions better than any crt's I've seen around for twice that money.And an 8 foot desk means never having to worry about space.
Calin - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
The performance of the CRT displays is decreasing even in the 17" world - monitors from three years ago had better refresh rates and resolution than what you can buy now. CRT world is dying :(tjpark1111 - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
I was wondering about LCD size you guys.(that rhymes hehe) I currently have a 15" LCD on a laptop that has a 1024x768 resolution. Sometimes I find it that things are a bit too big especially in videos. I was going to buy a 17" LCD, but then a 19" was recommended here, and I was wondering if you 19" owners are bothered by, or you think that there is a lack of resolution for the huge size. I've seen a 17" and 19" side by side and the size improvement was so big, but I didn't get a chance to look closely, especially when playing video, so I don't know if 1280x1024 is all that bad on a 19". Thank you.Calin - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
I would very much prefer a lower resolution on the 17" LCDs - that 1152 by something would be great. I somewhat find the 1280 by 1024 too small, and just perfect on the 19" displays.