Mid-Range to High-End Buyer's Guide, January 2006

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

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.