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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Regs - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
Right after christmas when everybody is broke.ViperV990 - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
On page 4, first paragraph:"...doubling the cost of your RAM for $80-$125..." - "cost" probably should read "size" or "amount."
Regarding video cards, I believe a pair of 7800GTs would be a better recommandation than a single 7800GTX 512.
On the display side, there's a 19" widescreen 1440x900 LCD from Viewsonic for around $300, which I'd prefer over a standard 5:4 screen. The model # is VA1912w. Add a "b" for black.
JarredWalton - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
I have issues with smaller widescreen displays. 1440x900 is an odd resolution, so outside of a few specific games and Windows desktop use, you end up with stretched content or you don't use all the screen. I've got my 2405 set to 1:1 stretch, so even at lower resolutions it still fills most of the screen, but running at native is obviously preferred.ViperV990 - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
I don't know about most games as I have only tried a couple on a widescreen (Half Life 2 and City of Heroes - both have built-in WS support), but I do believe that most newer games can be run in non-4:3 aspect ratios. I mean, even 1280x1024 isn't 4:3, and for some reason I just hate it =pJarredWalton - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
Regarding the 7800 GT SLI vs. 7800 GTX 512MB, while the SLI'ed cards are in general slightly faster, it's not usually by a large amount. I would rather have a single 512MB GTX than two GTs in a system. You can see http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2649...">various results in our X1800CF article, and issues like BF2, B&W2, DoD:S, etc. make me prefer single cards first. Of course, right now the GTX 512MB cards aren't in stock, so prices are messed up as well. I wouldn't actually recommend spending $600+ on a GPU to anyone but the wealthy gaming obsessed people. :)ViperV990 - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
Yeah, I was only looking at the fact that two GTs are "only" $600 as opposed to a GTX 512's $750. You're right to point out the SLI-specific issues and also the pricing issue due to the lack of supply. (when are you guys gonna start slamming nVidia about this like you guys do with ATI's paper launches? =p)CrimsonDeath - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
Not to sound like an old timer but i've seen that "high-end" monitor and it just pales compared to the top crt from NEC on fps games. Perhaps my eyes are too sensitive but i see definite ghosting on that acer lcd.PrinceGaz - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
I agree, but the good CRT monitors you refer to are becoming increasingly difficult to find new. For instance NEC/Mitsubishi have ceased production of CRT monitors, though Iiyama apparently use the excellent Diamondtron tube in some of their models so they are still available for now. In another couple of years CRT monitors will probably have vanished altogether but fortunately LCD panels should be good enough by then to replace them.lexmark - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
good article. for that complete system, $1270 isnt to shabby.PrinceGaz - Monday, January 2, 2006 - link
Is it really worth recommending two seperate choices (the mid-range for $41 and the high-end for $43) when the difference is just two dollars? It would be easier to just recommend an optical drive, in this case the "high-end" $43 NEC.Other than that minor quibble, a very good article which it is hard to find any real issues with.