December Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Round Up

The Intel System

Case: Kingwin KT-436-WM w/ Antec 430W Truepower PSU- $237
CPU: Intel Pentium 4-3.06 GHz - $675
Cooling: Included - N/A
Motherboard: ASUS P4T533-C - $161
Memory: 1 GB MB PC1066 (256x4) - $380
Hard Drive: Western Digital 180 GB Special Edition - $260
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - $319
Monitor: Mitsubishi 2060u, 22 Inch Diamondtron Monitor - $750
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy2 Platinum- $167
Speakers: Logitech Z-680 5.1 450W THX, DTS, Dolby Digital - $350
CD/DVD-ROM: Toshiba SD-M1612 16X DVD-ROM - $40
CDRW: ASUS CRW-5224A CDRW - $79
NIC: Intel Pro/100 S - $34
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 Faxmodem - $55
Mouse: Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse - $37
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard - $50
Gamepad: Logitech Wingman Rumblepad - $24
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/s SP1 - $143
UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 650VA- $220
Floppy: Panasonic, TEAC, etc. - $8

Total: $3,989

The AMD System

Case: Kingwin KT-436-WM w/ Antec 430W Truepower PSU - $237
CPU: Athlon XP 2700+ - $330
Cooling: Swiftech MCX462 / Thermaltake Fan- $58
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X Deluxe n-Force2 - $153
Memory: 1 GB Corsair PC3200 (512x2) - $342
Hard Drive: Western Digital 120 GB Special Edition X 2- $318
Misc: Soyo Serial IDE to Serial ATA Converter (x2) - $78
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - $319
Monitor: Mitsubishi 2060u, 22 Inch Diamondtron Monitor- $750
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy2 Platinum- $167
Speakers: Logitech Z-680 5.1 450W THX, DTS, Dolby Digital - $350
CD/DVD-ROM: Toshiba SD-M1612 16X DVD-ROM - $40
CDRW: ASUS CRW-5224A CDRW - $79
NIC: Intel Pro/100 S - $34
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 Faxmodem - $55
Mouse: Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse - $37
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard Pro - $50
Gamepad: Logitech Wingman Rumblepad - $24
Operating System: Windows XP Pro /w SP1 - $143
UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 650VA - $220
Floppy: Panasonic, TEAC, etc. - $8

Total: $3,792

Closing Remarks

In sharp contrast to the November Extreme guide, the high end Intel CPU has once again gone away with the speed crown, and with it, has taken a large lead on top-end CPU costs. With the higher priced processor, the Intel system will offer better multitasking than the AMD counterpart, but does come at a noticeable price premium. The AMD system does include IDE RAID, not to mention dual-channel DDR400 and is a prime challenger to be sure. The choice between the two systems is again a very tough one. Raw gaming power, smoother multi tasking, and more storage space is synonymous with this month's Intel system. However, the AMD system offers high performance, with faster hard drive transfer rates, and all at a lower price.

In terms of upcoming trends, we are hoping that Serial ATA hard drives start appearing on the market soon, not to mention the continued emergence of dual-DDR Intel platforms as viable alternatives to RDRAM. These two factors will likely be the next big changes in upcoming Extreme Gaming Guide, though we'll also be keeping a close eye on overall prices, and perhaps slipping in a few extras next month.

* Please note that the prices in our guide do not include shipping costs or taxes. The final system price also reflects a "best case" scenario of finding an online vendor that stocks the majority of internal components, or having access to a number of local computer retailers for system quotes and comparison shopping.