March Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 4

Storage

Two Western Digital 120 GB ATA-100, 7200 RPM, /w 8MB Cache, and two Highpoint Parallel ATA to S-ATA converters

Current Cost on Drives: $139 X 2 = $278
Current Cost on converters: $28 X 2 = $56
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

The short supply of Serial ATA drives have dried up from the previous guide, however replacing them with a pair of high-speed drives from Western Digital isn't much of a step back. With the price savings from lower CPU prices, and from the "downgrade" from Serial ATA to ATA-100, we've been able to outfit both systems with a pair of 120 GB drives from Western Digital sporting a speedy 7200 rpm spindle speed , 8-MB of cache, and a generous 3 year warranty.

We've included a pair of converters from Highpoint Technology to enable these Parallel ATA drives to work on the Serial ATA Raid controllers on both the ASUS P4G8X, and the Asus A7N8X Deluxe.

DVD ROM: Lite-On 16X DVD ROM (Black)

Cost: $39
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

This is a gaming machine primarily, but with the high-end soundcard, speakers, and monitor, one might be inclined into watching a few DVD movies here and there. DVD movies are a good distraction especially when you have a deadline to meet but need a two-hour break. The price difference between a standard CD ROM versus a DVD ROM is virtually nil, therefore opting for a DVD ROM in the high end gaming machines is a viable option. In staying with our "Back in Black" motif, we've finally decided to change the DVD ROM drive for this guide. Lite-On has been a longtime player in the industry, and their optical drives are highly regarded for performance and reliability, and we've opted for their Black 16X DVD ROM drive for this month.

This drive is tray loading drive, which is much more compatible with the smaller sized discs (200MB mini CD's, and 20MB business card type CD's) than their slot loading competition. The drive is fairly standard, reading DVD media at up to 16X, and CD media at up to 48X.

CDRW: Lite-On 52X24X52X CDRW (Black)

Current Cost: $61
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Change is not always good, and this month's switch was driven more by aesthetics rather than performance. We're still a big fan of the Asus CRW-5224A, but we've opted for the Black Lite-On 52X24X52X CDRW to go with our black and silver theme for this month's Extreme guide. Do not fret though, this Lite-On drive is not a performance slouch, and is backed by one of the industry leaders in CD-based drives for the PC.

The Lite-On 52X24X52X CDRW boasts 52X CD write speeds, 24X CD re-write speeds, 52X CD reading speeds, and a blazing 52X Digital Audio Extraction speeds. This drive is extremely fast and stable, and includes a 2-MB data buffer, with built in support for buffer under-run protection and optimal writing speed technology. The OEM package includes NERO Burning Rom v5.X, which incidentally is our favorite CD burning software, because it's easy to use, and works quite well to boot.

Floppy Disk Drive: Name Brand 1.44 Floppy Disk Drive (Black)

Cost: $10

Not much has changed here, just a color adjustment. We've dumped the old beige model for a black one that is a better match for our new case, and other peripherals. But what else can we say about the venerable floppy disk drive? Sometimes you just need one, especially when a pesky NIC requires drivers that are supplied on a floppy.