May Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Round Up

The Intel System

Case: Cooler Master ATC-201B-SX2 Silver -$174
PSU: Antec 430 Watt TruePower -$82
CPU: Intel Pentium 4-3.0C GHz - $530
Cooling: Included - N/A
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe - $190
Memory: Corsair XMS 1GB PC-3200 LL Platinum (2 X 512) - $304
Hard Drive: Seagate 120GB SATA 7200 RPM /w 8MB Cache X2 - $378
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB AGP OEM - $425
Monitor: Mitsubishi 2070SB-BK 22" Diamondtron Monitor - $635
Sound Card: Creative Labs Audigy2 Platinum EX - $225
Speakers: Creative MegaWorks THX 6.1 650 Speakers - $349
CD/DVD-ROM: Sony 16X DVD ROM - $40
CDRW: Asus CRW-5224A - $48
NIC: Intel Pro/100 S - $34
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 Faxmodem - $55
Mouse: Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse - $46
Mousepad: fUnc sUrface 1030 black base mousepad - $20
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural - $46
Gamepad: Logitech Wingman 2.4GHz Cordless Rumblepad - $29
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/s SP1 - $143
UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 650VA- $230
Floppy: Floppy Disk Drive - $8

Total: $3,991

The AMD System

Case: Cooler Master ATC-201B-SX2 Silver -$174
PSU: Antec 430 Watt TruePower -$82
CPU: Athlon XP 3000+ Barton /w 512K L2 Cache - $334
Cooling: Thermalright SLK800 /w Thermaltake Smartfan2 80mm - $50
Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe n-Force2 - $144
Memory: Corsair XMS 1GB PC-3200 LL Platinum (2 X 512) - $304
Hard Drive: Seagate 120GB SATA 7200 RPM /w 8MB Cache X2 - $378
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB AGP OEM - $425
Monitor: Mitsubishi 2070SB-BK 22" Diamondtron Monitor - $635
Sound Card: Creative Labs Audigy2 Platinum EX - $225
Speakers: Creative MegaWorks THX 6.1 650 Speakers - $349
CD/DVD-ROM: Sony 16X DVD ROM - $40
CDRW: Asus CRW-5224A - $48
NIC: Intel Pro/100 S - $34
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 Faxmodem - $55
Mouse: Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse - $46
Mousepad: fUnc sUrface 1030 Mousepad - $20
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural - $46
Gamepad: Logitech Wingman 2.4GHz Cordless Rumblepad - $29
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/s SP1 - $143
UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 650VA- $230
Floppy: Floppy Disk Drive - $8

Total: $3,799

Closing Remarks

The AMD and Intel systems are once again very close in the performance department, and the end user will have to decide if they prefer to give AMD or Intel their money this month. The Intel side does have a noticeable 800 MHz advantage in this round up, whereas AMD hasn't been too open about when their 400 MHz FSB CPU's will be coming. Of course, the Intel system does pay a price for the high-end Pentium 4-3.0C processor, in the form of a $190+ price premium. It wasn't like we skimped on the AMD system either, but virtually all CPUs are at cut-rate prices, with the obvious exception of the 800 MHz Pentium 4 variety.

We're quite pleased that SATA drives are available in volume now, allowing buyers to take advantage of the large selection of SATA capable motherboards. In additional to a theoretical higher max throughput, the thin SATA cables are a dream to use. The soundcard component has also been upgraded to the slightly more robust Creative SoundBlaster Audigy2 Platinum EX model, and we were able to include the market's first high-end 6.1 speaker set as well. The Radeon 9800 Pro is also a nice performance increase, while the gamepad upgrade and the addition of a mousepad pretty much rounds out our miscellaneous changes.

*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.