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Sharky Extreme : Monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide |
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Monthly Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide |
October Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 5By Ryan "Speedy" Wissman October 31, 2003
Cost: $485 Since the launch of the incredible Radeon 9700 Pro, ATI has been at the top of our list of possible video card choices. ATI's successive video card releases have all been based off of the Radeon 9700 series core and architecture, so there's no reason to mess with a good thing. ATI has recently introduced their latest "speed bump" to the series in the form of the Radeon 9800 XT. This card (aside from coming with a coupon for Half-Life 2) has a slight speed increase from the Radeon 9800 Pro now bringing the core and memory speeds to 412MHz and 365MHz (730MHz effective DDR) respectively.
The card features the R360 core variant, and has support for all features included in the R3XX architecture, and then some. There is support for SmartShader 2.1, and SmoothVision 2.1. The Radeon 9800 XT also has a 256-bit wide memory bus, and up to 256-MB of memory. The Radeon 9800 XT also offers support for manufacturer sanctioned overclocking through ATI's OverDrive feature. The card now has a built in thermal diode which will assist the drivers in overclocking the core speed (up to about 440MHz) if temperatures permit. However, the card will not clock itself lower than the advertised 412MHz at any time. The Overdrive feature is currently only available on the Radeon 9800 XT with Catalyst driver version 3.8 or later.
Cost: $609
NEC/Mitsubishi produces some of the best high end CRT monitors available today. For a guide like this it's important to invest a substantial amount of money in a monitor because, after all, it's what you are going to be staring at for the next few years. Additionally, size certainly does matter when choosing a high-end monitor, as achieving a high resolution with exceptional clarity is certainly a plus with a large monitor. We chose to stick with the monitor included in the last version of this guide, the Mitsubishi Diamondtron 2070SB-BK. This 22" monitor (20" viewable area) has a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 at a very comfortable 85Hz refresh rate. The aperture grille (the kind with the two horizontal lines) has a dot pitch of .24mm and is touted as totally flat. Mitsubishi warranties the monitor for 3 years against defects so make sure you purchase a full retail model to get the warranty.
Cost: $204
Only a mild upgrade to the original Audigy2, the Audigy2 ZS offers a few extra features and a better 7.1 sound channel 108 SNR DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) to stay competitive with other high end sound cards on the market. Along with the standard EAX Advanced HD (soon to be upgradeable to version 4.0) gaming sound support, the card also includes a breakout connector box with remote that has a wealth of additional connection and options not found on the basic Audigy2 ZS card.
The retail version of the Platinum Pro comes with a number of software programs including Steinberg Cubasis VST 4.0 Creative Edition + Wavelab Lite 2.0, Image Line FL Studio 4 Creative Edition, and a number of Creative proprietary Mediasource programs. DVD Audio support is included, and just like the Audigy 2 it can only be output via an analog connection. The card also has support for software decoding of both Dolby Digital and DTS ES encoded sound which comes in especially handy for DVD movie viewing.
Cost: $360 As much as we'd like to include a totally awesome 7.1 or 6.1 surround sound system, there are very few choices available today, most of them limited to Creative/Cambridge products. While the Cambridge 6.1 speakers are very good, we were thoroughly blown away by the new Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 system. Klipsch is known for making some of the best speakers available today, and their ProMedia line of computer speakers certainly live up to the advance billing.
These speakers feature 500 watts of burst power with 60 watts per channel and 170 watts for the subwoofer. The amplifier is a BASH system designed to deliver a highly efficient and very clean performance. There is a breakout box used to control speaker volume from this very convenient unit. You can't go wrong with this Klipsch 5.1 system, and it's a perfect compliment to the Creative Audigy 2 ZS.
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