October Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 7

NIC: Included

Cost: $0
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Both of our motherboards include a built-in Gigabit LAN, so there is little reason to spend extra money on an additional LAN card. Built-in LAN can be just as good, and even better than, many third party add-in cards available today. If the thought of built-in LAN terrifies you however, you will want to look at cards from Intel or 3COM as they make some of the best add-in Ethernet cards in the business.

Modem: US Robotics External V.92 Faxmodem

Cost: $55
Months on list: 11
Price Change: $0

For those poor souls still stuck on a dial-up ISP, we feel your pain. We understand that some can't afford broadband, don't have it available, or would simply like to have faxmodem capability to do actual business tasks on the PC. We prefer to use external modems as they save you the extra PCI slot for other components, and are more portable. The US Robotic external V.92 faxmodem is our favorite external faxmodem, and has been for some time now.

Operating System: Windows XP Professional/w SP1 OEM

Cost: $135
Months on list: 6
Price Change: -$8

Windows XP has been the universal OS choice across all of the SE buyer's guides for some time now. The XP operating system is built on the solid Windows2000 32-bit code base and is a huge leap forward from Windows 9x. The Professional version offers support for HyperThreading, and has much more robust networking options. Aside from sometimes shoddy legacy game support, Windows XP is the best gaming platform on the market for new games and cutting-edge hardware is designed with Windows XP in mind. The Service Pack 1 includes a number of fixes and security updates that are extremely important for safe and stable operation, so we recommend getting the updated Windows XO Professional CD.

We include the cost of the OEM version of Windows XP as opposed to the higher-priced retail version. Generally, OEM software must be purchased along side a piece of hardware to get the discount. If you already own a full version of Windows you may want to look into getting an upgrade version of Windows XP Professional to potentially save a little more money.

UPS: APC Back-UPS Pro 650VA

Cost: $235
Months on list: 6
Price Change: +$5

Battery backups can come in very handy and not only provide an alternate short term power source, but can also shield the PC from hazardous electric surges. APC (American Power Conversion) is one of the best known names when it comes to backup and surge protection, and the APC Back-UPS Pro 650VA is super insurance policy for our Extreme Gaming PC. This unit supports 410W of power output with a battery backup time of 6.2 minutes (full load), and 19.7 minutes (half load), which is more than enough time to finish whatever you may have been doing and safely power down the system.