July 2004 Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 5

Video Card: eVGA GeForce 6800 GT 256-MB

Cost: $399
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Nearly two months after their respective announcements, both the ATI Radeon X800 Pro/XT and NVIDIA GeForce 6800/GT/Ultra cards are finally starting to hit the market, but at a snail's pace. Rumored DDR3 shortages are keeping vast quantities of Radeon X800 and GeForce 6800 cards from the market, and driving up prices beyond the MSRP on the premium models. As it stands right now, we are unable to find any NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra or ATI X800 XT PE cards on the mass market, so we had to make a choice between the Radeon X800 Pro or the GeForce 6800 GT for this month's guide. Granted, the availability of these two cards is a bit sketchy right now, although major retailers do have limited quantities in stock with more coming in all the time.

Unlike the previous generation of graphics cards, neither ATI nor NVIDIA is a clear cut winner, which means that careful attention to overall price, performance, and features needs to be made. Since we were not able to include the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra like we had hoped, we opted to go with the slightly lower-clocked but full featured version, the GeForce 6800 GT from eVGA. The NVIDIA card has shown a significant performance lead in upcoming games such as Doom3, and is more future proof than the Radeon X800 Pro as it has full support for SM3.0 while the X800 does not. At the time of this writing, eVGA GeForce 6800 GT cards are available at a number of retailers, including eVGA's own website, for the price of $399.

NVIDIA's latest generation of cards based on the NV40 core is head and shoulders ahead of what the company had this time last year. Completely redesigned from the ground up, the GeForce 6800 GT features sixteen pixel processors with six vertex units, or more than double what NVIDIA's previous generation was capable of. The card also has a number of advanced features including 64-Bit texture filtering and blending, Ultra Shadow II technology, CineFX 3.0, and Intellisample 3.0 technology which are featured across all of the GeForce 6800 cards. The eVGA GeForce 6800 GT is clocked at 350MHz for the core and 1000MHz for the 256MB of DDR3 memory. eVGA also includes a full copy of FarCry which will show off SM3.0 with the release of SP2 for Windows XP.

Monitor: NEC/Mitsubishi DP2070SB-BK, 22" Diamondtron CRT Monitor or Dell UltraSharp 2001FP 20.1" LCD

Cost: $610
Months on list: 7
Price Change: +$6

When it comes to choosing our high-end CRT monitor, there are a few high-end manufactures we look to, and NEC/Mitsubishi continually shines as one of our top choices. We generally like to invest a good portion of our monthly allotment into our monitor because it will be a long-term investment for most. When it comes to selecting a CRT, we look to make sure we get the largest monitor with the best clarity and resolution offered.

High-end LCD monitors have not managed to hit the "sweet spot" of performance and price for primary inclusion in this guide as of yet. Fortunately, the Mitsubishi Diamondtron 22" DP2070SB-BK CRT monitor fits the bill as our perfect monitor with a smooth combination of size and performance at a reasonable price. This flat aperture grill (the kind with two horizontal wires) monitor has a 20" viewable area, a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 at 85Hz refresh rate, and a .24mm dot pitch. Mitsubishi warranties the monitor for three years against defects so it is important that you pick up the retail model for the full warranty.

For those of you willing to move on from the CRT world into the world of high end flat panels we recommend the Dell UltraSharp 2001FP 20.1" LCD. Granted, the UltraSharp does not perform as well as our CRT recommendation this month, but for a high-end LCD, its performance and size is exceptional and the price is reaching near affordability. The monitor supports up to 1600x1200 pixel resolution, 16ms response time, 250 cd/m2 brightness, and a 400:1 contrast ratio making it a top choice for high end LCD buyers. At just under $1000 it's easy to see why we didn't include it this month as our main selection, but price aside, it is currently one of our favorite LCD monitors.

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro

Cost: $206
Months on list: 3
Price Change: +$11

Currently, the Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro is Creative's top of the line product. Only a minor upgrade from the previous Audigy2, the ZS does add a few notable new features. Included are a better 108 SNR DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter), 7.1 channel support, the latest in EAX technology, and DVD Audio support. The Platinum Pro version of the card comes with a hefty external breakout box that includes a number of input and output ports and a remote control.

The breakout box included with the Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro attaches to the internal soundcard and offers a wealth of external connectors including optical and coaxial inputs and outputs, 2 Firewire ports, MIDI input and output, as well as connectors for headphones and a number of 1/4" stereo mini jacks. The card also comes with software programs for music enthusiasts and creators that surely are a great value considering the $206 price tag.

Speakers: Logitech Z-680 5.1

Cost: $265
Months on list: 4
Price Change: $0

At this point, 7.1 speakers can seem almost superfluous as most games and DVDs only support up to 5.1 channels of discrete audio anyway. Additionally, Creative is currently the only maker of PC speakers that is producing 7.1 speaker systems, and we didn't want to feel locked down with a single brand for this guide. The Logitech Z-680 5.1 speakers are our current favorite speakers at this price point, and it should come as no surprise that we are recommending them for the fourth month in a row. Priced at $265, these speakers sound fantastic whether they are playing music, movies or games.

The Logitech Z-680 speakers feature a total RMS burst power rating of 500 watts, and also has a convenient external DTS and Dolby Digital Decoder. There are a total of four 62W surround speakers, a 69W center channel, and an 188W subwoofer (505 watts total). These are a perfect companion to the Audigy 2 Platinum that we are using again this month, and the Logitech Z-680 are one of the best sounding PC speaker sets we have ever used, which is why we don't hesitate to recommend them in this guide.