June Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Round Up

Intel Pentium 4 System:

Case: Cooler Master TAC-T01 Wave Master- $129
PSU: Antec 480W NeoPower Power Supply - $110
CPU: Pentium 4-3.73 GHz Extreme Edition LGA775 Retail - $1,025
Cooling: Included - $0
Motherboard: Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Retail - $234
Memory: 1GB (2x512) Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X1024A-5400UL - $239
Hard Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB OEM - $191
Video Card: 2 X GeForce 6800GT 256-MB PCI Express - $718
Monitor: ViewSonic VP912B 19" LCD Monitor - $494
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum - $163
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $265
CD/DVD-RW: Pioneer 16x DVD+RW/-RW DVR-109 OEM - $56
NIC: Included - $0
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 USB Faxmodem - $52
Mouse: Logitech MX1000 Optical Mouse - $49
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard OEM - $20
Gamepad: Saitek P3000 Wireless Pad - $35
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 - $129
UPS: CyberPower OfficePower 825VA CPS825AVR - $75
Floppy: Generic Black Floppy Disk Drive - $8

Total: $3,992

AMD Athlon 64 FX System:

Case: Cooler Master TAC-T01 Wave Master - $129
PSU: Antec 480W NeoPower Power Supply - $110
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 939 San Diego Retail - $981
Cooling: Thermalright XP-120 w/Vantec Stealth 120mm Fan - $66
Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Retail - $196
Memory: OCZ EL Dual Channel Gold VX PC4000 1-GB (2x512-MB) - $233
Hard Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB OEM - $191
Video Card: 2 X GeForce 6800GT 256-MB PCI Express - $718
Monitor: ViewSonic VP912B 19" LCD Monitor - $494
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum - $163
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital - $265
CD/DVD-RW: Pioneer 16x DVD+RW/-RW DVR-109 OEM - $56
NIC: Included - $0
Modem: US Robotics External v.92 USB Faxmodem - $52
Mouse: Logitech MX100 Optical Mouse - $49
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Natural Keyboard OEM - $20
Gamepad: Saitek P3000 Wireless Pad - $35
Operating System: Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 - $129
UPS: CyberPower OfficePower 825VA CPS825AVR - $75
Floppy: Generic Black Floppy Disk Drive - $8

Total: $3,970

Closing Remarks

With the exception of a few minor upgrades, there was not nearly as much upgrading going on this month as there was in the last update. Nonetheless, we were able to move our Intel system to the new nForce4 SLI chipset, allowing both of our systems to take advantage of dual video cards running in SLI mode. Two GeForce 6800GTs make an appearance in both our AMD and Intel system, bridging the gaming performance gap we created last time. We also upgraded to faster DDR2-667 memory on the Intel side as well as move to a single 300GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 hard drive to provide for greater budget flexibility and system balance.

With Computex wrapping up, we have gotten a taste of some of the upcoming technologies, and there are certainly some exciting prospects. Aside from the imminent release of AMD and Intel's dual core processors, ATI's CrossFire technology looks particularly exciting. In an attempt to one-up NVIDIA, ATI created a different interpretation of SLI technology, and rather than requiring two matched PCI Express video cards, a CrossFire-enabled motherboard a user can install two different ATI PCI Express cards and use them in tandem with an external pass-through cable. We will keep our eye on this technology in the coming months, as details continue to emerge, and motherboards begin to hit the market.

* 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.