February 2003 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Roundup

Intel Pentium 4 System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $260
Processor: Pentium 4-2.66 GHz (533 MHz) - $279
Cooling: Alpha PAL8942 - $35
Motherboard: ASUS P4PE/L - $121
Memory: 512-MB Corsair XMS PC3200 - $206
Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB SE - $245
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro- $315
Monitor: Samsung 900NF - $315
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Retail - $110
Speakers: Altec Lansing 641 or Logitech Z560 - $135
CD/DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X 106S/2 16X Slot Load DVD-ROM - $47
CDRW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW - $60
Communications: Intel Pro/1000 T or US Robotics External v.92 - $45
Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer Optical 3.0 - $35
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $46
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $132
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,394

AMD Athlon XP System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $260
Processor: Athlon XP 2700+ (333 MHz) - $273
Cooling: Thermalright SLK-800, Panaflo fan - $48
Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X - $115
Memory: Two 256MB Corsair XMS PC3200 - $206
Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB SE - $245
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro- $315
Monitor: Samsung 900NF - $315
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 - $110
Speakers: Altec Lansing 641 or Logitech Z560 - $135
CD/DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X 106S/2 16X Slot Load DVD-ROM - $47
CDRW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW - $60
Communications: Intel Pro/1000 T or US Robotics External v.92 - $45
Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer Optical 3.0 - $35
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $46
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $132
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,395

Closing Remarks

This month we saw much of the old, along with adding or upgrading a few new components, and all the while keeping well under under budget. The biggest upgrade this month was moving from the Athlon XP 2600+ to the Athlon XP 2700+, which was actually didnt cost us any more compared to last month. Prices have also fallen in the DDR memory sector, as we were able to buy some high quality Corsair XMS PC3200 at a bit cheaper price than last month. We were very impressed with the overall power our two $2,500 systems afforded us, and any gamer who is worth his weight will be pleased with either system.

Next month we'll be keeping our eye out for the GeForceFX and ATI's R350 based cards to be hitting shelves within the next month and we will evaluate each for possible inclusion in these systems for next month. Given our budget, it may be more realistic to see what impact these two have on prices, and go from there. At $2,500, neither of these two systems come cheap, but as we like to say here at Sharky Extreme, pure 3D gaming speed certainly doesn't come cheap, but each month it becomes a bit more affordable.

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. Also, throughout the compilation of this guide, we have made every attempt to ensure availability and realistic street pricing of the included components.