July 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 - $207
Processor: Pentium 4-3.0 GHz (800 MHz) - $398
Cooling: Retail Heatsink/Fan - $0
Motherboard: ASUS P4P800 Deluxe - $134
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $310
Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB SE - $179
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 - $360
Monitor: Sony CPD-E440 - $306
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum Retail - $153
Speakers: Creative Inspire 6.1 - $76
DVD/CD ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 - $38
CD-RW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW LTR-52246 - $45
Communications: None or (optional Intel Pro/1000 T or USR External v.92) - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $47
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $40
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $129
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,430

AMD Athlon XP System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $207
Processor: Athlon XP 3200+ (400 MHz) - $442
Cooling: Thermalright SLK-900A, Panaflo fan - $47
Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe - $122
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $310
Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB SE - $179
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro- $360
Monitor: Sony CPD-E440 - $306
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum 2 Retail - $153
Speakers: Creative Inspire 6.1 - $76
DVD/CD ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 - $38
CD-RW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW LTR-52246 - $45
Communications: None or (optional Intel Pro/1000 T or USR External v.92) - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $47
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $40
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $129
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,509

Closing Remarks

This month we didn't see too much price movement, aside from a few mild drops here and there, along with the usual spike in the cost of DDR. The base equipment remained pretty standard, but we were able to grab a new Sony monitor, and upgrade our cooling solutions. The Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB remains our top pick for video cards, as the price remains lower than the GeForce FX 5900 cards, and the performance is either on par, or slightly above the highest performing NVIDIA cards.

Within the next couple of months Intel and AMD will be releasing their next generation processors, and with this comes a whole new motherboard platform for us to explore. The Athlon 64 is slated for release near the end of September, and Intel's Prescott chips should be released shortly before then. We'll also be keeping an eye out for ATI to announce their R360-based cards which should be happening anytime now.

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.