October 2003 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 4

Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL

Current Cost: $283
Months on list: 4
Price Change: -$27

Corsair continues to impress us with their XMS series of memory. Over time, their high end line has proven to be some of the fastest, most overclockable memory on the market without sacrificing compatibility or stability. We recommend using PC3200 or higher memory as both our AMD and Intel systems require 200MHz or faster memory for proper operation.

While the Intel system will see an extra benefit from the dual 512MB sticks running in dual-channel mode, the AMD system this time around will not. The Athlon 64 has a single built-in 64-bit memory controller, and therefore will not take advantage of the dual-memory module format. However, we still recommend the dual 512MB TwinX sticks for both systems as it's much easier to find than searching for a single high-performance 1GB stick of memory, which will also increase the overall cost.

Hard Drive: Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM Serial ATA 8MB Cache

Current Cost: $192
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Over the past few months we have seen a huge influx of Serial ATA drives on the market. Prices on these models have also dropped to a point where they are only a few dollars more expensive than their similar Parallel IDE counterparts. That said, we went with the Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM Serial ATA hard drive (model 6Y200M0).

The Maxtor drive supports all the feature of high end IDE hard drives such as 7200RPM spindle speed, 8MB cache buffer, FDB motors, and 200GB capacity, however on a slightly faster, and easier to work with interface. Making the move to Serial ATA can potentially free up a lot of space inside one's case and allow for greater air circulation. Also note that not all SATA drives ship with the necessary power adaptor, so be sure to confirm this before buying.

CD/DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2

Cost: $40
Months on list: 5
Price Change: +$2

Able to retrieve media without the use of a tray mechanism, the Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 is similar to the CD drive you might find in your car. Pioneer's 16X DVD-ROM is currently one of the best on the market, and features a 256K buffer, 95ms seek time on DVDs (80ms on CDs), and horizontal and vertical mounting capabilities. The drive can also be had with a black face plate for a few extra dollars over the standard beige unit.

Pioneer also makes a tray-loading model (DVD-117) for those of you who deal with other sizes optical media. It can be found for a few dollars less than the slot-loading model, and is also available with either black or beige face plates.

CDRW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW LTR-52246

Cost: $41
Months on list: 8
Price Change: +$1

Slowly but surely, we are seeing the price of DVD recordable drives drop, and speeds increase. However, they are not yet at an acceptable price point for inclusion to this guide so in the interim we will continue to recommend the Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW. 52x24x52 speeds are likely the maximum we will see in CD-RW drives as you simply can not go much faster or risk the CD coming apart in the drive.

Lite-On currently makes one of the best CD-RW drives on the market, and their 52x24x52x model is able to burn at CD at the incredible speed of 52X. The drive comes with a 2-MB buffer, has a seek time of 80ms, and includes Ahead's Nero Burning Rom software, which if purchased separately is more expensive than the drive itself. At an economical $41, this is one tough drive to beat.