October 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 - $199
Processor: Pentium 4-3.0 GHz (800 MHz) - $388
Cooling: Retail Heatsink/Fan - $0
Motherboard: ASUS P4P800 Deluxe - $129
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $283
Hard Drive: Maxtor 200 GB 7200RPM SATA - $192
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 - $360
Monitor: Sony CPD-E440 - $325
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Retail - $179
Speakers: Creative Inspire 6.1 - $75
DVD/CD ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 - $40
CD-RW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW LTR-52246 - $41
Communications: None or (optional Intel Pro/1000 T or USR External v.92) - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $52
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $38
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $134
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,443

AMD Athlon XP System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $199
Processor: Athlon 64 3200+ Retail - $431
Cooling: Retail Heatsink/Fan - $0
Motherboard: ASUS K8V Deluxe - $142
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $283
Hard Drive: Maxtor 200 GB 7200RPM SATA - $192
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro- $360
Monitor: Sony CPD-E440 - $325
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum 2 ZS Retail - $179
Speakers: Creative Inspire 6.1 - $75
DVD/CD ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 - $40
CD-RW: Lite-On 52x24x52 CD-RW LTR-52246 - $41
Communications: None or (optional Intel Pro/1000 T or USR External v.92) - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $52
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $38
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $134
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,499

Closing Remarks

Last month was kind of a non-event in terms of new hardware, but we made up for it this time out. The release of a number of new performance hardware certainly helped and we were lucky enough to incorporate much of it into this guide. The Athlon 64 3200+ is at the top of the list, and has proven to be an excellent all around performer, able to best even the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz in many tests. The Athlon FX-51 and upcoming Pentium 4 3.2 GHz EE (Extreme Edition) will likely battle it out for the ultra high-end buyers, and hopefully lower overall CPU prices for our upcoming guides. Creative decided not to mess with a good thing, as the Audigy 2 ZS is only a minimal upgrade to the Audigy 2. The lower price point certainly helps, and it's always nice to see an enhanced version can be released at a lower cost than its predecessor.

Next month we hope to see the CPU prices continue to fall, as the market makes room for an increased supply of Athlon 64 and Athlon FX line of chips. We're also likely to see a huge influx of Athlon 64/FX motherboards within the next few months, as board makers have the time to ready their new boards. ATI is set to release their updated version of the 9800Pro, the 9800XT to stores very soon. This means that we should be able to include it in next month's guide, assuming the retail price agrees with our budget. This month was an excellent time for a high-end system upgrade and it's only going to get better by year's end.

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.