December High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 4

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

Current Cost: $252
Months on list: 5
Price Change: -$31

Corsair's exceptional line of XMS (eXtreme Memory Speed) memory continues to impress, which is why it should come as no surprise that we're using it yet again this month. Corsair's high end line of ultra high speed, low latency memory is some of the fastest, most compatible memory currently available. For our FSB needs, both the AMD and Intel systems require 400 MHz DDR for optimum performance, so we recommend using PC3200 (or faster) memory.

The Intel system is the only one that will see a benefit from using two 512MB sticks running in dual-channel mode. The Athlon 64 has a single 64-bit memory controller that while powerful in its own right, isn't tailored to make use of dual-channel memory. Even so, we're still going with dual 512MB TwinX sticks for both systems as it's much easier to find, and less expensive, than searching for a single high-performance 1GB stick of memory.

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

Current Cost: $175
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

Serial ATA technology is upon us, and the days of fiddling with a large, inflexible Parallel IDE cable will soon be a thing of the past. The price gap between the Parallel and Serial ATA formats is closing within a few dollars, and SATA acceptance is becoming more widespread throughout the market. A single Serial ATA 200GB Western Digital will set you back approximately $175, or around $10 more than the Parallel ATW model.

We have been very pleased with Western Digital hard drives over the years and their new line of Serial ATA drives are impressive. The Western Digital 200GB SATA SE model has a 7200RPM spindle speed, 8MB cache, transfer speeds up to 150MBps, and is quiet to boot. However, the best thing about moving to Serial ATA is the thin and flexible data cables, which can potentially free up space allowing for greater airflow throughout the case. Another nice feature of the new WD SATA drives is the FlexPower feature, which supports both Molex and ATA power connectors, which means no added expense for an adapter.

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

Cost: $38
Months on list: 6
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, and it makes loading media quick and easy. Pioneer has been a name long associated with excellence in optical media readers, and their 16X DVD-ROM drive is no exception. The drive features a 256K buffer, 95ms seek time on DVDs (80ms on CDs), as well as horizontal and vertical mounting capabilities.

Pioneer also makes a tray-loading model (DVD-117) for those of you who deal with other sizes of optical media. It can be found for a few dollars less than the slot-loading model, and is a super unit in its own right.

CDRW: Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW LTR-52327S

Cost: $39
Months on list: New
Price Change: N/A

The price gap between high-speed CD-RW drives on their higher capacity DVD brethren is slowly but surely closing. However, the price is still out of the reach of this guide, and even if we wanted to include one, we'd still like to keep an ultra high-speed CD-RW burner along for the ride. DVD-/+RW burners are still a little on the slow side when it comes to CD burning, and as a result, we are upgrading to the Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW drive for this month's guide. The retail version can be had for as little as $39, jacks CDRW rates to a whopping 32X, and comes with Nero Express CD burning software.