December 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 - $195
Processor: Pentium 4-3.0 GHz (800 MHz) - $396
Cooling: Retail Heatsink/Fan - $0
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe - $166
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $252
Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB 7200RPM SATA - $175
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800XT 256MB - $463
Monitor: NEC/Mitsubishi MultiSync FP912SB, LG 915FT Plus - $288
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Retail - $162
Speakers: Creative Inspire T7700 7.1 Speakers - $111
DVD/CD ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 - $38
CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW LTR-52327S - $39
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 - $20
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $134
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,499

AMD Athlon XP System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $195
Processor: Athlon 64 3200+ Retail - $415
Cooling: Retail Heatsink/Fan - $0
Motherboard: ASUS K8V Deluxe - $135
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $252
Hard Drive: Maxtor 200 GB 7200RPM SATA - $175
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro- $463
Monitor: NEC/Mitsubishi MultiSync FP912SB, LG 915FT Plus - $288
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum 2 ZS Retail - $162
Speakers: Creative Inspire T7700 7.1 Speakers - $111
DVD/CD ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S/2 - $38
CD-RW: Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW LTR-52327S - $39
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 - $20
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $134
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,487

Closing Remarks

The upcoming CPU market should be an interesting one, and with Prescott nowhere to be found AMD is continuing to gain a foothold in the high end market. The Athlon 64 and 64 FX are two excellent processors that give the Pentium 4 a run for its money. Intel's Pentium 4 Extreme Edition is starting to surface at retailers, but at prices that are likely to keep it out of the reach of most potential buyers. ATI still remains at the top of our video card list as the Radeon 9800XT is another successful refresh of the aging R300 core, and is enough to edge out NVIDIA's best. As we stated earlier, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find a high end monitor that isn't out of our budget, as manufacturers are starting to cut out the mid-range CRTs from their lineups to make way for LCDs.

Over the next few months we are likely to see the unveiling and potential release of Intel's Prescott processor, ensuring a great price battle between AMD and Intel. We're also starting to see the mass market release of new Athlon 64 motherboards, thus broadening the playing field for lower prices as well as additional features. ATI and NVIDIA are looking to the first half of next year to unveil their brand new chip architectures, so we can look forward to a good ole' battle royale between the two giants. New technologies, upcoming hardcore 3D games and various other innovations await us in 2004, and we'll be here with our take on how these affect the high-end system arena.

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.