June 2004 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Roundup

Intel Pentium 4 System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 480W or higher name brand PSU - $185
Processor: Pentium 4-3.4 GHz (800 MHz) - $415
Cooling: Retail Heatsink/Fan - $0
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe - $171
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $304
Hard Drive: 2 X Seagate 160GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache - $228
Video Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB OEM - $425
Monitor: NEC/Mitsubishi DP930SB-BK 19", NEC/Mitsubishi FE990-BK 19"- $269
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Retail - $165
Speakers: Creative Inspire T7700 7.1 Speakers - $96
DVD-/+RW: NEC 8X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ND-2510A OEM - $86
Communications: None or (optional Intel Pro/1000 T or USR External v.92) - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $49
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $23
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $125
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,549

AMD Athlon 64 System

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 480W or higher name brand PSU - $185
Processor: Athlon 64 3400+ Retail - $398
Cooling: Thermalright SLK-948U w/Vantec Stealth 92mm - $40
Motherboard: ASUS K8V Deluxe - $99
Memory: 2 X 512-MB Corsair TwinX XMS DDR400/PC3200LL - $304
Hard Drive: 2 X Seagate 160GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache - $228
Video Card: Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256MB OEM - $425
Monitor: NEC/Mitsubishi DP930SB-BK 19", NEC/Mitsubishi FE990-BK 19"- $269
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum 2 ZS Retail - $165
Speakers: Creative Inspire T7700 7.1 Speakers - $96
DVD-/+RW: NEC 8X Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW ND-2510A OEM - $86
Communications: None or (optional Intel Pro/1000 T or USR External v.92) - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $49
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $23
Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $125
Floppy: Generic - $8

Total: $2,500

Closing Remarks

This month featured a few changes, but these did add to both the performance and feature set of the high-end system configuration. The video subsystem received a Radeon X800 Pro speed injection, while the addition of a DVD recorder really opened up its multimedia uses. While ATI and NVIDIA next-generation products have, in most cases, been very difficult to find, the ATI X800 Pro is starting to become more widespread and was a reasonable choice for this guide. Overall, the biggest jump in performance came from the Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 Pro which is significantly faster than the Radeon 9800XT that it replaced.

As Intel and AMD both released their new lineup of processors, we are starting to see the price of the current generation parts start to fall, making this an area we'll be keeping a close eye on. The dual-channel DDR Athlon 64 processors look very exciting, not to mention PCI Express finally becoming a reality on the Intel side. Hopefully by next month we will see GeForce 6 Series and Radeon X800 parts in much larger quantities as they both seem to be very promising lines. Next month should be an interesting one, as there is a wealth of new hardware coming down the pike, but only a $2500 budget to keep it in check.

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.