November 2001 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Roundup

Intel Pentium 4 System

Case: Full Tower PC case w/ 350W PSU-$130
Processor: Pentium 4-1.9 GHz Socket 478 (Retail)-$276
Cooling: Retail HSF-$0
Mainboard: ASUS P4T-E -$160
RAM: 2x256 MB RDRAM-$168
Hard Drive: IBM 60GXP 60GB -$130
Video Card : Visiontek Xtasy GeForce3 Titanium Ti500 -$322
Monitor: Samsung 900NF-$379
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum-$158
Speakers: S4 MidiLand 7100 Plus-$180
DVD/CD-ROM: Toshiba SD-M1612 16X DVD-ROM-$63
CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40A-$175
Communications: 3Com EtherLink 10/100 3CR990-TX-97 or US Robotics External v.92-$88
Mouse: MouseMan Wheel Optical-$40
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro-$35
Gamepad: Logitech Wingman Rumblepad-$25
OS: Windows XP Pro-$135
Floppy: Generic-$10

Total: $2474

AMD Athlon System

Case: Full Tower PC case w/ 350W PSU-$130
Processor: OEM Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6 GHz)-$261
Cooling: ThermalRight SK6 w/ Delta Black Label fan-$41
Mainboard: ABIT KG7-RAID-$136
RAM: 1x512 MB DDR-$64
Hard Drive: IBM 60GXP 60GB -$130
Video Card : Visiontek Xtasy GeForce3 Titanium Ti500 -$322
Monitor: Samsung 900NF-$379
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum-$158
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 4.1-$295
DVD/CD-ROM: Toshiba SD-M1612 16X DVD-ROM-$63
CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 24/10/40A-$175
Communications: 3Com EtherLink 10/100 3CR990-TX-97 or US Robotics External v.92-$88
Mouse: MouseMan Wheel Optical-$40
Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro-$35
Gamepad: Logitech Wingman Rumblepad-$25
OS: Windows XP Pro-$135
Floppy: Generic-$10

Total: $2487

Conclusion

Once again, both of our AMD and Intel systems are looking good, and with the exception of the very expensive Pentium 4-2.0 GHz, we were able to go as high on the processor ladder as possible. Having the Athlon XP available at 1900+ (1.6 GHz) also gives the AMD system a bit more high-end performance, while the Pentium 4 isn't exactly a slouch in that area as well. Both high-end gaming configurations were able to slide in a high-end GeForce3 Ti 500 card, along with a nice shift to the SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum, which has to be one of the more impressive sound products in some time. Either system will able to pump out the 3D game framerates, but due to the use of DDR memory on the AMD box, we were able to upgrade the system speakers to a higher-end Klipsch model. The Pentium 4's continued reliance on RDRAM does come at a cost, but we predict a serious war once the Pentium 4 DDR chipsets really start to take hold.

Watch out next month, as we'll be taking another stab at fitting even more high-end components in each of our gaming systems. We'll be keeping a close eye on Pentium 4-2.0 GHz prices, as well as seeing how the ASUS KT266A motherboard fares after a month of hard-nosed testing and online reviews. And maybe AMD will sneak in another Athlon XP release or Intel will accelerate the release schedule for the Northwood Pentium 4 core? Where next month's high-end marker will be for either AMD or Intel is still up in the air, so let's meet back here to see what the future may bring. As we like to say here at Sharky Extreme, pure 3D gaming speed certainly doesn't come cheap, but each month it becomes a bit more affordable.

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.

Vince Freeman
Editor