February 2002 High-end Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 7

Communications Device

NIC: 3Com EtherLink 10/100 3CR990-TX-97

Cost: $86
Months on list: 4
Price Change: -$2

LAN gaming, and DSL/Cable Internet access are all good reasons to have a quality NIC (Network Interface Card) in your gaming rig. Unless you already own a functional network card, we do not recommend going the cheap route when buying a primary NIC. Otherwise, you could be ripping apart your PC on a monthly basis, and filling out enough RMA forms to need a Word template to keep up. Buying a brand name, quality NIC is always money well spent.

The EtherLink 10/100 3CR990-TX-97 is once again our pick for a high-end NIC. While you can buy a cheap NIC for $20-$30, the EtherLink 10/100 3CR990-TX-97 is actually the top performance desktop NIC offered by 3COM. Not only do you get the name brand quality of 3COM, but a 3XP processor right on the card, which can offload some of the CPU work onto the DSP itself and speed up basic Windows networking tasks. Just be extremely careful when shopping for this particular network card and confirm the "Processing Offload" feature. 3COM also produces less expensive NICs of eerily similar model numbers, but without the 3XP processor.

Or...

Modem: US Robotics External v.92 Faxmodem

Cost: $86
Months on list: 2
Price Change: $0

Although the NIC will work great for those lucky souls with DSL or cable Internet access, we realize that many gamers are still using dial-up Internet accounts. In addition, many may actually use their killer gaming systems for business-related functions, and require a standard modem for fax or data transmissions. For a fast, stable modem, we recommend the US Robotics External v.92 Faxmodem. You not only get an external model, along with standard v.90 support and a chance to try out the new v.92 pseudo-standard, but this modem comes from a company long known for their quality communications hardware.

Operating system: Windows XP Pro

Cost: $126
Months on list: 2
Price Change: -$9

The choice of an operating system is another tough one, especially given the reluctance of many to buy into the Windows XP hardware authorization scheme. Still, Win XP has many benefits and is virtually the only operating system available for new systems, so we're going with the flow rather than railing against the inevitable. We're also taking the Pro option over the standard Home edition, due to the enhanced networking and configuration options available in the more robust Win XP Pro operating system.

Of course, if product activation or some of the other Windows XP "features" are a real turn-off, then feel free to nab a copy of Windows 2000 Pro. This may be a great option for many gamers, as Windows 2000 Pro (at a slight $20-$30 premium) is available with a "free coupon" for an upgrade to Windows XP Pro. How can you go wrong with that kind of choice?

The above price is for the OEM version of Windows XP Pro and assumes you purchase it with a new system or along with one of your hardware components. If you buy a pre-built PC or coordinate your hardware purchase correctly (usually a hard drive is the best bet to qualify) this would qualify you for the lower-priced OEM version. If you already own a copy of a Windows operating system (limited to Win 98 or newer and Win NT 4 or newer) then you can also purchase the Windows XP Pro upgrade CD and potentially save more money.

Extras

You'll probably want to pick yourself up a gaming input device. But it's so subjective a choice, and we're so close to the spending limit, that we moved the gaming input device to the Extras category.

And although a UPS isn't really part of a gaming system, anymore than a printer or scanner is, it is still something to consider when laying down the smack for a $2500 PC. A quality UPS will no only provide protection against power outages and allow a smooth shutdown after the lights go out, but also offer enhanced power spike and irregular voltage protection as well. APC produces some excellent home UPS models, but be sure to match the voltage ratings (VA) against the actual power consumption of your PC.