August Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Roundup

AMD Athlon XP System

Case: Aspire X-Dreamer II (with 350W PSU) - $54
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Retail - $165
Cooling: included Retail HSF - $0
Motherboard: MSI K8T Neo-FSR - $83
Memory: 512-MB Corsair Value PC3200 DDR - $82
Hard Drive: 80GB Western Digital SE (8-MB) - $64
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800 128-MB OEM (128-bit DDR) - $160
Monitor: Samsung 955DF - $185
Sound Card: 6-Channel Integrated - $0
Speakers: Logitech Z640 6-Piece Speaker System - $49
CD/DVD-ROM: AOpen COM5232 Combo Drive - $43
Communications: Onboard LAN - $0
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Optical - $15
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard - $15
Operating System: Windows XP Home - $84

Total: $999

Intel Pentium 4 System

Case: Aspire X-Dreamer II (with 350W PSU) - $54
CPU: Pentium 4-2.8E GHz Prescott (800) Retail - $177
Cooling: included Retail HSF - $0
Motherboard: MSI 865PE NEO2-PFS Platinum - $80
Memory: 2 x 256-MB PC3200 DDR - $82
Hard Drive: 80GB Western Digital - $56
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon 9800 128-MB OEM (128-bit DDR) - $160
Monitor: Samsung 955DF - $185
Sound Card: 6-Channel Integrated - $0
Speakers: Logitech Z640 6-Piece Speaker System - $49
CD/DVD-ROM: AOpen COM5232 Combo Drive - $43
Communications: Onboard LAN - $0
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Optical - $15
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard - $15
Operating System: Windows XP Home - $84

Total: $1,000

Closing Remarks

This month was a definite upgrade opportunity, and we tried to take full advantage. The AMD side was primed with heavy price cuts on Athlon 64 models, and these ran so deep that we were able to move past the Athlon 64 2800+ straight to the more powerful Athlon 64 3000+. The Intel upgrade to the Pentium 4-2.8E GHz may not have seemed as impressive, but it was very important we moved to an 800 MHz processor, and made full use of the dual-channel DDR400 bandwidth. Both platforms also received new motherboards, and again it was the AMD system that got the best end of the deal. The transition from Socket A to Socket 754 not only provides higher performance and a more current feature set, but also allows a wider upgrade path.

The only concession, if you could call it that, was the move to a more realistic price point for the video card selection. For months we've been living a bit outside our means, watching as the Radeon 9700 Pro 128-MB actually increased in price and put even more pressure on our budget. This month we had the obvious choice of the Radeon 9600 XT or 9800SE, but instead went with a higher-performance alternative, the Sapphire Radeon 9800 128-MB (128-bit DDR) card. This product has gotten some bad press for looking a bit too much like a true Radeon 9800 Pro, but we know exactly what we're buying, and are quite happy with the card's $160 price tag and decidedly high-end performance for its class.

This month's systems are once again a nice mix of the mid-range and high-end, and it's even more amazing what kind of gaming PC you can put together for a cool $1K. Both systems include high-performance CPUs, mainstream system platforms, 512-MB of PC3200 DDR, 7200 RPM hard drives, CDR/RW and DVD-ROM capabilities, and a powerful Radeon 9800 128-MB video card. If overall value is your main goal, these value gaming systems certainly deliver, and offer a noticeable price-performance advantage over our higher-priced guide configurations.

* 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.