November Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 9

Price Roundup

AMD Athlon System

Case: Enlight 7230 Case-$50
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1600+-$114
Cooling: Thermosonic ThermoEngine-$26
Mainboard: EPoX EP-8KHA+-$102
RAM: 128 MB PC2100 DDR-$13
Hard Drive: 40GB IBM Deskstar ATA-100 7200 RPM-$99
Video Card : Gainward GeForce2 Ti 64 MB-$117
Monitor: LG Electronics Flatron 17" 795FT Plus / Samsung 19" 950P-$235
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Live! Value-$23
Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS 54-$46
CD-ROM: Asus 50x CDROM-$34
Communications: 3Com EtherLink 10/100 3C905C-TX-M or Creative Labs Modem Blaster 56k-$28
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Optical-$21
Keyboard: MS Internet Keyboard-$15
OS: Windows 98SE-$60
Floppy: Generic-$10

Total: $993

Intel Pentium 4 System

Case: IN-WIN IW-S508 Case-$54
Processor: Pentium 4 1.5 GHz (Retail)-$135
Cooling: Retail HSF-$0
Mainboard: MSI 845 Pro-$105
RAM: 128 MB PC133 SDRAM-$9
Hard Drive: 40GB IBM Deskstar ATA-100 7200 RPM-$99
Video Card : Gainward GeForce2 Ti 64 MB-$117
Monitor: LG Electronics Flatron 17" 795FT Plus / Samsung 19" 950P-$235
Sound Card: SoundBlaster Live! Value-$23
Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS 54-$46
CD-ROM: Asus 50x CDROM-$34
Communications: 3Com EtherLink 10/100 3C905C-TX-M or Creative Labs Modem Blaster 56k-$28
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Optical-$21
Keyboard: MS Internet Keyboard-$15
OS: Windows 98SE-$60
Floppy: Generic-$10

Total: $991

Conclusion

If last month was a good time to buy an Intel value gaming system, then AMD has definitely taken the lead this month. It is truly amazing what kind of power you can get with either Intel or AMD, but the addition of the Athlon XP and a DDR motherboard certainly makes up any ground it lost to the Intel Pentium 4/i845 combo.

Even at a budget of $1,000, there is no way anyone is confusing "value" with "low-performance". These are both true gaming powerhouses, and while they may not have all the fixin's of our High End or Extreme Buyers Guide recommendations, you certainly won't give up much in overall performance. In fact, about the only specific area that could use some improvement is the 3D video card, and we'll be watching both the GeForce3 Ti 200 and ATI Radeon 8500/7500 prices in coming months to see if one can make the value grade.

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