System Summaries
With the selections that we've listed, we conclude once again with four system summaries. There are quite a few modifications that we've mentioned elsewhere that you might also find useful, as there is never a perfect system that will work for every user. We'll start with the Budget configurations.
Budget Recommendations
| AMD Sempron System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
AMD Sempron 2800+ 1.60 GHz 256K socket 754 (Retail) |
83 |
| Motherboard |
Foxconn nForce4 NF4K8AB-RS (754) |
78 |
| Memory |
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 2.5-3-3-8 2T |
83 |
| Video Card |
MSI Radeon X300SE 128MB PCIe |
53 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380 80GB SATA-2 |
57 |
| Optical Drive |
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-16P9S |
22 |
| Case and Power Supply |
Codegen 4C-4063S-CA Combo 350W PSU |
69 |
| Display |
Samsung 793DF 17" CRT |
153 |
| Speakers |
Codegen Speakers (with case) |
0 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Codegen Keyboard and Mouse (with case) |
0 |
| Bottom Line |
|
598 |
| Intel Celeron D System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Intel Celeron D 330J 2.66GHz 256K L2 (Retail) |
85 |
| Motherboard |
Biostar I915P-A7 |
79 |
| Memory |
2x512MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 2.5-3-3-8 2T |
83 |
| Video Card |
MSI Radeon X300SE 128MB PCIe |
53 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380 80GB SATA-2 |
57 |
| Optical Drive |
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM Model SOHD-16P9S |
22 |
| Case and Power Supply |
Codegen 4C-4063S-CA Combo 350W PSU |
69 |
| Display |
Samsung 793DF 17" CRT |
153 |
| Speakers |
Codegen Speakers (with case) |
0 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Codegen Keyboard and Mouse (with case) |
0 |
| Bottom Line |
|
601 |
Priced at $600, the performance of our base recommendations is nothing to sneeze at - in most applications, either one will match up well against the $1000 to $1500 PCs of 18 months ago. While we would normally give the edge in gaming to AMD systems and a slight edge in encoding applications to Intel, these two systems are going to be extremely close in performance and it's hard to say that one is really better than the other. With a better graphics card, the Sempron would probably outperform the Celeron D, but the X300SE is going to limit both CPUs. For overclocking performance, we'd have to give the Intel system the edge, simply because the 533FSB will allow a lot of headroom on any decent motherboard. The maximum 8X CPU multiplier of the Sempron 2800+ is going to make overclocking rather difficult with the current selection of socket 754 boards.
Upgraded Budget System
| AMD Athlon 64 System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 512K 1.80 GHz socket 939 (Retail - Venice) |
146 |
| Motherboard |
MSI nForce4 (939) K8N Neo4-F |
85 |
| Memory |
2x512MB OCZ Gold Series 2-2-2-5 1T 2.8V |
143 |
| Video Card |
Gigabyte GV-RX70P128D Radeon X700PRO 128MB |
112 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 HDT722516DLA380 160GBSATA-2 |
87 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC 3540A Silver 16X DVDR |
48 |
| Case and Power Supply |
MGE CAG-M1-BK Black/Silver ATX with 400W PSU |
67 |
| Display |
Polyview V17E 17" 14ms LCD |
210 |
| Speakers |
Logitech Z-3e 2.1 |
71 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Internet Pro Desktop |
23 |
| Bottom Line |
|
992 |
| Intel Pentium 4 System |
| Hardware |
Component |
Price |
| Processor |
Intel Pentium 505 533 FSB (Retail) |
134 |
| Motherboard |
Biostar I945P-A7 |
98 |
| Memory |
2x512MB OCZ DDR2 PC4300 EL Gold 3-3-3-8 |
131 |
| Video Card |
Gigabyte GV-RX70P128D Radeon X700PRO 128MB |
112 |
| Hard Drive |
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 HDT722516DLA380 160GBSATA-2 |
87 |
| Optical Drive |
NEC 3540A Silver 16X DVDR |
48 |
| Case and Power Supply |
MGE CAG-M1-BK Black/Silver ATX with 400W PSU |
67 |
| Display |
Polyview V17E 17" 14ms LCD |
210 |
| Speakers |
Logitech Z-3e 2.1 |
71 |
| Keyboard and Mouse |
Logitech Internet Pro Desktop |
23 |
| Bottom Line |
|
981 |
With the upgraded selections, our total cost increases to nearly $1000. You get quite a bit more performance and versatility as well as a nicer display, so the extra $400 isn't simply wasted. We have to give the performance nod to AMD on this setup, particularly at stock speeds. The X700Pro will allow both processors to stretch their legs, but the 505's 2.66 GHz clockspeed and 533 FSB are going to fall behind. Once you throw overclocking into the equation, it becomes a more interesting race. We've personally overclocked the MSI board with a 3000+ to 2.4 GHz without much difficulty, and the CPU/14 and CPU/11 memory dividers will allow you to reach that clock speed with any of the RAM that we've listed in this Guide without compromising performance too much. The Pentium 505 can actually reach very high clock speeds with a bit of effort, and even without exotic cooling, it should be capable of running at 3.4 to 3.6 GHz. We haven't tested the Biostar 945P board's overclocking abilities personally (yet), but the I915P-A7 has the necessary features to overclock 533FSB processors and we assume that the I945P-A7 will be similar. In the end, a 2.4 GHz Athlon 64 roughly matches a Pentium 4 3.8 GHz - with better gaming performance - both of which are possible with a bit of luck.
Conclusion
That takes care of another Buyer's Guide, and hopefully, you have a better understanding of the various options and the compromises that can be made in putting together a budget PC. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. One thing to remember when building a budget PC is to keep the requirements in mind. It doesn't make sense to get a decent graphics card if the system will never be used for gaming, and even speakers may be overkill for a simple office computer. Some requirements will increase the total price while others may reduce it, but it's still possible to put together a good computer for less than $750.
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wilburpan - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Regarding Dell: before I read the comments I went over to the Dell website and looked over their current offerings. There are cost cutting measures on the part of Dell to bring the price down on their budget systems: PATA instead of SATA, questionable memory, lack of PCIe, their Celeron based systems come with a maximum of 512 MB RAM, and probaby a bunch more that I don't know about.About this buying guide: some of the recommendations take into account future upgradability. I'm not sure that this should be a real priority for a budget system. One thing that has been made clear to me over the past few years is that building a computer is an exercise in balancing all the components. As a result, once a computer gets very old, it is more cost effective to replace the whole thing rather than upgrading a component at a time. Being that this is a budget system, the lifetime of the components would be less than average, as these components have already been on the market for a while.
bob661 - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Jarred,In the article you mention that you can do 222 with the OCZ Gold at 2.8V but on OCZ's website it says 3.2V. Can you clarify this?
Zoomer - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
What about motherboards based on the RS482?They offer decent integrated graphics at a good price.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/m...
xsilver - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
#12gigabyte makes a fanless 6600GT
costs a few dollars more but if you need it
bupkus - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
I just built a system with an OEM 3000+ Venice for $115, Epox 9NPA+ Ultra for #105 and a Gigabyte X300 for about $70 and now I hear the X700 is the way to go for just a little more. I like to play Ut2004 and that's it. Hmm.. time to rma the X300 and get that X700 before it's too late.I'd consider the 6600GT but I dont' want noisy and I get that impression.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Bah - I caved and listed an optional PSU. I still feel like I keep repeating myself from Guide to Guide, but maybe you readers don't notice it as much? :)10 - PATA is going to be a bit slower and we don't really like the cables. The newer Intel motherboards often come with a single PATA connection (supporting two drives), making it a very poor choice for such motherboards. It *is* an option, but there's a reason PATA drives are getting large mail-in rebates. The same reason such drives often end up in OEM systems: the manufacturers are clearing out old inventory.
Anyway, I don't generally worry much about the mail-in rebate opportunities, as it's basically loaning a company your money at 0% interest for several months. If you can find a good rebate on an SATA drive, I'd prefer that personally, but PATA drives are still okay for some people.
Hacp - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
One question I had was why SATAII? Why not a 40 dollar 80GB PATA100 HD from circuit city or best buy after rebates? I know that those two stores are good for their rebates, and with the 15 dollars you save, you can defenetly upgrade the processor, which is a better bang for your buck in terms of performance.JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Regarding case and PSU: yes, I realize the PSU is suspect, and I always put better PSUs in computers I build. However, I've also used generic PSUs in budget PCs, and provided the systems aren't overloaded you rarely have problems. At full load, I would guess that the two budget setups will draw 150W or less. If you add in a second hard drive and a more powerful graphics card, you're asking for trouble, but as built they should be fine. Feel free to buy a Fotron Source, Antec, Enermax, etc. - I've suggested it many times and hopefully have made it clear that a nice PSU is never a bad idea.I've got some Dell systems that I use regularly that include Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processors and 1GB of RAM, and they're paired with a (generic) 200W PSU. If Dell thinks a 200W is sufficient for that setup, I'm comfortable with slightly better PSUs for these budget setups.
----------------
As for buying a Dell, that last comment of mine ought to give you something to think about. Dell/HP/etc. often take a good processor like a Pentium 520 and pair it with the cheapest remaining parts that they can find. You'll also get 256MB DIMMs, because no one else wants them these days - upgrading a Dell to 2x512 instead of 4x256 often costs as much as buying 2x512 on your own.
They're still okay, and you can often get a decent LCD with them as well. Upgrading them can often be a frustrating experience, and rarely do they make something an enthusiast would be happy with. If you're okay with that, they're decent systems. I'm not going to do buyers guides picking out OEM systems, though. ;-)
----------------
Finally, I wasn't aware that the low-end Semprons don't support Cool 'n Quiet, but it doesn't matter much to me. They're 90nm parts with 1/2 or 1/4 the L2 cache of the Venice core, so they should run relatively cool already.
I once calculated the cost of running a 60W lightbulb 24/7 for a year and it was only about $37 - 526 kWHrs at 7 cents per kWHr. Cool 'n Quiet on a Sempron isn't likely to save 60W, more like 20W, so the yearly savings would only be around $12. That's enough to upgrade to the next higher Sempron, of course, but if you're looking at the yearly costs it becomes easy to justify buying a much faster PC - at least for me.
Hacp - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Why not buy a dell? Because Dell offers less performance, few overclocking features, a huge premium for upgrades(ram and dvd rewritable for example), and even crappier graphics than the integrated/turbocached stuff that anandtech is reccomending. Some of the choices are questionable in the article though. The power supply is a major concern.xsilver - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
really #6?didnt know that!
wont it be benefitial to upgrade then as in the long run the cost of a lower power bill will make the cpu pay for itself?