Entry Level Buyer’s Guide, July 2005

Case and Input Recommendations

While we generally like to recommend a good quality power supply and a more user-friendly case, such amenities tend to increase costs quite a bit. We would never advise people to avoid a decent power supply or case, and while the components that we've listed should all work without trouble with the following cases, long-term reliability of the generic power supplies is suspect. Worst case scenario - pardon the pun - is that you'll have to purchase a new power supply down the road (and/or deal with RMA issues).

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Budget Case and Accessories Recommendation: Codegen 4C-4063S-CA Combo 350W PSU
Price: $69 shipped (Retail)

We found a combo package that includes a case, speakers, keyboard, and mouse from Codegen for just $69. None of the individual components are really great parts, but they'll work well enough and they help to keep costs down. The PSU does include a 20+4-pin power connector for use with the latest motherboards, and it even has a 120mm that should keep noise levels down. While a fan mount that can accommodate an 80mm or 120mm fan is present at the rear of the case, no fan is included, so you'll have to spend another $8 or more. Another 80mm fan mount is available at the front of the case to help cool your hard drive(s) if you want to max out the cooling, and a plastic duct allows the CPU HSF to draw in fresh air directly. Front USB and audio ports are available, and the USB ports at least have a single 9-pin connector ready to plug into the motherboard header.

Another small bonus to this setup is that the case, speakers, and keyboard/mouse are all color coordinated - and they match quite well with the 793DF monitor that we selected. While it's not a perfect selection by any means, it does offer a decent bundle price. If you're uncomfortable with a generic PSU or feel that it's affecting system stability, you can always replace it in the future. Just for reference, a system slightly better than the upgraded AMD selection only draws 230W of power under load from the wall, so 350W should be more than sufficient even when taking the often exaggerated claims into account.

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Upgraded Case and Power Supply: MGE CAG-M1-BK with 400W PSU
Price: $67 shipped (Retail)

Our upgraded case is another relatively inexpensive setup with a generic 400W power supply. Unfortunately, the PSU doesn't have a 24-pin power connection, but we have used 20-pin connections on numerous PCs without difficulty. Again, the most powerful of the configurations that we've listed in this Guide shouldn't consume more than 250W of power at load, so even an exaggerated claim of 400W shouldn't have any trouble. Some of the additions that make this case worthwhile are the inclusion of a Firewire port at the front of the case, along with audio and USB - though you would need a motherboard with Firewire support to actually take advantage of that addition. Unfortunately, the USB and audio wires are all single pin connections, so you'll have to spend a bit of extra time with your motherboard manual to make sure that you have the pins wired properly. It's not too difficult, but it's far less convenient than the 9-pin USB block used in most other cases.

The case is actually quite nice in appearance, with a silver front panel rather than beige - which is why we selected the silver NEC 3540A earlier. An LCD display is also present that can show the time and date along with the temperature of either the system, CPU, or hard drive. Some people will like the display while others will think it looks silly. As with the Codegen case, there are no fans supplied. There is a 120mm fan mount at the front of the case and two 80mm mounts at the rear, and we'd recommend filling at least one of those with a fan, which will add another $5 or more to the cost, depending on the fan.

Upgraded Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech Internet Pro Desktop
Price: $23 shipped (Retail)

You have to have a keyboard and mouse, naturally, and we prefer Logitech or Microsoft models due to the key layout. Combo packages online are usually the best deals, with some going for as little as $18. Some will even include speakers if you need them, though the quality will probably be even worse than the Codegen speakers that came with the case that we listed above.

Buy what you like, but we strongly recommend optical mice over the older style - we still cringe every time we come across a system with a dirty tracking ball in an old mouse. We also avoid USB keyboards due to periodic quirkiness that can cause problems. What sort of problems? I updated the chipset drivers on a system recently that had a USB keyboard and mouse, only to have both cease functioning while Windows prompted me to reboot in order for the hardware changes to take effect. Pressing the power button normally shuts down the computer, but Windows once again prompted me that a program wasn't responding and wanted to know if I should wait or end the task. I had to hold the power button for 6 seconds to cut power, and while that's not the end of the world, it's generally better to power down the OS gracefully. BIOS support can also be quirky - one BIOS had the option to enable USB keyboard support, but by default it was off, and without a standard keyboard you couldn't enable it. This is probably all trivia, as USB keyboards aren't budget components, but it's useful information regardless.

Optional Power Supply: Fortron Source ATX300-PA ATX12V 300W
Price: $32 shipped (Retail)

To make this clear, $30 to $50 for a separate power supply is definitely something to consider. The PSUs in the above cases are probably over-rated (i.e. 225W instead of the listed 350W and 250W instead of 400W) and they aren't going to have high quality heat sinks. The weight of a power supply says a lot about its quality, if you actually have the chance to lift a PSU you're thinking about purchasing. While the Fotron Source 300W is only rated at 300W, the rating is likely far more accurate than the cheap models that are included with most cases. The systems as configured should be fine with the cheap power supplies, but if you have any interest in upgrading the parts we'd highly recommend getting a better PSU.

Besides the 300W Fotron Source, you might look at the more powerful Fotron Source models as well as Enermax, SeaSonic and Antec. If you're going to actually upgrade the power supply, we suggest that you get a model with a 24-pin power adapter and dual 12V rails. No sense in spending $30 for a slight upgrade when $40 will improve the quality quite a bit relative to the included PSUs, right? Prices say a lot about power supplies, and if you find a "500W" power supply for under $45, we'd be very suspicious.