Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level System - June 2004
by Evan Lieb on June 9, 2004 12:02 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Keyboard and Mouse
While trivial, it's still important that you purchase the right keyboard and mouse. Different people have different preferences for a keyboard's look and feel, and the same goes for a mouse. Therefore, we suggest that you personally try out a keyboard and mouse for yourself. Recommending purchasing these items online is misleading, as there are too many users with different preferences for this type of thing. Visit your nearest PC outlet to try a keyboard and mouse yourself; a PC Club, Best Buy, CompUSA, or Circuit City store will do. We suggest that you start with Microsoft and Logitech keyboards and mice. Make sure you also check out optical mice from Microsoft and Logitech as well. A good solid optical mouse from either manufacturer should run about $20, but in some cases, can run as little as $10 if you can find the right deal.If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
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MAME - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
the via chipsets are not worth saving $20JuniorXL - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
What about getting the Asus A7V8X-X KT400 instead of the A7N8X-X NFORCE2? Its usually about $20 cheaper and has the same features, just a different chipset. Is the KT400 really that bad?ECarlson - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
Two easy fixes for the weekly systems guides:1. Especially for us returning readers: Have a one-page synopsis of the changes from the last guide (for each system level). This could even be a cumulative history, including all the changes over time (That would be nice). No need for us to read mostly the same content over and over and over and over and over.
2. Put the "Next page" button above the price list. It is very annoying to have to scroll past the price list just to get to the next article page. (Of course, if you implemented #1, this would be far less of an issue to regular readers.)
cparker - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
MAME - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
To the guys suggesting gaming and such: this is a budget system, not a gaming one. Someone even mentioned Doom 3...it's not intended to even touch a game like that.A $70 case someone else mentioned? You're thinking about the next level up. I think AT did a good job picking out the best product for the price (though some changes can be made).
But for sure, $10 for 40 MORE gigs! (and 6 more megs for the buffer size)
cosmotic - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
What are you talking about? This is a budget system, GF4MX is perfectly fine. Infact, its better than fine. A new video card would be an upgrade. I dont think people paying 500 bucks for a computer would expect to get enough performance out of it to play all these new games. You guys are on crack! "My 500 dollar computer wont play FarCry or Doom3... I WONDER WHY!"Pumpkinierre - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
From what I hear of those 5200s, they arent worth the candle. A friend who had one with a new system was so disatisfied that he got a computer repairman to swap it for a Geforce4 of some denomination and now seems happy. Admitedly he mainly does 2D graphics. However I agree with an earlier article's post: the entry level system ought to be an integrated graphics solution possibly with upgradeable AGP port. With new IG chipsets from ATI, Intel and nVidia this should make for some competition when allied to Paris/Sempron and 64bit prescott celerons as well as the older socketA's and N'wood celerons. My present favorite: Duron 1.8, ATI IGP 320 mainboard (http://www.sapphiretech.com/mainboard/a3-285.asp), 512MB DDR.henan - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
I agree with that 80 gig drive, and also integrated graphics might add more room for other components (ram?).I'm very disappointed in the missing OC guide. Last two just haven't been there, but nothing else has filled that gap yet, just a week withiut anything. To me that is the only important one, although the others are good reading. I hope the OC system guide will be back soon!
TrogdorJW - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
Duker, the problem is that while the 5200 might technically be a DX9 card, it's not fast enough to actually run DX9 graphics at even the lowest quality settings, so it would end up being used as a DX8 card. The 9200SE is probably too slow to run even DX8 titles, but the 9200 is perfectly capable as long as the resolution is kept at 1024x768 or lower and detail settings aren't too high.If you want any real chance at running DX9 games, the minimum card would be a 9600 Pro, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc... At $111, that's way out of the price range of a budget system. (IMO, on a budget system, $100 would be the maximum price of any single part, and $50 would be preferred.
Anyway, as an alternative, the FX5200 cards might be okay, but they're still pretty much DX9 parts in practice.
yossiz - Thursday, June 10, 2004 - link
I'd really like to see an HTPC builder's guide. One that focuses on quiet, multimedia-oriented PC.Also, as someone mentioned already, I think that the RAM alternative should not be a lower latency module, but rather a 512MB module, making your alternative system a much more viable budget gaming machine.