Weekly Buyer's Guide: Cutting Edge System - March 2004
by Evan Lieb on March 3, 2004 12:57 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Cutting Edge System Summary
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon 64 3400+ retail | $414 |
| Motherboard | ASUS K8V Deluxe (VIA K8T800) | $139 |
| Memory | 2 X 512MB Mushkin PC3500 CAS2 | $215 |
| Video Card | 256MB PowerColor Radeon 9800XT | $415 |
| Monitor | Samsung 1100DF DynaFlat CRT | $420 |
| Computer Case | Kingwin K11 Aluminum ATX plus $55 400W Antec PSU | $125 |
| Sound Card | Creative Labs Audigy 2 OEM | $70 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z5300 5.1 | $147 |
| Networking | Onboard Gigabit 10/100/1000 controller | $0 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 36.7GB Raptor SATA | $116 |
| CD-RW | Sony DRU-530A DVD-/+RW | $155 |
| Bottom Line | - | $2216 |
$2216 is the final price of our system, not including any money you'll spend on software (Windows XP Home or Professional, Office, etc.) or a keyboard and mouse.
What we've built here today is probably the fastest desktop system in the world that won't bankrupt you. We could have easily spent $5,000 to $6,000 or more to build you a faster system, but that simply wouldn't be reasonable for most people, especially considering that that system really wouldn't offer a noticeable increase in performance.
That said, go build yourself this sucker and let us know what you think.
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kalaap - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link
why wouldn't you recommend klipsch promedia series speaker system...as an owner of the 5.1 system, i recommend these to anyone building a high-end system...if price is a distant third, the promedia or a consumer level speaker system would be the best choice...also wouldn't the asus 9800 be a better choice since it gives you AIW features for less? "Besides obviously supporting 5.1 channels of sound, the Z5300 is able to boost such features as a 100W subwoofer..." i think you meant "BOAST" not "BOOST"