Introduction

You do the research on the products.  You read all the reviews.  You even discuss with friends.  But even with all that information, building a perfect, personalized system from scratch can be quite a daunting task.  With that in mind, it’s no surprise that we’ve had request after request to provide some system recommendations.

Continuing our recent tradition since the third edition of the Buyer's Guide, the AnandTech Buyer's Guide is now split into two parts, one for value systems and the other for high-end ones. The Dream System will be included in the high-end part of the article. This is Part 1, featuring the value systems, while Part 2 with the high-end systems will be published in about two weeks.

In spite of the slight format change, the Guide will continue to provide some system recommendations in 3 categories – small office / home office (SOHO), gaming, and professional.  Remember that these are just a few recommendations from us if we were building the systems.  Obviously, each individual’s needs will vary greatly, but that’s the beauty of building a custom system - it can be tailored to fit those special needs.

Every component, from the motherboard to the case to the monitor, is covered for each system.  Sample prices based on a review of popular vendors and price search engines across the web are included as well. Note that shipping is not included in these prices.  An OS recommendation is included, but that price is not included in the total system price listed.  Components that are not readily obtainable were automatically out of the running for any system in the Buyer’s Guide.  Where possible, we’ll link to reviews of the individual products on AnandTech for more in depth information.

This Month

Things have changed a bit this month, AMD's Duron processor is finally here and while the chips aren't as readily available as the Athlons that have recently dominated our gaming & professional value systems we did manage to find a few reputable vendors that had them in stock on-line. In spite of the Duron's introduction the Celeron is still present in our Value SOHO system since you can use that processor with a highly integrated i810E board and not have to worry about paying for a video card. Once boards based on VIA's KM133 chipset start popping up things may change, but for now the Celeron + i810E platform makes the most sense for the Value SOHO market segment.

The only regret we had was that it is too early to include NVIDIA's recently released GeForce2 MX in our Value Buyer's Guide as that card would make the perfect addition to the gaming & professional Value systems. So keep your eyes out for that addition in our next edition, but for now let's get to the systems.

Value SOHO

Processor – Intel Celeron 500 - $90

The Celeron makes the perfect choice for our value SOHO machine– it’s cheap, but you still get a relatively fast processor for the applications this machine will be used for.  If you're interested in overclocking, consider paying the premium for an FC-PGA model, either a 533A or a 566. These CPU's seem to hit 800 and 850 MHz, respectively, with minimal effort.

For more information on all Celeron processors, read our Celeron 600 Review.

Motherboard – AOpen MX3W - $90

As long as gaming performance isn’t involved, the i810 offers more than sufficient power for a basic home or office system.  Boards with the i810E currently cost about $50 more than comparable i810 boards, and we don’t need the 133 MHz FSB speed for our 66 MHz FSB Celeron anyway. 

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Since this will be a work machine, quite possibly the most important factor in a motherboard is stability, and the AOpen MX3W was one of the most stable i810 boards we’ve tested.  It’s easy to find and costs under $90, making it a good choice for our system.  It is, however, a microATX board, so if you need a lot of expansion, look for something in a full ATX form factor.

For a bit more, you can go with an i440BX based motherboard. However, you'll then have to pay for a video card as well. This route will give you better performance and better expandability, but at a greater price. The i815 is finally available however i815 boards are currently going for prices much higher than the $90 this AOpen i810E board will set you back.

For more information, read our AOpen MX3W Review.

Memory – 128MB Nanya or Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $140

SDRAM prices are on the way up but at the same time you don't want to sacrifice quality since often times cheap generic SDRAM is the cause of a flaky system.

Mushkin Budget PC133 w/ Nanya chips

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While we can't point you in the direction of our usual recommendation of 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM due to cost, Mushkin's Budget PC133 SDRAM which we included in our latest PC133 SDRAM Roundup actually makes use of NANYA SDRAM chips which happened to work fairly well as you can see from our roundup.

Video card – Integrated i810 Video – “free”

Although the integrated video on the i810 is not incredibly fast, it is more than sufficient to power basic Windows 2D applications. 

For more information, see our i810 Chipset Review.

Monitor – CTX VL950SL - $300

Monitors are one of the few computer components that you can usually hang onto for years to come.  With that in mind, we didn’t want to go with anything smaller than a 19” on our value SOHO system – besides, once you’ve worked on a monitor this big, there’s no going back.

The best deal we could find on a 19” monitor was the CTX VL950SL, which will run you about $300.  It’s a shortneck model that uses the same 0.26 mm dot pitch tube that many of the bigger brands use.  For a bit more, just about every monitor manufacturer is offering a value 19" model that would fit the bill.

Case – Fong Kai FK-603 - $60

We loved the Fong Kai FK-603 when we first tested it, and it’s the perfect case for our value systems.  It’s only $60, but has plenty of space for everything in our system.  What makes it the clear choice is the ease of access to the interior and excellent cooling for a case this size.  Although not critical for this system since it uses a Celeron, it also features an AMD approved power supply.

You could also go with a microATX case to save a bit more money, but the price differential isn’t worth being locked into such limited expansion.

For more information, read our Fong Kai FK-603 Review.

Sound card – Integrated AC97 Audio – “free”

The host-based AC97 CODEC will get you by for basic sound needs, but it eats up precious CPU resources when in use.  If you really need to keep the cost as low as possible, stick with this, but otherwise get a “real” hardware PCI sound card, even if you just want to play MP3’s.

For more information, see our i810 Chipset Review.

Speakers – Generic - $20

The AC97 CODEC isn’t of the highest quality either, so there’s no need to go with a hi-fi speaker set here.  We just need something to get us by for basic Windows sounds, so just go down to any local store and see what you can find for $20.

Ethernet – Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20

We use Linksys products here in the AnandTech lab all the time and have never been disappointed.  Besides, at just $20 for a card with full support directly from the manufacturer under the major OS’s, including Linux and Windows 2000, the EtherFast 10/100 is a deal that’s impossible to pass up. 

Hard drive – Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus 15GB - $120

We still maintain that hard drive speed is one of the biggest bottlenecks in a system, so we won’t skimp in this category.  As such, we’ve simply chosen a smaller version of the drive in our high-end system, the 15GB Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus.  It provides the same speed as the 40GB model, but with less storage space.

If you simply need more space, you can either drop down to a 5400rpm drive or pay a bit more for a larger 7200rpm model.

For more information, read our Diamond Max Plus 40 Review.

CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM - Name brand 40X – 50X CD-ROM - $40

While many will suggest going with the cheapest CD-ROM you can find, we highly recommend going with a name brand, not just the cheapest generic.  Our experience with the no-names is that many of them do not perform as advertised, and even have trouble reading less than perfect discs.  Acer, Creative Labs, Toshiba, and Teac all do an excellent job.

OS – Windows 2000 - $250

You want to get work done, right?  Well you definitely don’t want your system crashing and destroying unsaved work all the time.  Windows 2000 is the only way to go for rock solid stability.  If you don’t need all the features of Windows 2000, but want a more tried and true solution, drop back to Windows NT 4.0 but note that you’ll lose access to USB peripherals, which many of the cheap scanners out there use.

Bottom Line: $880 (without software)

Value Gaming

Processor – AMD Duron 600 - $90

The Duron is perfect for our Value Gaming system since it performs within 5 - 10% of the regular Athlon. If you feel like overclocking the Duron 600 running at 110MHz FSB remains quite competitive with the Duron 700.

If you feel like spending another $70 you can get a Duron 700 but since you'll be limited by the memory bandwidth of your video card at the higher resolutions we decided that the extra 100MHz wouldn't help that much in games.

For more information on all Duron processors, read our AMD Duron review.

 

Motherboard – Gigabyte GA-7ZM - $130

Finding motherboards for the Duron is kind of tricky as the only two boards really available are Gigabyte's GA-7ZM and FIC's AZ-11. Since AMD is confident enough in the board to actually be supplying their review systems with the GA-7ZM and since we've had pretty good experiences with the 7ZM in the lab the Gigabyte grabbed our choice for a Duron motherboard.

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For more information, read our Socket-A Motherboard Preview.

Memory – 128MB Nanya or Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $140

SDRAM prices are on the way up but at the same time you don't want to sacrifice quality since often times cheap generic SDRAM is the cause of a flaky system.

Mushkin Budget PC133 w/ Nanya chips

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While we can't point you in the direction of our usual recommendation of 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM due to cost, Mushkin's Budget PC133 SDRAM which we included in our latest PC133 SDRAM Roundup actually makes use of NANYA SDRAM chips which happened to work fairly well as you can see from our roundup.

Video card – ELSA Erazor X SDR GeForce 256 - $150

While we've previously included a DDR GeForce in our value systems, the price difference between an SDR and a DDR GeForce is great enough that we can now recommend going with the SDR GeForce unless you have a little extra cash left over and can afford to go with a DDR solution. If you do happen to have the extra cash we highly recommend going with a DDR board since you get a huge performance increase in 32-bit color situations. We would even recommend going with the DDR GeForce over buying the faster Duron 700 if you're an avid gamer.

We managed to find the ELSA Erazor X card for around $150 which isn't bad although some users in our Hot Deals Forum have managed to find other brands of SDR GeForce cards for less.

For more information, read our GeForce SDR Roundup and our ELSA Erazor X GeForce 256 Review

Monitor – CTX VL950SL - $300

Monitors are one of the few computer components that you can usually hang onto for years to come.  With that in mind, we didn’t want to go with anything smaller than a 19” on our value gaming system – besides, once you’ve gamed on a monitor this big, there’s no going back.

The best deal we could find on a 19” monitor was the CTX VL950SL, which will run you about $300.  It’s a shortneck model that uses the same 0.26 mm dot pitch tube that many of the bigger brands use.  For a bit more, just about every monitor manufacturer is offering a value 19" model that would fit the bill.

Case – Fong Kai FK-603 - $60

We loved the Fong Kai FK-603 when we first tested it and it’s the perfect case for our value systems.  It’s only $60, but has plenty of space for everything in our system.  What makes it the clear choice is the ease of access to the interior, excellent cooling for a case this size, and, most importantly, an AMD approved power supply.

For more information, read our Fong Kai FK-603 Review.

Sound card – Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $50

While we used to include both the SB Live! Value and the Aureal Vortex 2 (OEM) card, with the recent troubles that Aureal has been having and the fact that www.aureal.com is no longer accessible (http://support.aureal.com works however) we have finally decided to remove the Vortex2 from the list of recommended sound cards.

Speakers - Cambridge Sound Works PCWorks Four Point Surround / Altec Lansing ACS54 - $70

We still want a good set of four channel speakers for our value gaming system, and both the Cambridge PCWorks FPS and the Altec ACS54 fit our requirements while maintaining a relatively low price of $70.  If you don’t care about 4-channel surround, there are a number of speaker systems that will provide higher quality, but just stereo, sound at a similar price point.

Ethernet – Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20

We use Linksys products here in the AnandTech lab all the time and have never been disappointed.  Besides, at just $20 for a card with full support directly from the manufacturer under the major OS’s, including Linux and Windows 2000, the EtherFast 10/100 is a deal that’s impossible to pass up. 

Hard drive – Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus 15GB - $120

We still maintain that hard drive speed is one of the biggest bottlenecks in a system, so we won’t skimp in this category.  As such, we’ve simply chosen a smaller version of the drive in our high-end system, the 15GB Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus.  It provides the same speed as the 40GB model, but with less storage space.

If you simply need more space, you can either drop down to a 5400rpm drive or pay a bit more for a larger 7200rpm model.

For more information, read our Diamond Max Plus 40 Review.

CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM – Name brand 40X – 50X CD-ROM - $40

While many will suggest going with the cheapest CD-ROM you can find, we highly recommend going with a name brand, not just the cheapest generic.  Our experience with the no-names is that many of them do not perform as advertised, and even have trouble reading less than perfect discs.  Acer, Creative Labs, Toshiba, and Teac all do an excellent job.

OS – Windows 98SE - $150

There’s no doubt that Windows 98SE is the OS of choice for the value gaming machine.  It’s guaranteed to support all current games, and most future ones are still designed with Windows 98 in mind.  Windows 2000 can be installed and booted to when its time to get some “real” work done.  If you’re not nuts about the highest frame rates at all times, you can go with Windows 2000 and gain quite a bit of stability.

Bottom line: $1170 (without software)

Processor – AMD Duron 700 - $160

As we proved in our review of the Duron, the 700MHz part performs with the best of them when it comes to professional applications. Whether you're building a cheap programming workstation or a sub $2000 OpenGL powerhouse, the Duron is the perfect solution.

For more information on all Duron processors, read our AMD Duron review.

Motherboard – Gigabyte GA-7ZM - $130

Finding motherboards for the Duron is kind of tricky as the only two boards really available are Gigabyte's GA-7ZM and FIC's AZ-11. Since AMD is confident enough in the board to actually be supplying their review systems with the GA-7ZM and since we've had pretty good experiences with the 7ZM in the lab the Gigabyte grabbed our choice for a Duron motherboard.

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For more information, read our Socket-A Motherboard Preview.

Memory – 256MB Corsair or Mushkin PC133 SDRAM (2x128MB DIMM’s) – $250

SDRAM prices are on the way up but at the same time you don't want to sacrifice quality since often times cheap generic SDRAM is the cause of a flaky system.

Mushkin Budget PC133 w/ Nanya chips

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While we can't point you in the direction of our usual recommendation of 128MB Corsair PC133 SDRAM due to cost, Mushkin's Budget PC133 SDRAM which we included in our latest PC133 SDRAM Roundup actually makes use of NANYA SDRAM chips which happened to work fairly well as you can see from our roundup.

Since we couldn't find any 256MB modules with the affordable NANYA chips we decided to simply recommend using two 128MB modules.

Video card – ELSA Erazor X SDR GeForce 256 - $150

As long as you don’t need support for anti-aliased lines, the GeForce keeps up with the Quadro in most situations, but at less than one-third the cost.  The key is the powerful GPU that provides the most polygon power available today.  This, of course, makes the GeForce the perfect card for a value professional system. Fill rate isn't as critical for professional applications, so SDR memory is sufficient.

We managed to find the ELSA Erazor X card for around $150 which isn't bad although some users in our Hot Deals Forum have managed to find other brands of SDR GeForce cards for less.

For more information, read our GeForce SDR Roundup and our ELSA Erazor X GeForce 256 Review

Monitor – iiYama VisionMaster PRO 450 - $650

Using a Mitsubishi Diamondtron NF, the iiYama VisionMaster Pro 450 provides a perfectly flat display surface using the same technology in Sony’s FD Trinitron models, but at a lower cost.  Make sure you can deal with the damper wires that all Trinitron style tubes have.  The VisionMaster PRO 450 is a 19” monitor and it is highly recommended by us at AnandTech and owners alike.  If you’ve got the funds, we highly recommend you go with the 22” VisionMaster PRO 510 for about $1000.

For more information, read our iiYama VisionMaster PRO 450 and VisionMaster PRO 510 Reviews.

Case - Supermicro SC750-A Full Tower ATX - $150 or Fong Kai FK-320ATX Mid Tower ATX - $120

We need a case that can handle anything we can throw at it, but at a reasonable price level.  That case is the Supermicro SC750-A full tower and is available for about $150 with an Athlon approved 300W Sparkle power supply.  A total of ten drive bays and the ability to accept an extended ATX motherboard ensures that this system will always have room for upgrades. 

If you want something a little smaller than the monstrous SC750-A for your home or office, consider the Fong Kai FK-320ATX. It offers plenty of room to work inside, is well built, provides excellent cooling, and even includes an Athlon 1 GHz approved Enhance 730-ATX power supply.

For more information, read our Supermicro SC750-A and Fong Kai FK-320ATX Reviews.

Sound card – Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $50

The choice here is simple – SBLive!, since Creative is the only manufacturer offering complete driver support under Windows 2000.  If you want to save a bit more money, go with any name brand card supported under Windows 2000.

Speakers – Generic - $20

We just need something to get us by for basic Windows sounds, so just go down to any local store and see what you can find for $20.

Ethernet – Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20

We use Linksys products here in the AnandTech lab all the time and have never been disappointed.  Besides, at just $20 for a card with full support directly from the manufacturer under the major OS’s, including Linux and Windows 2000, the EtherFast 10/100 is a deal that’s impossible to pass up. 

Hard drive – Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus 15GB - $120

We still maintain that hard drive speed is one of the biggest bottlenecks in a system, so we won’t skimp in this category.  As such, we’ve simply chosen a smaller version of the drive in our high-end system, the 15GB Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus.  It provides the same speed as the 40GB model, but with less storage space.

If you simply need more space, you can either drop down to a 5400rpm drive or pay a bit more for a larger 7200rpm model.

CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM - Name brand 40X – 50X CD-ROM - $40

While many will suggest going with the cheapest CD-ROM you can find, we highly recommend that you pick a name brand, not just the cheapest generic.  Our experience with the no-names is that many of them do not perform as advertised and even have trouble reading less than perfect discs.  Acer, Creative Labs, Toshiba, and Teac all do an excellent job.

OS – Windows 2000 Professional - $250

The choice here is clear – Windows 2000 Professional is the latest and greatest OS from Microsoft that provides all the functionality of NT 4.0, but enhanced hardware support.  If you want to stick with a more tried and true solution, go with NT 4.0 Workstation.

Bottom line: $1770 (without software)

	Value Gaming
CPU	AMD Duron 600 - $90
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-7ZM - $130
Memory	128MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $140
Video Card	ELSA Erazor X SDR GeForce 256 - $150
Monitor	CTX VL950SL - $300
Case	Fong Kai FK-603 - $60
Sound Card	Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $50
Speakers	Cambridge PCWorks Four Point Surround - $70 Altec Lansing ACS54 - $70
Ethernet	Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20
Hard Drive	Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus 15GB - $120
Hard Drive Controller	Integrated on motherboard - $0
CD-ROM	Name brand 40X – 50X CD-ROM - $40
CD-RW	None
Bottom line	$1170

 

	Value Professional
CPU	AMD Duron 700 - $160
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-7ZM - $130
Memory	2 x 128MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $280
Video Card	ELSA Erazor X SDR GeForce 256 - $150
Monitor	iiYama VisionMaster PRO 450 - $650
Case	Supermicro SC750-A Full Tower ATX - $150 Fong Kai FK-320ATX Mid Tower ATX - $120
Sound Card	Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $50
Speakers	Generic - $20
Ethernet	Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20
Hard Drive	Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus 15GB - $120
Hard Drive Controller	Integrated on motherboard - $0
CD-ROM	Name brand 40X – 50X CD-ROM - $40
CD-RW	None
Bottom line	$1770

Final Words

And that concludes our recommendations for value systems in the fourth edition of the AnandTech Buyer's Guide. In about 2 weeks, we'll have the second part of this guide, covering high-end systems.

As always, we’re open to any suggestions you may have.  Remember that these are merely recommendations for a few system configurations. We know a lot of you won’t agree with the exact components chosen here, and we expect that, so plan on tweaking things a bit to get the perfect system for your needs.  When sending in suggestions, remember that all the components must be readily available in the market today in order to be considered for the Buyer’s Guide.