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.

With the third edition of the AnandTech Buyer's Guide, we changed things a little bit, splitting the Buyer's Guide into two parts, one for value systems and the other for high-end ones. Despite the slight format change, we 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 - these are not the very lowest prices you can find on the web, but rather are intended to be representative of what's out there. Don't forget to check out our latest Weekly CPU & Video Card Price Guide as well as our Weekly Memory & Motherboard Price Guide for the lowest prices from reputable vendors on those components.

Note that shipping is not included in the prices listed here, but can add up to 5-10% to the total system cost, depending exactly what you get, where you order from, etc. To minimize shipping costs, order as many components as possible from a single vendor or buy things locally where possible. An OS recommendation is included, but that price is not included in the total system price listed. Especially good deals can often be found in the AnandTech Hot Deals Forum where AnandTech readers regularly post good deals they find.

Components that are not readily obtainable at the time of publication are automatically out of the running for any system in the Buyer’s Guide. Where possible, we've linked to reviews of the individual products on AnandTech for more in depth information.

This Month

Due to time constraints, it's been quite a while since we have updated our System Buyer's Guide, but we're back at long last. Since it has been such a long time, quite a bit has happened in the market that should effect our system recomendations significantly.

KM133 and SiS 730S motherboards have finally started showing up on the market, so the AMD Duron is finally able to overtake the Celeron as the processor of choice for the value SOHO machine. The KM133 is the better overall solution (as compared to the SiS 730S) in our experience. Besides, the SiS 730S is currently only available from lesser known motherboard manufacturers and we feel sticking with a bigger brand is generally a good idea. While we haven't looked at too many KM133 boards, we're going to go ahead and recommend the ASUS A7VI-VM based on our good experiences with the rest of the A7V series.

In the value video card segment, we've seen the disappearance of 3dfx and the arrival of new chipsets from ATI and STMicroelectronics. With 3dfx gone, there are lots of good deals out there on the remaining stock of their cards, but they effectively come with no support or warranty, so buy at your own risk. It is for that exact reason that we have decided not to include any 3dfx products in this Buyer's Guide.

At the same time, we have the arrival of the Radeon VE from ATI, the Kyro II from STMicroelectronics/Imagination Technologies, and the GeForce2 MX 400 from NVIDIA. While the Radeon VE is not a particularly powerful 3D accelerator in today's market, it does offer dual monitor support. ATI calls it HydraVision and its just a notch behind Matrox's Dual Head. For these reasons, the Radeon VE does not replace the G450 in the value SOHO machine or the GeForce2 MX in the value gaming machine.

The Kyro II, meanwhile, appears to be a great gaming card from what our initial tests have shown, outperforming the GeForce2 Ultra in some cases. However, its still not available and thus not eligible yet for the buyer's guide. We are also hoping to do some more testing with the board before we make a strong recommendation to buy it, so hang on tight for a second look at the Kyro II in the next couple of weeks. If everything goes well, the Kyro II will more than likely replace the GeForce2 MX as the budget gaming card of choice.

The GeForce2 MX 400 doesn't really offer any performance advantage over the standard MX models simply because the MX was already memory bandwidth limited and the MX 400 does nothing to alleviate this bottleneck.

Of course, prices on just about every component in a system have dropped noticeably, with the biggest difference coming with PC133 SDRAM, which is now about half what it was at the time of our last Buyer's Guide. Most of the other components have followed the more traditional gradual decreases in price since there have been no other major announcements in the past few months.

Value SOHO

The small office/home office machine has a unique set of requirements. It must provide quick and snappy 2D performance and be very stable. The keys to good performance on such a machine is lots of RAM and a fast hard drive. This system should be able to run almost anything that most business users might throw at it.

Processor - AMD Duron 750 - $60
With Socket-A motherboards now offerring integrated video, thanks to the availability of the KM133 chipset, we can finally use a Duron processor in our value SOHO machine. Compared to the full blown Athlon, it performs within 5 - 10% of that more expensive chip, and is certainly more than enough power for a machine like this. The Duron should provide a considerable performance boost over the Celeron we were using in our last guide.

If you feel like overclocking, the Duron 750's that we've tested have run at 900 - 950 MHz by simply boosting the voltage and changing the clock multiplier. Of course, overclocking AMD's Socket-A CPU's, including the Duron, has been the center of much controversy, but it's quite easy with the right motherboard and the correct information. For full details on overclocking the Duron, read our latest AMD Socket-A Overclocking Article and the "What to look for in a KT133 Motherboard" section of our Socket-A Motherboard Roundup for August 2000.

If you really feel the need for speed, the price difference to an 800 or 850 MHz Duron is not huge, but neither is the performance difference. As far as overclocking goes, the higher rated cores seem to make no difference as our Duron 850's also topped out around 900 - 950 MHz.

For more information on all Duron processors, read our AMD Duron 900 Review.

Motherboard - ASUS A7VI-VM - $115
As long as gaming performance isn’t involved, the KM133 offers more than enough power for a basic home or office system.

Since this will be a work machine, quite possibly the most important factor in a motherboard is stability, and ASUS has provided some of the most stable Socket-A motherboards to come through our labs. Note that this is a microATX board, so if you need a lot of expansion, look for something in a full ATX form factor. However, most of the KM133 boards we've seen are microATX, which goes along with the value market for which the chipset is targetted.

With the KM133, unlike Intel's integrated chipsets, there is an AGP 4X slot available for upgrading the video at a later date if greater performance is needed or desired.

For more information, read our VIA KM133 Chipset Review.

Memory - 128MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $40
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.

Mushkin Budget PC133 w/ Nanya chips

Click to Enlarge

Video card - Integrated ProSavage Video - “free”
Although the integrated video on the KM133, based on a hybird of the S3 Savage4's 3D and Savage2000's 2D, is not incredibly fast by today's standards, it is sufficient to power the basic Windows 2D applications that will usually run on this machine. Fortunately, the KM133 offers an AGP 4X slot that can be used to upgrade to higher performance graphics at a later date if that becomes necessary.

For more information, see our KM133 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 - $75
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 $75, 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. It also features an AMD approved power supply which is perfect for the Duron in this system.

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 and the sound quality is less than ideal. 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.

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 or less.

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 - IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $125
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 30GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP, which also happens to be the fastest IDE drive available today and even includes a Ultra ATA/100 interface. There is no performance difference between this drive and the larger versions other than the available disk 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. Larger 75GXP's can be had for only $20-50 more. For more information read our IBM Deskstar 75GXP 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.

Bottom Line: $795 (without software)

Value Gaming

The concept behind this system is simple - the best balance of high frame rates and a reasonable price.

Processor - AMD Duron 850 - $75
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 850's that we've tested have run at 900 - 950 MHz by simply boosting the voltage and changing the clock multiplier. Of course, overclocking AMD's Socket-A CPU's, including the Duron, has been the center of much controversy, but it's quite easy with the right motherboard and the correct information. For full details on overclocking the Duron, read our latest AMD Socket-A Overclocking Article and the "What to look for in a KT133 Motherboard" section of our Socket-A Motherboard Roundup for August 2000. Using a KT133A motherboard, you can push the front side bus up to 133MHz for a further performance boost.

If you feel like spending about $25 more, you can get a Athlon 850, but you'll still be limited by the memory bandwidth of your video card at higher resolutions, so we decided that the extra cache really wouldn't help that much in games. As far as overclocking goes the Thunderbird also tops out around 900 - 950 MHz.

For more information on all Duron processors, read our AMD Duron 900 Review.

Motherboard - EPoX EP-8KTA3 - $130
With the release of the KT133A chipset from VIA, we finally see something new in the Socket-A motherboard arena. The KT133A is the second chipset to offer official 133MHz FSB support for AMD's Socket-A CPU's. That 133MHz FSB is key as it allows the KT133A to provide performance very close to that of DDR SDRAM on the AMD 760 chipset, but does so with much cheaper PC133 SDRAM.

Click to Enlarge

Since KT133A motherboards don't cost much more than KT133 boards, and because the performance boost can easily be acheived on a 100MHz FSB Socket-A CPU if you're willing to overclock a bit, it's only natural that we'd recommend a KT133A board for this system. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it also gives you a better upgrade path for the future.

While we've yet to have a KT133A motherboard roundup, we have looked at quite a few such boards. So far, the EPoX EP-8KTA3 seems to offer the best compromise of stability, features, and price fo ra system like this. Multiplier overclocking options are included via right in the BIOS and there are even a few FSB speeds to choose from to tweak things further.

For more information, read our EPoX EP-8KTA3 Review and VIA KT133A Chipset Review.

Memory - 128MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $40
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.

Mushkin Budget PC133 w/ Nanya chips

Click to Enlarge

Video card - NVIDIA GeForce2 MX - $90
This month, NVIDIA GeForce2 MX based cards continue to be our choice in the value gaming system. The newly released Radeon VE is a GeForce2 MX competitor, but is only marginally less expensive, does not include T&L, and performs quite poorly compared to the GeForce2 MX. It's HydraVision dual monitor support is better than the TwinView setup from NVIDIA, but that's not enough to win us over our value gaming system. The Kyro II, on the other hand, does offer quite a bit of performance at a cost that's not too much higher than the GeForce2 MX. However, it was not available at the time of publication of this guide, so it is technically not eligible to be chosen here. Further, we'd like to put the Kyro II through it's paces a bit more before recommending such a new and vastly different technology. The newly released GeForce2 MX 400 offers no performance gain over the original MX but costs more so there's no reason to pick it either.

Read our for all the details.

For more information, see our NVIDIA GeForce2 MX Review and GeForce2 MX Overclocking Guide.

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 - $75
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 $75, 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. It also features an AMD approved power supply which is perfect for the Duron in this system.

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

Sound card - Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $40
The SBLive! is only $40 for an OEM model and it's the best sound card out there in our estimation, especially with the disappearance of Aureal (purchased by Creative) and Diamond dropping support for all graphics and audio products. If you really want to save a few more bucks, go with any hardware-based PCI sound card that offers good support. The Sound Blaster PCI 512 is a popular choice.

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 - IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $125
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 30GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP, which also happens to be the fastest IDE drive available today and even includes a Ultra ATA/100 interface. There is no performance difference between this drive and the larger versions other than the available disk 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. Larger 75GXP's can be had for only $20-50 more. For more information read our IBM Deskstar 75GXP 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
We were originally recommending Windows Millennium Edition in our gaming system, but based simply on the variety of complaints we've seen in the AnandTech forums and from what we've experienced in the lab, Windows 98SE appears to actually be a better, more stable solution, even if it's not quite as pretty looking.

Windows 2000 can be installed and booted to when its time to get some “real” work done. If you’re not nuts about the absolute highest frame rates at all times, you can go with Windows 2000 and gain quite a bit of stability and performance in office applications, while maintaining very good gaming performance.

Bottom line: $1,005 (without software)

Value Professional 3D

Professional 3D users tend to require higher-end components, so once again we got for most bang for the buck, but with a little more flexibility as far as price goes. CPU performance is critical and we need more RAM here than any other system we've looked at previously. The graphics requirements are also very different in the professional space and a large monitor is critical.

Processor - AMD Athlon 850 - $100
With CPU prices so low these days, we've gone ahead and bumped the CPU up in our Value Professional 3D system to a Athlon "Thunderbird" 850. The Thunderbird only costs $25 more than a similarly clocked Duron and gives you an extra 192KB of cache that should make a noticeable performance difference in professional apps.

If you feel like overclocking, the Athlon's that we've tested have run at 900 - 950 MHz by simply boosting the voltage and changing the clock multiplier. Of course, overclocking AMD's Socket-A CPU's has been the center of much controversy, but it's quite easy with the right motherboard and the correct information. For full details on overclocking the Athlon, read our AMD Thunderbird & Duron Overclocking Revealed Article and the "What to look for in a KT133 Motherboard" section of our Socket-A Motherboard Roundup for August 2000.

For more information on all Duron processors, read our AMD Athlon 1.33 GHz Review.

Motherboard - EPoX EP-8KTA3 - $130
With the release of the KT133A chipset from VIA, we finally see something new in the Socket-A motherboard arena. The KT133A is the second chipset to offer official 133MHz FSB support for AMD's Socket-A CPU's. That 133MHz FSB is key as it allows the KT133A to provide performance very close to that of DDR SDRAM on the AMD 760 chipset, but does so with much cheaper PC133 SDRAM.

Click to Enlarge

Since KT133A motherboards don't cost much more than KT133 boards, and because the performance boost can easily be acheived on a 100MHz FSB Socket-A CPU if you're willing to overclock a bit, it's only natural that we'd recommend a KT133A board for this system. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it also gives you a better upgrade path for the future.

While we've yet to have a KT133A motherboard roundup, we have looked at quite a few such boards. So far, the EPoX EP-8KTA3 seems to offer the best compromise of stability, features, and price fo ra system like this. Multiplier overclocking options are included via right in the BIOS and there are even a few FSB speeds to choose from to tweak things further.

For more information, read our EPoX EP-8KTA3 Review and VIA KT133A Chipset Review.

Memory - 256MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $90
While we can't point you in the direction of our usual recommendation of 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.

Mushkin Budget PC133 w/ Nanya chips

Click to Enlarge

Mushkin finally has 256MB modules in their value line, so we don't have to go with two 128MB modules as we did in the past.

Video card - NVIDIA GeForce2 MX - $90
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX based cards are still the card of choice for our value professional system. As far as T&L power goes, the GeForce2 MX provides 30% more T&L power than the original NVIDIA Quadro and is nearly as fast as the GeForce2 GTS or Quadro2 Pro/MXR in applications that are not fillrate limited and that don't use anti-aliased lines. Quadro2 MXR cards are finally available, in the form of the Synergy III from Elsa (the exclusive manufacturer of Quadro-based cards), but cost over $350 - entirely too much for this budget system, unless anti-aliased lines are really needed.

For more information, see our NVIDIA GeForce2 MX Review and GeForce2 MX Overclocking Guide.

Monitor - Samsung 1100P- $600
This month, we've stepped up to a 21" monitor in the Value Professional 3D system because prices have finally dropped to the point where it's very reasonable to do so. The Samsung 1100P is one of the cheaper 21" monitors on the market, coming in cheaper than our previous choice of a 19" Iiyama monitor. It still performs very well, but is "only" a standard CRT (ie not apperature grill based) - something that some users actually prefer since standard CRT's don't have the damper wires the apperature grill monitors are known for.

Case - Fong Kai FK-603 - $75
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 $75, 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. It also features an AMD approved power supply which is perfect for this Athlon system.

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 Fong Kai FK-603 Review, Supermicro SC750-A, and Fong Kai FK-320ATX Reviews.

Sound card - Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $40
The SBLive! is only $50 for an OEM model and it's the best sound card out there in our estimation, especially with the disappearance of Aureal (purchased by Creative) and Diamond dropping support for all graphics and audio products. If you really want to save a few more bucks, go with any hardware-based PCI sound card that offers good support. The Sound Blaster PCI 512 is a popular choice.

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 - IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $125
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 30GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP, which also happens to be the fastest IDE drive available today and even includes a Ultra ATA/100 interface. There is no performance difference between this drive and the larger versions other than the available disk 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. Larger 75GXP's can be had for only $20-50 more. For more information read our IBM Deskstar 75GXP 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 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: $1,330 (without software)

Summary

	Value Gaming
CPU	AMD Duron 850 - $75
Motherboard	EPoX EP-8KTA3 - $130
Memory	128MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $40
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce2 MX - $90
Monitor	CTX VL950SL - $300
Case	Fong Kai FK-603 - $75
Sound Card	Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $40
Speakers	Cambridge PCWorks Four Point Surround - $70 Altec Lansing ACS54 - $70
Ethernet	Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20
Hard Drive	IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $125
Hard Drive Controller	Integrated on motherboard - $0
CD-ROM	Name brand 40X - 50X CD-ROM - $40
CD-RW	None
Bottom line	$1005

 

	Value Professional
CPU	AMD Athlon 850 - $100
Motherboard	EPoX EP-8KTA3 - $130
Memory	256MB Nanya/Mushkin Budget PC133 SDRAM - $90
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce2 MX - $90
Monitor	Samsung 1100P - $600
Case	Fong Kai FK-603 - $75
Sound Card	Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $40
Speakers	Generic - $20
Ethernet	Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20
Hard Drive	IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB - $125
Hard Drive Controller	Integrated on motherboard - $0
CD-ROM	Name brand 40X - 50X CD-ROM - $40
CD-RW	None
Bottom line	$1330

Final Words

And that concludes our recommendations for value systems in the third edition of the AnandTech Buyer's Guide. In about 2 weeks, we'll be updating our high-end systems, including the famous AnandTech Dream System.

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.