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Budget system - May 2007

hwi-h  PC Advice » Budget system - May 2007

Author: Koen Crijns 05/04/2007

Budget system

Looking for the best all-round performance for a low price? Check out our budget configuration.

Configuration

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 F2 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 F2 Processors
There is no reason anymore why you shouldn't use a dual core processor in a budget system. Intel rules the dual core market in the higher market segments, but on the cheaper end both manufacturers are equal. When looking at the total system price though the cost for an AMD motherboard is lower than those for the Intel processors. We chose an AMD combination as we think the price/performance ratio is better at the moment. For this system we use the X2 4200+ operating at 2.2GHz with 1MB of L2 cache.
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AMD Boxed Cooler AMD Boxed Cooler CPU coolers
The boxed cooler supplied with the AMD processors is more than adequate to keep the CPU temperature at an acceptable level. As the standard cooler is pretty quiet as well we do not need an aftermarket model in this system.
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Memory modules
Even for a budget system 1GB of memory is a must-have, especially with Windows Vista on the market. For our budget system we opt for two DDR2 - 667 modules.

MSI K9N Ultra MSI K9N Ultra Mainboards
The MS K9N Ultra is a fast and stable motherboard based on nVidia's nForce 570 chipset. It sports 6 SATA 300 ports, High Definition Audio and Gigabit LAN. Although there are two PCI-Express graphics slots the board does not support SLI setups.

nVidia GeForce 8600 GT nVidia GeForce 8600 GT 3D chips
The Geforce 8600 range was introduced in April, making DirectX 10 available to lower priced systems. Our tests prove that the 8600 GT is fast enough to play any game up to a resolution of 1280 x 1024, and will suffice for the casual gamer. One of the other advantages is the possibility to play 1080p reolsution videos without putting to much stress on the processor.
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Multi card reader Multi card reader Card reader
Now that Vista is here there is no reason to have a floppy drive in your PC. We do advise a multicard reader in a system, as it is very convenient for use with digital cameras and reads all kinds of memory cards.

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320 GB Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320 GB Hard disks/SSD's
Prices of hard drives keep going down, the current prices allow us to use a 320GB model in our budget system. Of all the 320GB models we have tested the Western Digital Caviar SE16 impressed us the most with its good performance and low noise level.
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Lite-On LH-20A1H Lite-On LH-20A1H Optical drives
Our latest DVD writer test showed that the Lite-On LH-20AH1 is the best writer out there at the moment. It could handel all media we threw at t and managed to burn at the fastest speeds we've seen up to date. The 20x speed means that most media will be done in about 5 minutes, and this drive is one of the cheapest as well. We chose the Serial ATA version of the drive.
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Speaker sets
The Creative Inspire SBS380 is competetively priced and delivers a very good sound, ideal for a budget system.

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 Mouse and Keyboard
The Cordless EX110 might be cheap, it is a high quality set as we are used to from Logitech.

Acer AL1916WAs Acer AL1916WAs Monitors
Over the last few months there has been a shift in the monitor market; 17 inch models have virually dissapeared and the 19 inch models have taken their place. The price difference between the two is virtually negligible and we would not opt for a 17 inch screen anymore. Widescreen has become more popular as well, as Vista has been optimized to use on a wdescreen monitor. We choose the Acer 1916WAS, a widescreen model with decent performance.
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Procase Zirco Procase Zirco Cases
The Procase Zirco combines design with practicality and space. Its price is not what you would expect and we recommend this case for the budget system in combination with a 400 Watt PSU.
Click here for the detailpage of this product.

 

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