Budget system - August 2007
Budget system
Looking for the best all-round performance for a low price? Check out our budget configuration.
Configuration
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AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 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 4800+ operating at 2.4GHz with 1MB of L2 cache. | ||
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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 | |
| The price for memory has been dropping a lot in the past few months, while on the other hand new software needs ever more. Hence from now on we recommend 2 GB for our budget system as well, even if it is the cheaper DDR2-667 kind. | ||
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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. | ||
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ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT GDDR4 | 3D chips |
| After a long wait, ATI finally introduced the Radeon HD 2600. Although the videocard turned out unable to beat nVidia's Geforce 8600 GTS, it is still our choice for this system. The reasoning is simple: firstly ATI offers, based on our tests, a better price/performance ratio as their product simply is very cheap. Secondly ATI has better HD-video support thanks to the integrated UVD technology. The top model of the midrange, Radeon HD 2600 XT, still fits into our budget system just fine. | ||
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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. | ||
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Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320 GB | Hard disks (internal) |
| 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 Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320 GB impressed us the most with its good performance and low noise level. | ||
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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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Click here for the detailpage of this product. |
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Speaker sets | |
| The Creative Inspire SBS380 is competetively priced and delivers a very good sound, ideal for a budget system. | ||
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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. | ||
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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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Click here for the detailpage of this product. |
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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. | ||
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Click here for the detailpage of this product. |
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3D chips
All-in-ones
Barebones
Case fans
Cases
CPU coolers
Game controllers
Graphics cards
Hard disks (external)
Hard disks (internal)
Keyboards
Mainboards
Memory cards
Memory modules
Mice
Monitors
Mouse pads
NAS devices
Notebooks
Optical drives
Power supplies
Powerline adapters
Printers
Processors
Routers
Servers
Sound cards
Speaker sets
Storage controllers
Systems
USB flash drives
Video card coolers
Webcams
