Page 2: The Middle System
<b>Middle System</b>
<b>Case</b>
Since we have some more money to spend on this one, I chose a Antec workstationcase. This case has front usb and firewire ports, and looks much better then the case in the budget system. Antec makes great quality products, and with the included power supply you can't go wrong.
Price: $79.99 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Keyboard & Mouse</b>
For the keyboard and mouse for this computer I chose Logitech's Cordless Elite Duo. While I've read that the mouse included in this bundle isn't great for gaming, when trying it I didn't notice any delay or slowdown that would hinder anyone's gameplay. Since both of these are wireless and are said to work 6ft, allowing you to kick back and enjoy hours and hours of games without the restriction of those 'old fashioned' cords.
Price: $77.00 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Motherboard</b>
The motherboard for the middle system is another MSI board. I picked the MSI KT4 Ultra, . It includes onboard audio,usb 2.0,AGP 8x, and has received great reviews.
Price: $92.00 Source:Newegg.com
<b>CPU</b>
Again I'm going with an AMD processor for this machine basically because I like AMD a little more. I chose the Athlon XP 2400, it'll offer a little more power then our budget system had. 2Ghz should be plenty of power for any game your running now, and I can't really see investing in a P4 3.06Ghz chip unless you have money to burn.
Price: $160 Source: Newegg.com
<b>Memory</b>
For memory I got two stick of Crucial's 256MB PC2700 DDR memory. This is 2x as much RAM as the budget system, and will help when your running games and have other applications running in the background.
Price:$107.98 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Storage</b>
Now the harddrive, in this case bigger is better so I'm picking the Western Digital 80 Gig hard drive w/ 8mb Cache. Most harddrives have 2MB cache and the 8MB cache makes a big difference in terms of how fast the data can transfer from the hard drive to memory. This harddrive has been rated highly in reviews, and from personal experience this is a great drive.
Price:$107 Source:Newegg.com
The CDRW I chose for this system is the CenDyne 48x CDRW again. The Reason? You can't beat the price, at 19.99 you won't find another 48x burner close to that. Go get one, even if your not building a whole system its a great deal.
Price:$79.99-$30 Instant Rebate- $30MIR = $19.99 Source: Office Max
<b>NIC,Speakers, OS</b>
Three other things you'll need, a network card since it wasn't included on this motherboard, along with a set of speakers. For the network card I picked the Netgear FA311, just your good ol' NIC for $17, and for the speakers I chose the same Altec Lansing 4.1 Speakers. The final thing you'll need for this to run is a OS, again Microsoft Windows XP Home supports all your games and is pretty stable.
Price:$143 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Monitor</b>
For the monitor of the system I picked a Samsung 19" monitor off of newegg. The bigger screen real estate will let you fit more on the screen, and I think most people would prefer a bigger monitor in any case.
Price:$180 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Video Card</b>
I'm saving the best for last again, the video card. The gaming system revolves a lot of things but primarily around the video card because it's gonna help make a big difference in your 3-d and 2-d gaming. I chose the 128MB ATI Radeon 9500 Pro for this system. This is a great new card, that has a lower pricetag then its 9700 companion, but offers great performance. It's perfect for a middle system.
Price: $197 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Summary</b>
So let's see, here's a look at my Budget Gaming System for February.
Athlon XP 2400+
MSI KT4V Ultra
Crucial 512MB PC2700 DDR Memory
128MB ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
Logitech Cordless Elite Duo
Altec Lansing 4.1 Speakers
Western Digital 80GB Harddrive w/ 8MB Cache
48x Cendyne CDRW
19" Samsung Monitor
*Grand Total:$1250
*Yea, Yea over the limit again, that can partly be attributed to the shipping of the 50 lb monitor across the country but oh well. Sell yourself on <a href="http://www.ebay.com">ebay</a> i'm sure someone will buy you. But to get back to the computer, I made a few upgrades to the harddrive, more memory, faster processor, better video card all leading to an overall better system.
<b>Case</b>
Since we have some more money to spend on this one, I chose a Antec workstationcase. This case has front usb and firewire ports, and looks much better then the case in the budget system. Antec makes great quality products, and with the included power supply you can't go wrong.
Price: $79.99 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Keyboard & Mouse</b>
For the keyboard and mouse for this computer I chose Logitech's Cordless Elite Duo. While I've read that the mouse included in this bundle isn't great for gaming, when trying it I didn't notice any delay or slowdown that would hinder anyone's gameplay. Since both of these are wireless and are said to work 6ft, allowing you to kick back and enjoy hours and hours of games without the restriction of those 'old fashioned' cords.
Price: $77.00 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Motherboard</b>
The motherboard for the middle system is another MSI board. I picked the MSI KT4 Ultra, . It includes onboard audio,usb 2.0,AGP 8x, and has received great reviews.
Price: $92.00 Source:Newegg.com
<b>CPU</b>
Again I'm going with an AMD processor for this machine basically because I like AMD a little more. I chose the Athlon XP 2400, it'll offer a little more power then our budget system had. 2Ghz should be plenty of power for any game your running now, and I can't really see investing in a P4 3.06Ghz chip unless you have money to burn.
Price: $160 Source: Newegg.com
<b>Memory</b>
For memory I got two stick of Crucial's 256MB PC2700 DDR memory. This is 2x as much RAM as the budget system, and will help when your running games and have other applications running in the background.
Price:$107.98 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Storage</b>
Now the harddrive, in this case bigger is better so I'm picking the Western Digital 80 Gig hard drive w/ 8mb Cache. Most harddrives have 2MB cache and the 8MB cache makes a big difference in terms of how fast the data can transfer from the hard drive to memory. This harddrive has been rated highly in reviews, and from personal experience this is a great drive.
Price:$107 Source:Newegg.com
The CDRW I chose for this system is the CenDyne 48x CDRW again. The Reason? You can't beat the price, at 19.99 you won't find another 48x burner close to that. Go get one, even if your not building a whole system its a great deal.
Price:$79.99-$30 Instant Rebate- $30MIR = $19.99 Source: Office Max
<b>NIC,Speakers, OS</b>
Three other things you'll need, a network card since it wasn't included on this motherboard, along with a set of speakers. For the network card I picked the Netgear FA311, just your good ol' NIC for $17, and for the speakers I chose the same Altec Lansing 4.1 Speakers. The final thing you'll need for this to run is a OS, again Microsoft Windows XP Home supports all your games and is pretty stable.
Price:$143 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Monitor</b>
For the monitor of the system I picked a Samsung 19" monitor off of newegg. The bigger screen real estate will let you fit more on the screen, and I think most people would prefer a bigger monitor in any case.
Price:$180 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Video Card</b>
I'm saving the best for last again, the video card. The gaming system revolves a lot of things but primarily around the video card because it's gonna help make a big difference in your 3-d and 2-d gaming. I chose the 128MB ATI Radeon 9500 Pro for this system. This is a great new card, that has a lower pricetag then its 9700 companion, but offers great performance. It's perfect for a middle system.
Price: $197 Source:Newegg.com
<b>Summary</b>
So let's see, here's a look at my Budget Gaming System for February.
Athlon XP 2400+
MSI KT4V Ultra
Crucial 512MB PC2700 DDR Memory
128MB ATI Radeon 9500 Pro
Logitech Cordless Elite Duo
Altec Lansing 4.1 Speakers
Western Digital 80GB Harddrive w/ 8MB Cache
48x Cendyne CDRW
19" Samsung Monitor
*Grand Total:$1250
*Yea, Yea over the limit again, that can partly be attributed to the shipping of the 50 lb monitor across the country but oh well. Sell yourself on <a href="http://www.ebay.com">ebay</a> i'm sure someone will buy you. But to get back to the computer, I made a few upgrades to the harddrive, more memory, faster processor, better video card all leading to an overall better system.