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Weekly Buyer's Guide: Cutting Edge System - March 2004

 by Evan Lieb on March 3, 2004 12:57 PM EST
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41 Comments

Sound Card

Recommendation: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (6.1) OEM
Price: $70 shipped



If you're a big gamer, love watching movies, or are just someone who wants quality sound, the Audigy 2 is one of the best add-in sound cards on the market to fit those needs. This version of the Audigy 2 supports 6 channels of sound and will deliver a great listening experience in any game, and especially ones that support the Audigy 2's special features like EAX. Simply pair the Audigy 2 with the right set of speakers and you'll have the necessary tools for an exceptional listening experience. Other special Audigy 2 features include 24/96 analog playback and recording and "add-ons" like FireWire.

Runner-up: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (7.1) retail
Price: $84



The Audigy 2 ZS differs from the regular OEM Audigy 2 mainly in its support of 7.1 channels of sound instead of 6.1 The benefit of going to 7.1 isn't really all that huge, as there's a point you reach where continually adding more channels yields diminishing returns; that is, your surround sound experience doesn't get a whole lot better going form 6.1 to 7.1 channels, or for that matter 5.1 to 7.1 channels, depending on how sensitive your ears are. The Audigy 2 ZS is also a retail package instead of OEM, meaning you get additional bundled features, such as video games and a FireWire header.

As we've said before, there are inevitably going to be people who don't need this kind of audio processing power. For those users, we simply suggest that you use your motherboard's onboard sound controller. Some people could care less about their system's sound as long as there isn't any interference or crackling. If that fits your audio needs to a tee, then use the onboard sound controller.

Speakers

Recommendation: Logitech Z5300 THX Certified 5.1 speakers
Price: $147 shipped



Logitech, yet again, tops our speaker recommendation this week with their popular Z5300 5.1 THX Certified speaker system. Besides obviously supporting 5.1 channels of sound, the Z5300 is able to boast such features as a 100W subwoofer and a greater than 85 dB signal to noise ratio. The surround sound gaming and movie experience is tremendous, especially paired with a good Audigy 2 sound card. These speakers can also get impressively loud, and best of all we didn't encounter any sort of crackling or distortion as volume was turned up to excruciatingly loud levels. For the price, these speakers are unbeatable.

Runner-up: Creative Labs THX Certified 6.1 speakers
Price: $245 shipped



This speaker system justifies its value versus the Logitech Z5300 speakers with:
  1. 6.1 surround sound instead of 5.1 surround.
  2. 99 dB signal to noise ratio instead of "somewhere" over 85 dB.
  3. 150W subwoofer instead of 100W subwoofer.
  4. 70W per satellite and 75W for the center instead of 35W and 39W center.
  5. Positional audio support.
Essentially what you're getting here is "Bigger, better, faster". You're getting a deeper/louder base, better surround environment, and positional audio that makes your surround sound experience more realistic (your ears can better teel from where the sound is coming from). Unfortunately, 7.1 speaker systems aren't quite cheap enough yet, so it's hard to recommend them with a straight face considering how little they bring to the table over 5.1 and 6.1 speaker systems. That's one reason why you may not want to consider the Audigy 2 ZS at all. However, if you're a hardcore audiophile, go ahead and pick up that Audigy 2 ZS and try out a 7.1 GigaWorks speaker system while you're at it.

If, for whatever reason, you're not interested in high-end sound and will be gaming or watching movies mostly with your headphones on, obviously an expensive surround sound system will be pretty useless. If that's the case, you may just want to opt for 2.0 or 2.1 speakers, such as the ones recommended in our Budget Guide.

Computer Case pick... Networking, Storage, and Keyboard/Mouse picks...
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  • kherman - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    Headphones:

    Grado SR-60s for $60. Supposed to be one of the best for the price without an amp.

    Just for those that are curious. As a note, they are better than $100 headphones by big names like Sony, Pioneer, etc...

  • VagrantZero - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    The 76GB Raptor is defintely a better buy than it's little brother. For less than twice the price [its $231 on newegg] it offers twice the capacity plus a sizeable performance increase [2 36Raps in Raid O can't keep up with a single 76Rap]. Here's a short clip from storagerreview's preview of it: http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200311/20031...

    Enter the second-generation Raptor! Announced September 15th, WD's revised offering promised to address nearly all of the complaints leveled against the firm's first entry. Maintaining the line's unique 10,000 RPM spindle speed, the Raptor WD740GD features the following improvements:

    * 74-gigabyte capacity - perhaps the most significant improvement is the migration to a two-platter flagship design. WD also plans to introduce a revised single-platter, 37 GB unit, though perhaps not until most WD360GD units sell through the market.

    * 37 GB Platters - the aggregate areal density of the new Raptor will remain the same as the first. Linear density, however, has been increased, to achieve:

    o 72 MB/sec outer-zone transfer rates - though STR remains non-consequential in the large majority of uses, some folks were disappointed with the 55 MB/sec that the first Raptor delivered. WD is confident enough with new yields to spec a transfer rate that rivals the best available from today's disks.

    o 4.5 millisecond seek time - the Raptor WD360GD specs at 5.2 milliseconds.

    * Firmware-level TCQ - matching a feature available on all contemporary SCSI drives, the new Raptor will feature tagged command queuing? that is, device-level reordering of outstanding requests for more efficient service times.

    * FDB motors - though quiet from an emitted sound-pressure perspective, the original Raptor emitted a slight high-pitch idle whine that could irritate sensitive ears. WD has been on the slow side when it comes to migrating to fluid bearing motors when compared to other manufacturers. Fortunately, the new Raptor uses quieter and ostensibly more reliable FDB motors.

    NOTE that the 76GBs raptor has come down considerabley since the article was written. As stated before, the OEM goes for $231 on newegg:
    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...

  • Dismal - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    Cool. Now if the games I wanted to play would just come out I could actually build a system like this. I've never actually put one together myself, so I was very pleased to see these articles posted here. Great job AnandTech! Now if I can just get through configuring all the cpu, memory, and other bios settings that I don't know much about I'll be all set ;-P

  • SDA - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    Yeah, like everyone else said, more storage needed, and it's great of you to keep this a system people might actually buy.

    As for speakers, in my opinion, Klipsch Promedias are a liiiittle bit overrated. It would have been nice to see headphone recommendations there as well (in that price range, if you actually used 'em a lot, that'd be, what.. HD580s with an amp? Or is that too high-end), but hey.

  • mostlyprudent - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    A few things?

    1. Why Mushkin Level One instead of Level II? I've read your memory articles crowning their PC3500 Level II the faster DDR400 memory you've ever tested.

    2. I have also read that the new 73GB Raptors are faster, on TomsHardware I believe.

    3. I also agree that you need a second storage drive - perhaps a PATA 250GB Maxtor Diamond max Plus 9.

    4. Lastly, I really appreciate that you were at least conscious of price. I've read other articles calling for system in the $7,000 range. Thanks for keeping this grounded in reality!

  • lisnter - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    Exactly (almost) the hardware setup I've been considering!

    I would use two Raptor 74GB drives and a single large (~200GB) data drive and as I don't have time to play games (due to two wonderful little kids) I'd opt for a still plenty fast GeForce 5700 video card (XFX? Gainward?). My main requirement is to support dual LCDs. Any other suggestions?

    Thanks for an informative article and truly excellent site.

    Terry

  • Evan Lieb - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    mechBgon,

    I know you love SCSI! :p

  • Evan Lieb - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    kalaap,

    Why WOULD we recommend a Promedia system? What makes them better than the ones we recommended?

    Thanks for pointing out the spelling error.

    BCinSC,

    I'm not aware of the 74GB Raptor being any faster than the 36.7GB version.

  • mechBgon - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    Cutting-edge... with an ATA drive? Where's the 15000rpm Fujitsu MAS-series Ultra320 SCSI drives?

    Sorry, couldn't help myself ;) As you were...

  • BCinSC - Wednesday, March 3, 2004 - link

    Only 36GB Raptor? 73GB is allegedly much faster and double the space to boot.
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