Gaming Buyer's Guide - November 2004
by Jarred Walton on November 21, 2004 5:54 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Intel Mid-Range Gaming System
Unlike in the value sector, there really isn't much benefit to selecting an Intel system for the Mid-Range. They cost more and offer less performance. How much of a difference is there? Well, the price is about $75 more, which isn't too bad, but the performance of the CPU in games is going to be 10% to 20% slower in CPU-limited situations. With the powerful video cards that we're using, the CPU will definitely play more of a factor than in the budget range. You can refer to the gaming benchmarks in our Athlon FX-55 article for a better look at this. The graphics card used was the X800 XT in both PCIe and AGP versions, and the Athlon 64 3500+ would sit between the 3200+ and 3800+ 939 chips in performance.| Mid-Range Intel Pentium 4 System | ||
| Hardware | Recommended Component | Price |
| Processor | Pentium 4 550 3.4 GHz 1MB Cache | 277 |
| Motherboard | Abit AG8 i915P Chipset | 129 |
| Memory | Mushkin Dual Pack 2x512 PC3200 2.5-3-3 | 159 |
| Video Card | ATI X800 Pro PCI Express VIVO | 449 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 160GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB Model ST3160023AS | 93 |
| Optical Drive | NEC DVD+/-RW Drive Model 3500A | 72 |
| Case and Power Supply | Antec SLK3700-BQE with 350W | 91 |
| Display | Samsung SyncMaster 997DF 19 CRT | 234 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z-640 5.1 | 52 |
| Keyboard | Logitech Internet Keyboard | 17 |
| Mouse | Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical | 24 |
| Bottom Line | 1597 | |
 Click to enlarge. |
Other than that and the motherboard and processor, our selections remain the same. You might notice that we have stayed with DDR1 RAM instead of DDR2, and the reason for this is that DDR1 almost always outperforms equivalently priced DDR2 RAM, not to mention that you can get inexpensive DDR1 for about $100 less than similar DDR2 RAM. If you are considering an Intel platform, there is little benefit in purchasing a DDR2 configuration. Integrated graphics can use the additional bandwidth that DDR2 offers, but we're obviously not going to recommend an integrated graphics solution for a gaming system.
 Click to enlarge. |
Going back to the AMD side of things, we expect that the first shipping PCI Express motherboards are going to cost somewhat more than currently available 939 boards, and as with this Intel system, the selection of PCI Express graphics cards other than the X700 Pro and 6600GT is limited and rather expensive. Unless you plan on keeping your next video card through several system upgrades, or if you're looking into NVIDIA's SLI functionality, we are more than happy with the price/performance of the AGP cards. SLI is not yet an option on Intel systems either, as the only motherboards supporting dual PCIe X16 slots are workstation boards costing over $300. We are awaiting the release of motherboards using competing chipsets from the likes of VIA and ATI to get dual X16 slots at a reasonable price.
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JarredWalton - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
Xsilver - We really don't know when AGP will be fully phased out. It could be mostly gone in a year, or it could stick around for four more years. With NVIDIA's HSI bridge chip, they should be able to continue to support AGP as long as it's a reasonable market, and with dramatically faster processors more or less on hold for a year or so, I would expect AGP to continue to get support for at least two years. It might come a little later than the latest PCIe cards, but that's better than nothing.Regarding the choice of motherboards, right now I would have to go with the Abit or ASUS boards over the Gigabyte. Some people like Gigabyte a lot, but I'm not really one of them. The boards always seem to have issues - my one Athlon XP system with a Gigabyte board has constant "overheating" problems, even though temps never actually break 60 C. The motherboard *thinks* the CPU is running too hot. I've never been seriously disappointed by Abit or ASUS, so that's what I would take.
Moletus: the 6800LE is available, mostly in Europe, but short of unlocking the extra pipelines there's no real reason to go with it. The 6600GT is close in performance to the 6800, and the LE is going to have the same number of pipelines with a lower clockspeed. If you can't find the 6600GT, or if you want to take a chance on unlocking the extra pipelines, the 6800LE is worth a shot.
xsilver - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
Also some news on WHEN Agp is going to be phased out would be good.... are the next gen nvidia/ati products still going to be availble with AGP? if not, it would make sense to switch now?xsilver - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
I am considering the second AMD option -- want to know more about the choice of motherboardsWhere I am, only the abit, asus a8v and gigabyte "Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939" are abailable which is nf3 based...
I've heard good things about the nf3 but bad things about this particular gigabyte board.... is the abit still the way to go? the gigabyte is actually the cheapest though... marginally
The MSI nf3 is also availble but is $45 more..
Is the abit going to be the most stable with the best ability for good overclocks?
And on stock cooling/voltage how much could be extracted out of the 3000+ / 939? is 2.4ghz guaranteed?
thebluesgnr - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
This guide bothers to add an option for those who want an Intel processor because there are AT readers that prefer Intel platforms (processor+chipset), even knowing gaming performance is a little better on AMD.I'm not one of those readoers though ;)
Pollock - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
I assume stock cooling for all processors......but what about the OEM 3000+? $140 at Monarch...
moletus - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
You really cant blame Intel only machines for stability problems. (just finished playing hl2 with p3-800 and ati 8500, and no im not a masochist) And on the long run i think Intel boxes will outlive any Amd counterpart, and yes i would buy Amd too :)MAME - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
oh, the only thing I am curious about is why even bother putting the Intel counterparts in there in the first place? AMD has the clear advantage over Intel in gaming. Since Intel's offerings are more expensive and perform worse, I really don't see a reason to go that route.moletus - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
Hey where is 6800le ? i havent seen a single thing about it, even thou you can buy one.. atleast in europe, no benchies no nuttin :( i woulda bet that beats any price/performance ratio when you get those pixel pipes running (with luck:)MAME - Sunday, November 21, 2004 - link
prepare to be bombarded by everyone who thinks they can save $2 and build a much better riganyway, looks pretty decent to me
Christian Fitchett - Thursday, February 20, 2020 - link
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