Entry Level Buyer's Guide, October 2005

System Summaries

That takes care of all the recommendations, though if you skimmed the majority of the article, you may have missed our suggestions to upgrade a few of the areas. Specifically, we really recommend getting the best display that you can afford, most likely a 19" LCD. That would increase the price by $100 to $150, but it would really be a worthwhile investment. Your eyes will thank you in the long run. With the base recommendations, though, let's see if we managed to stay within our budget this time. (You might not realize this, but I actually pick the parts that I want to include and only then tally the cost. As long as I'm within about $100, I usually stick with it - if I overshoot the budget, it's because I really don't feel that it's a good idea to cut corners any further just to shave $50 from the total.)

Office Systems

AMD Entry Level System
Hardware	Component	Price
Processor	Sempron 64 (754) 2600+ - 128KB 1.60 GHz Palermo	63
Motherboard	Biostar GeForce 6100-M7	66
Memory	Patriot Signature CL2.5 2x512MB	87
Video Card	Integrated GeForce 6100	0
Hard Drive	Hitachi 3.0Gbps 80GB 7200RPM 8MB Deskstar 7K80	57
Optical Drive	NEC 3540A Black (OEM)	41
Case and Power Supply	Foxconn 3GTH-002 plus 300W PSU	70
Display	Envision EFT720 17" CRT	127
Speakers	Logitech X-230 2.1 Speakers	37
Keyboard and Mouse	Logitech Internet Pro Desktop	23
Bottom Line		571

Intel Entry Level System
Hardware	Component	Price
Processor	Celeron D 331 - 256KB 2.66 GHz Prescott	79
Motherboard	ASUS P5RD1-V	91
Memory	Patriot Signature CL2.5 2x512MB	87
Video Card	Integrated GMA-950	0
Hard Drive	Hitachi 3.0Gbps 80GB 7200RPM 8MB Deskstar 7K80	57
Optical Drive	NEC 3540A Black (OEM)	41
Case and Power Supply	Foxconn 3GTH-002 plus 300W PSU	70
Display	Envision EFT720 17" CRT	127
Speakers	Logitech X-230 2.1 Speakers	37
Keyboard and Mouse	Logitech Internet Pro Desktop	23
Bottom Line		612

The office configurations both come in at around $600, with the Intel system costing $40 more. If the $500 price point is really important, dropping to 512MB of RAM and getting rid of the speakers will get you close. Performance should be quite good for most home/office applications - not that surfing the internet and reading email really requires a ton of computing power. Remember that the cost doesn't include an Operating System or any other software (other than what might come with the DVDR and motherboard). Unless you plan on running Linux and OpenOffice, you'll need to spend another $90 for Windows XP Home and $70 to $200 (or more) for MS Works or MS Office. Corel Office is another option that can be had for under $50.

So, what about a bargain OEM system from Dell or the likes? You can get a 15" LCD and the OS included in that cost, but virtually every other component and feature has been cut. You'll likely drop to a 40GB hard drive, lose the DVDR, drop to 2x256MB (or even 2x128MB!) of RAM, and you won't even get an X16 PCIe expansion slot in all likelihood. That may or may not matter to you initially, but it could become important over the next year and beyond. Built-in obsolescence is never a good thing, so if you want the ease of assembly that comes with an OEM computer, we would look to spend closer to $750 or even $1000 in order to avoid specific problems.

Gaming Systems

AMD Entry Level Gaming System
Hardware	Component	Price
Processor	Sempron 64 (754) 3000+ - 128KB 1.80 GHz Palermo	75
Motherboard	DFI Infinity nF4X	77
Memory	OCZ Premier 2x512MB	95
Video Card	eVGA GeForce 6600GT 128MB	138
Hard Drive	Hitachi 3.0Gbps 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Deskstar T7K250	81
Optical Drive	BenQ DW1640 Black (OEM)	46
Case and Power Supply	Foxconn TPS544-S350 plus 350W PSU	82
Display	Envision EFT920 19" CRT	169
Speakers	Labtec ARENA 685 5.1 Speakers	47
Keyboard and Mouse	Logitech Internet Pro Desktop	23
Bottom Line		833

Intel Entry Level Gaming System
Hardware	Component	Price
Processor	Celeron D 331 - 256KB 2.66 GHz Prescott	79
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-8I945P-G	113
Memory	Patriot Signature PC-4200 2x512MB	74
Video Card	eVGA GeForce 6600GT 128MB	138
Hard Drive	Hitachi 3.0Gbps 160GB 7200RPM 8MB Deskstar T7K250	81
Optical Drive	BenQ DW1640 Black (OEM)	46
Case and Power Supply	Foxconn TPS544-S350 plus 350W PSU	82
Display	Envision EFT920 19" CRT	169
Speakers	Labtec ARENA 685 5.1 Speakers	47
Keyboard and Mouse	Logitech Internet Pro Desktop	23
Bottom Line		852

Our gaming configurations exceed the target $750 price by a bit more, though there are additional opportunities for cutting costs. Getting the less expensive options on the RAM, HDD, DVDR, display, and speakers will cut the price of each system by $90 without really affecting performance or features much (other than the noticeable change in display size). As with the office system, you'll still need at the very minimum an OS, and for gaming, you are pretty much required to use Windows XP. That will add another $90 for the Home edition, or $135 for XP Pro. In case you missed it, a good alternative to the 6600 GT was listed earlier in the X800 GTO, but we didn't include it in the above list in order to come a bit closer to the $750 target.

OEM systems are really a poor choice for most gamers. The critical component is the graphics card, and market segmentation by the OEMs usually prevents you from getting the best price/performance in that area. Many OEMs will only offer the X300 or a similar card as a "gaming upgrade" - and they'll even charge as much as the 6600 GT that we've selected for the inferior "upgrade". If you go with a higher end OEM system, they may offer additional GPU options, but the rest of the system will also be upgraded to the point where a moderate gaming system from an OEM will cost closer to $1500. You could buy a $700 system and add your own graphics card, but if you have to start upgrading one piece of hardware, why not just go for the whole hog and build the system yourself? You'll also get the option to overclock if you DIY the system, which really helps performance of budget gaming.

Conclusion

That wraps up another Budget Buyer's Guide. Most of us would really prefer to spend a bit more money for additional quality and performance here at AnandTech, but not everyone needs a super fast computer. College students, parents, grandparents, and those looking for a secondary (or tertiary or even quaternary) system for the home will generally be happy with any of the above systems. Small businesses could also easily make use of a bunch of these systems, though there's a question of support and assembly costs if you start buying more than a couple and don't have a dedicated IT staff.

The biggest compromise that we made was undoubtedly the display choice, but it's hard to justify doubling the cost of the display for many people. If at all possible - particularly for a business setting - we'd drop the CRT and get a decent LCD instead. A budget PC with a mid-range LCD is our preferred combination for business computers.

As always, feel free to voice your opinion or ask questions in our comments section. Incidentally, if you email me specific questions and I think that they are relevant to what others may ask, don't be surprised to find me posting the response to the comments section and sending you a link. (Don't worry - no email addresses or names will be posted.) For every person that takes the time to send a comment, there are probably fifty others with a similar thought that will appreciate the additional information.