System Buyer’s Guide: $1700 Performance Midrange
by Mike Jones and Jarred Walton on May 12, 2010 4:52 AM ESTMonitor, Speakers, and Input Devices
If you don’t already own these components, here are some additional peripherals to fill out your shopping cart.
| System Accessories | ||||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
Estimated Shipping |
Rebate |
| Display | ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" 2ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor (1920x1200) | $310 | $12 | ($30) |
| Speakers | Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 Speakers | $89 | ||
| Input | Microsoft Comfort Curve Desktop 2000 Black USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse – OEM | $28 | $8 | |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium OEM 1-Pack (for System Builders) | $100 | ||
For an LCD, you could do a lot worse than the 25.5 inches of 2ms, 1920x1200 real estate offered by the ASUS VW266H. ASUS continues to build quality LCDs and includes HDMI connectivity (if not cables) at surprisingly low price points. Currently priced at $310 ($280 after mail-in rebate), the VW266H offers crisp images, good colors, D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, and component connectors, as well as an SPDIF out. It doesn’t include an HDMI cable, but for a monitor of this size at this price it’s difficult to complain.
Stepping down to 23” 1080p can save $100 or more and allows you to choose between several 23” 1080p displays. The ASUS VH236H is an attractive option, offering performance and connectivity on par with its larger sibling, and is currently available for $200 ($180 after $20 mail in rebate). Acer’s popular and well-regarded 23” P235Hbmid is another compelling option at the $200 price level, and it even includes an HDMI cable. If you’re really looking to shave off a couple of extra pennies, you can purchase the 21.5” 1080p ASUS VH222H for $170 ($160 after $10 mail in rebate), which is similar to the 23” version in every respect except for size.
All of the above offer great blends of value and performance, along with excellent connectivity. While you can certainly find less expensive 23” or 21.5” monitors, most will not include an HDMI connector, and you will want to be sure to research any bargain monitor whose price seems too good to be true. As the adage suggests, more often than not, “you get what you pay for.” Note that all of the displays are also TN panels, which work well enough for most users but certainly won't surpass quality IPS displays. If you want an IPS display, expect to pay around twice as much as the TN panels for a similar size display.
As the “speakers” included with most monitors are jokes no one seems to find particularly funny, it is difficult to recommend using them for anything other than a bargain basement machine. They certainly have no place in the sound system of a performance midrange machine. For a 5.1 system, the 70 Watt Logitech X-540 will definitely get the job done nicely, especially when you consider its $89 price tag. It won’t be mistaken for an audiophile grade rig, but it’s a great fit for gaming surround sound without breaking the bank. Logitech also offers a more robust 505 Watt system, but at $377 the THX-certified Z-5500 is difficult to recommend for a midrange system. As an aside, there is a disappointing lack of quality surround sound systems available in the $100-$350 price range, which makes it difficult to recommend other options.
There are many options in 2.1 systems, however, and it shouldn’t be hard to find something that will sound nice and fit your budget. The 200 Watt, THX Certified Logitech Z-2300 is a popular choice among system builders, and offers a loud (120 watts RMS) subwoofer. At $150, it offers a good mix of performance and price. The Creative Inspire T3130 2.1 speakers are a considerably less expensive option, though at $50 they are of course somewhat less robust (20 Watts total). Just the same, they will be a vast improvement over any speakers that come in the same box as your monitor.
For input devices, the Microsoft Comfort Curve Desktop 2000 fits the bill as the old standby. The keyboard is fine and, if you have no intention of gaming, the mouse will suffice for basic computing tasks. However, someone building this machine—and spending over $300 on a graphics card—probably intends to game with it. If that same someone doesn’t already have a gaming mouse they love, the Logitech MX518 is a popular option and at $43 won’t kill the bankroll. It features eight programmable buttons, custom sensitivity settings, and delivers 1800 dpi resolution. A slightly more upscale option is the Logitech G500, which costs $57, features 10 buttons, a dual-mode scroll wheel, resolution up to 5700 dpi, and the ability to adjust its weight to your preference.
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JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Once you select and install a motherboard, upgrading it down the road is really a PITA. Motherboard choice determines many of your core features, and while performance rarely varies much between brands, quality and stability (as well as overclocking and memory support) really differentiate the boards. If you only want to run stock, an inexpensive ECS board will probably work fine. Then again, I've seen a lot of inexpensive boards die after a couple years of use, while higher quality boards can last 5+ years.If you want to upgrade the HDD, GPU, RAM, or DVD you can do so in a matter of minutes. (If you have to clone the HDD to another drive, it will take a lot longer, but mostly you're waiting to copy files from one drive to the other.) If you need to upgrade the motherboard, it's pretty much like building a system from scratch.
Phate-13 - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Ok, well yes, that's a fact, I forget that there are the really cheap brands. What I'm more interested in, usually when assembling a pc I go for the cheapest ATX motherboard from a decent brand (Gigabyte, Asus, ...) with a decent chipset. I've always thought that there is barely any difference between the motherboards within the same brand (Gigabyte f.e.) when looking at performance AND quality, and only in features. (Most people don't need the features of the 790GX f.e.)So example: Before the 880-chipset from AMD I would've went for the cheapest (f.e.) Gigabyte 785G motherboard when assembling an AMD system. (Only checking for crossfire possibilities if wanted and ofcourse if nothing was odd with it.)
Any comments on that way of selecting a motherboard? (I'm just hoping to learn from it. :) )
Thanks a lot for the information already. I hope I did not offend with my comments, their just my opinions. ;)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Really, it depends on two things: how demanding you are... and luck. LOL. Sometimes you can get a cheap board that's absolutely rock solid, and other times you get a piece of crap that never seems to work quite right. Some boards have compatibility issues with some brands of RAM, USB peripherals, etc. The major brands (ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI...) tend to be safe, but even then there's the occasional lemon. Best way to avoid getting burned IMO is to not buy a board until it has been out at least 2-3 months, and then read a few reviews and see what users are saying. Few boards are perfect, so for instance anything at Newegg with a 4 or 5 rating is typically fine.michal1980 - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
When are you anandtech Guru's going to get realistic with power supplies.from the grahpics card artile linked here, the system with thr 5850 peaked at ~ 310 Watts. Why do you recommend a PSU for 2x that load?
GullLars - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
+1, 500-550W is more than enough here. This is a third source freeing up money for an SSD, or even 2R0 SSD, wich will actually make a huge difference in user experience.bennyg - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Because PSU wattage ratings are a totally fail way to judge themthe higher the capacity: the less utilised it is during operation, the cooler it stays during operation, the more efficient it is, the longer it will last, the more room to upgrade in the future you will have, the better class of components are used in its manufacture. In general.
Of course there's a huge problem with yumcha "750W" PSUs which have stupidly high 3.3V/5V rails but are sadly lacking where it's actually needed - the 12V rail. But they are not the price that's listed in this article.
But marketing-by-misleading-specifications seems to be well represented in all hardware component markets (GTX260M anyone...)
Phate-13 - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
On the other hand, most pc's are idle or on low load for most of the time. Account for the fact that under 20% load the efficiency of a PSU drop dramaticly, your better of with a PSU of less watt. At 100% load a PSU is still very efficient. Look at the 80Plus bronze rating: 82% @ 20%, 85% @ 50% and 82% at 100%.Less utilized percentage wise, isn't per definition a good thing.
Also it will last just as long. I mean, nobody said you have to find a PSU that exactly matches your maximum load. If the 310Watt load is correct, then 750Watt is almost 2.5 times what is needed. Even with 500 Watts you have quite a huge reserve.
And you also totally contradict yourself. You state: "Because PSU wattage ratings are a totally fail way to judge them" and then you state why higher is supposably better. If you want the better quality, buy a 500Watt PSU at the same price of the average 700Watt PSU, than you'll have a quality one.
Jediron - Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - link
The 50% argument is just silly. I can imagine that all PSU builders, because they know alot of us speak that way,, are doing their best to keep their PSU's performing just like that. With a meager 2% better efficiency at te "sweet spot". Really, what a fuss about a meager 2% difference between 50 and 80% . Atleast, that's what you see with the better brands. Look at the number, Silentpcreviews. They say it all!Most good Quality PSU stay perfectly fine up and around 80% of their rated power. So a HX750 for example, can deliver 600watts (output) , at the wall that "would be around 700watt" (input). It gets a litte hotter and the fan is spinning a little harder then. So what ? That's exactly what a PSU is supposed to do!
That's exaclty what i expect from a "high quality" PSU, for which you payed a premium price.
I remember the day, i was running a fat setup, with a meager "soso quality" Aopen 350watt. Others would not believe me, it worked day and night, rock solid en never broke down on me. No, you know what it is ?
FEAR! Fear for the unknown. It's easy to make people scared when they know shit about PSU's.
Brands are guilty too, mostly the cheaper brands. With their overrated PSU's and poor quality.
When i buy a Seasonix X-750 you can bet i will make it swett. Not too much, but enough to give the feeling i didn't put a V8 engine on my bycicle.
michal1980 - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
where did I say to go with a crappy PSU. You could get a good quality PSU for less money then this with less wattage, that will for the overall system be far more efficent, and more importantly sufficent.Mid-Range PC's imho, are all about Bang for the buck. The 750W PSU used in this example fails that test.
mcnabney - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - link
Ahm, you don't know how power supplies work, do you?They are by far most efficient operating around 3/4 load and are in fact DESIGNED to run at that constant load.