Buyer's Guide: Value Systems - August 2001

Value Professional 3D

Professional 3D users tend to require higher-end components, so once again we got for most bang for the buck, but with a little more flexibility as far as price goes. CPU performance is critical and we need more RAM here than any other system we've looked at previously. The graphics requirements are also very different in the professional space and a large monitor is critical.

Processor - AMD Athlon 1GHz - $100
Who would have ever thought that you could get a GHz CPU for $100 or less so soon? Well, it's happened - an AMD Athlon 1GHz is now under $100. As such, it makes the perfect CPU for our value professional 3D system. It's not much more than a Duron and the extra 192KB of cache should make a noticeable performance difference in professional apps.

For more information on all Athlon processors, read our AMD Athlon 1.33 GHz Review.

Motherboard - EPoX EP-8KHA - $120
VIA's KT266 chipset has had some growing pains, but has finally matured to the point where we feel comfortable recommending it. Thanks to its noticeably lower cost, the KT266 gets the nod over the AMD 760. We've chosen the EPoX EP-8KHA for its combination of stability and price that makes it an excellent value, not to mention the fact that it's a good overclocker as well.

For more information, read our VIA KT266 Chipset Review.

Memory - 512MB (2 x 256MB) Corsair/Crucial/Mushkin CAS2.5 PC2100 DDR SDRAM - $90
With memory as cheap as it is, there's no reason to go for less than 256MB, but in this system, 512MB makes even more sense. For the same reason, there's no reason to bother wasting money on SDR SDRAM at this point in time if you're building a new system.

As for the exact brand of memory, we recommend Corsair, Crucial, or Mushkin modules.  We use them in our test systems and have had absolutely no problems with them.  They are all priced within a few dollars of each other because of the cut throat memory market. The cheapest way to get 512MB is to buy two 256MB modules since the 512MB modules are still quite expensive at this point in time.

Video card - NVIDIA GeForce2 MX - $75
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX based cards are still the card of choice for our value professional system thanks to NVIDIA's T&L unit, which provides 30% more T&L power than the original NVIDIA Quadro. It's also nearly as fast as the GeForce2 GTS or Quadro2 Pro/MXR in applications that are not fillrate limited and that don't use anti-aliased lines. Quadro2 MXR cards are finally available, in the form of the Synergy III from Elsa (the exclusive manufacturer of Quadro-based cards), but cost over $350 - entirely too much for this budget system. Fortunately, ELSA also offers the Quadro2 EX based Synergy 2000, which can be found for under $200. The Quadro2 EX is identical to the MXR except it runs at a lower core and memory clock - in fact it runs at the same core/memory clock as a standard GeForce2 MX. Thus, it will perform just like a GeForce2 MX unless any of the Quadro's special features are needed.

Of course, there is also the option of modifying a GeForce series card to the equivalent Quadro model with a bit of hacking (either physically on the card or in software). This has been documented in numerous places around the web and a bit of searching will give you all the info you need to accomplish the task.

For more information, see our NVIDIA GeForce2 MX Review and GeForce2 MX Overclocking Guide.

Monitor - Samsung 1100P- $550
This month, we've stepped up to a 21" monitor in the Value Professional 3D system because prices have finally dropped to the point where it's very reasonable to do so. The Samsung 1100P is one of the cheaper 21" monitors on the market, coming in cheaper than our previous choice of a 19" Iiyama monitor. It still performs very well, but is "only" a shadow mask CRT (ie not apperature grill based) - something that some users actually prefer since shadow masks don't have damper wires that apperature grill monitors are known for. Once again, we see that Hitachi tube in use, giving us a 0.26 dot pitch.

Recent price drops in large monitors means that you can find a 21" model from most manufacturers at a similar price to this Samsung model.