Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level System - March 2004
by Evan Lieb on March 17, 2004 11:22 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Entry Level System Summary
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (OEM) - $49 Cooler Master HSF - $10 |
$59 |
| Motherboard | ASUS A7N8X-X | $69 |
| Memory | 256MB Crucial PC2100 (DDR266) | $40 |
| Video Card | Sapphire 64MB Radeon 9200SE | $41 |
| Monitor | Samsung SyncMaster 763MB | $146 |
| Computer Case | CaseEdge TS1 | $40 |
| Sound Card | Onboard sound | $0 |
| Speakers | Creative Labs SBS270 2.0 | $20 |
| Networking | Onboard 10/100 Ethernet | $0 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital WD400BB (40GB) | $57 |
| CD-RW | Sony 52x32x52 | $32 |
| Bottom Line | - | $504 |
$504 is the final price of our entry level system, not including any money that you'll spend on software (Windows XP Home or Professional, Office, etc.) or a keyboard and mouse.
This isn't going to come close to breaking any speed records, but entry level systems have started to perform better and better over the years and this great $504 system is the result of that progress. There are very few places that you can find a better system than this for the money.
Now go build your system and let us know what you think in our comments section.
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medfly - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
for video card for non games, i would of used a radeon 7000, you can save 10-15 bucks there.Also pc2700 mushkin or kingston memory from newegg is $39 or $40 with free shipping, theres ZERO reason to use 2100 anymore. If you want 3200, its only 3-5 bucks more for decent brands.
Evan Lieb - Thursday, March 18, 2004 - link
Jeff,Primary reason we didn't choose onboard video (nForce IGP, SiS, etc.) is because 2D IQ is usually well below a good ATI Radeon 9xxx card, and most entry level users definitely do care about text sharpness.
Jeff7181 - Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - link
I would have chosen a motherboard with onboard video... that would have put it under $500... but oh well :)