Buyer's Guide - Entry Level to Mid-Range, March 2005
by Jarred Walton on March 15, 2005 1:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Speakers
If you're putting together a budget computer primarily for office and Internet use, getting a decent set of speakers is not going to be a top priority. You probably have some cheap speakers sitting around already that can be used, or headphones will also suffice. The only reason to actually get speakers is if you plan on playing games, watching movies, or listening to music from the computer. We'll give a suggestion for each use. As far as sound cards go, the integrated audio in any of these motherboards is going to be more than sufficient for all but the most demanding users - and if you're a demanding user, plan on spending more than the low-end budget that we're using in this Guide.
Click to enlarge.
Price: $17 shipped
The "little brother" of the Creative SBS270 that we've recommended in the past, these are about as cheap as you can get for speakers while still getting acceptable output quality. You can find a lot of cheap speakers at local electronics stores, and the only thing that we would recommend at the low end is to make sure that you purchase powered speakers, and preferably the kind that don't require batteries. Getting speakers that are magnetically shielded is also important, as they'll be near you monitor in most setups. Just remember, these speakers are only meant to give you the basic beeps and boops, so if you want quality, plan on spending more money.
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Speaker Alternative: Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers or Z-3i 2.1 Speakers
Price: $57 shipped
For 5.1 speakers that have amazing quality, given the price, the Logitech X-530 speakers are still the way to go. They work well for games, movies, and even music. Those who are more serious about musical quality - or who lack desk space - will be better served by a set of 2.1 speakers - 5.1 isn't going to help stereo recordings sound better, after all. If you want 2.1 speakers, the Logitech Z-3 line costs about as much as the X-530 and includes better satellites and a larger subwoofer for about the same price. One of the useful features on Logitech's speakers is that they all feature a headphone socket, which will mute the speakers when used. While it's not required by any means, it can come in handy late at night.
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jwf1776 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
my sources are showing Thermaltake W0013 Xaser Silent Purepower 480W at $60 as the cheapest acceptable atx 2.03 availablejwf1776 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
47 - the point is that it was "important to make sure that the alternative PSU included a 24-pin power connector" and it did notyou dig?
Jep4444 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
a 20-pin PSU will work on a 24-pin mobojwf1776 - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
the alternative power supply EG375P-VE-SFMA doesn't have a 24pin rail!!http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_page.php?Tid=1&...
I ordered it at found out the hard way.
please make a correction!
Jep4444 - Thursday, March 17, 2005 - link
http://www.hkepc.com/hwdb/x300hm-5.htmlooking at those X300HM, you can clearly see the higher memory HyperMemory cards fair better with AA than the higher clocked low memory ones
scrolling down the page, their isn't a direct 32MB/64MB comparison of the 6200TC but both are benched and you can see the 64MB 6200TC is faster than the 32MB only when AA is on
I guess it doesn't entirely matter though given the 32MB one can't even be found on newegg ATM(or atleast i couldn't find one)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
41 - Ah, that could very well be. In that case, I'd be curious to see the difference in performance between the 32MB and 64MB 64-bit TC cards. :|JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
42 - I had no idea Rosewill was related to Newegg. Newegg itself is just the online reseller of another company, ABS Computers or some such. At least, that was my understanding. Rosewill's RMA process seems a little questionable (i.e. restrictive), which doesn't really jive with them being Newegg. Of course, maybe it's just Newegg's way to sell certain products without needing to provide as much customer support?Zepper - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
Just in case the author didn't know, Rosewill isn't an independent company. It is the in-house packaging division of Newegg (like Mad Dog is to CompUSA, etc.). You can often find the same item for less under its actual name than in a Rosewill box..bh.
Jep4444 - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
The one benchmarked in the article under the name 64b is the 32MB/64bit one as mentioned on the first page and the 32b is 16MB/32bitI've seen a couple benches suggesting that the onboard RAM only makes a noticeable difference when AA is turned on at which point the 32MB cards seem to hit rock bottom dropping a significant amount of FPS(the ATI one does it too)
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - link
Jep4444 - I'm still not entirely sure on whether the 6200TC-32 is a 32-bit or 64-bit interface. Looking at the performance, it appears to be a 32-bit interface as the TC-64 beats it by a large margin. Then again, the presence of more local memory might cause the performance difference. Anyway, regardless of whether the TC-32 is a 32-bit or 64-bit interface, I would definitely stick with the TC-64 or full 6200 over the TC-16/32.