Buyer's Guide: Value Systems - June 2000

Case – Fong Kai FK-603 - $60
We loved the Fong Kai FK-603 when we first tested it and it’s the perfect case for our value systems.  It’s only $60, but has plenty of space for everything in our system.  What makes it the clear choice is the ease of access to the interior, excellent cooling for a case this size, and, most importantly, an AMD approved power supply.

For more information, read our Fong Kai FK-603 Review.

Sound card – Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM / Aureal SQ 2500 OEM Vortex2- $50
There’s nothing that makes the Live! or Vortex2 stand out ahead of the other to make the sound card choice for the value gaming system cut and dry.  A slight edge goes the SQ2500 since Aureal’s latest Vortex2 reference drivers include support for EAX, allowing it to work with both A3D 2.0 and EAX 1.0 games.  It looks like Aureal has filed for Chapter 11 and reorganized, so we should see continued support for Aureal cards in the future.

Speakers - Cambridge Sound Works PCWorks Four Point Surround / Altec Lansing ACS54 - $70
We still want a good set of four channel speakers for our value gaming system, and both the Cambridge PCWorks FPS and the Altec ACS54 fit our requirements while maintaining a relatively low price of $70.  If you don’t care about 4-channel surround, there are a number of speaker systems that will provide higher quality, but just stereo, sound at a similar price point.

Ethernet – Linksys EtherFast 10/100 - $20
We use Linksys products here in the AnandTech lab all the time and have never been disappointed.  Besides, at just $20 for a card with full support directly from the manufacturer under the major OS’s, including Linux and Windows 2000, the EtherFast 10/100 is a deal that’s impossible to pass up. 

Hard drive – Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus 15GB - $120
We still maintain that hard drive speed is one of the biggest bottlenecks in a system, so we won’t skimp in this category.  As such, we’ve simply chosen a smaller version of the drive in our high-end system, the 15GB Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus.  It provides the same speed as the 40GB model, but with less storage space.

If you simply need more space, you can either drop down to a 5400rpm drive or pay a bit more for a larger 7200rpm model.

CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM – Name brand 40X – 50X CD-ROM - $40
While many will suggest going with the cheapest CD-ROM you can find, we highly recommend going with a name brand, not just the cheapest generic.  Our experience with the no-names is that many of them do not perform as advertised, and even have trouble reading less than perfect discs.  Acer, Creative Labs, Toshiba, and Teac all do an excellent job.

OS – Windows 98SE - $150
There’s no doubt that Windows 98SE is the OS of choice for the value gaming machine.  It’s guaranteed to support all current games, and most future ones are still designed with Windows 98 in mind.  Windows 2000 can be installed and booted to when its time to get some “real” work done.  If you’re not nuts about the highest frame rates at all times, you can go with Windows 2000 and gain quite a bit of stability.

Bottom line: $1445 (without software)