Buyer's Guide: Value Systems - August 2001

Case - Fong Kai FK-603 - $75
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 $75, but has plenty of space for everything in our system. What makes it the clear choice is the ease of access to the interior and excellent cooling for a case this size. It also features an AMD approved power supply which is perfect for this Athlon system.

If you want something a little smaller than the monstrous SC750-A for your home or office, consider the Fong Kai FK-320ATX. It offers plenty of room to work inside, is well built, provides excellent cooling, and even includes an Athlon 1 GHz approved Enhance 730-ATX power supply.

For more information, read our Fong Kai FK-603 Review, Supermicro SC750-A, and Fong Kai FK-320ATX Reviews.

Sound card - Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 OEM - $50
The SBLive! is only $50 for an OEM model and it's the best sound card out there in our estimation, especially with the disappearance of Aureal (purchased by Creative) and Diamond dropping support for all graphics and audio products. Go with the 5.1 model to be better prepared for the future or save a few dollars with the standard 4 channel solution.

If you want to save a few more bucks, go with any hardware-based PCI sound card that offers good support. The Sound Blaster PCI 512 is a popular choice. If every dollar counts and sound isn't that important to you, just use the onboard host-based AC'97 CODEC.

Speakers - Generic - $20
We just need something to get us by for basic Windows sounds, so just go down to any local store and see what you can find for $20.

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 - IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40GB - $125
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 found in our high-end systems, the 40GB IBM Deskstar 60GXP, which also happens to be the fastest IDE drive available today. There is no performance difference between this drive and the larger versions other than the available disk 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. Larger 60GXP's can be had for only $20-50 more. Note that the 60GXP has replaced the 75GXP in our guide as it seems to have addressed the reliability issues that some users had with their 75GXP's. Performance is virtually identical fortunately.

For more information read our IBM Deskstar 75GXP Review.

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 that you pick 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 2000 Professional - $250
The choice here is clear - Windows 2000 Professional is the latest and greatest OS from Microsoft that provides all the functionality of NT 4.0, but enhanced hardware support. If you want to stick with a more tried and true solution, go with NT 4.0 Workstation.

Bottom line: $1,265 (without software)