The value PC has taken the world by storm the past year, with the phrase "Under $3,500 PC" now a common household term.

Going low in price on a PC doesn't necessarily mean you've got to make due with a rig that even your Grandma would call "slow", in fact our Value PC's components can handle high-end 3D applications with a good degree of smoothness and playability.

Here's the recipe for happiness below $3500:

Case: Enlight 72370 Mid-Tower ATX w/300W 12amp Power Supply

The 72370 is our featured choice for readers building new inexpensive PCs. The 72730 is a mid-tower ATX design that offers solid construction and several drilled holes in both the front and the back of the chassis, which aids in any attempt to overclock a CPU or video card. In addition, the 72370 allows for placement of a standard 440BX mainboard while allowing full access to all areas of the board, even when the 3.5" drive bay is filled.

The 300W power supply is another must have in our minds, as it provides more go-go juice than the industry standard 250W models. And at its current low price, the Enlight 72370 is an amazing bargain.

Current Cost: $180 (case + power supply)

CPU: Athlon 700 CPU

For $458, you can get an Athlon running at 700MHz. The prices just keep falling like crazy. That is what we call value!

At 700MHz, an Athlon will give you stunningly high frame rates for the money. Add the Athlon's overclockability to the mix and we're talking one sweet gaming CPU.

Current Cost: $458

OR

CPU: Intel Pentium III 650MHz Slot 1 w/256K L2 Cache

If you want to stick with Intel, another possibility is to go with a Slot1 PIII 650 with 256K L2 cache and a 100MHz FSB, which runs for $549.

It's nowhere near as good a value as the Athlon, but you can match it with a tried and true 440BX based motherboard for the ultimate in stability and compatibility.

By getting a Slot 1 Pentium III, you avoid having to use one of those slow i810 boards with their evil integrated video or one of the i820 motherboards with expensive RDRAM. 

Current Cost: $549

Motherboard: ASUS K7M

Just like with the High-End Athlon Gaming PC, we recommend the ASUS K7M for the Value Athlon Gaming PC.

Current Cost: $255
 
 
 

OR

Motherboard: ABIT BE6-2

Current Cost: $215

Prices have fallen and we've chosen a new Value Gaming PC champion, the ABIT BE6-2.

ABIT motherboards have always been easy to overclock through their SoftMenu jumperless technology. SoftMenu III makes things even better, now offering FSB settings in one MHz increments as well as several other tweaks.

Some motherboards have had trouble with GeForce 256 cards, which can demand a lot of power. If you plug in a GeForce into your motherboard and you start getting freezes, chances are you're having power trouble. ABIT's boards have consistently run with cards that gave some of our other motherboards trouble, even when we were only using a 250W power supply.

The five PCI slots and one ISA slot (not shared!) give you plenty of expandability. UDMA ATA/66 support gives you I/O speed.

And don't forget the good old trusty 440BX chipset. No chipset has had more refinement or is more stable.

The ABIT BE6-2 is an all around excellent board, and certainly the best 440BX board we've seen on the market.
 

Memory: 128MB PC-133 SDRAM

No matter if it's made by Micron, Samsung, Lucky Goldstar, Corsair, or any other large semiconductor manufacturer, PC-133 SDRAM is very effective at moving large amounts of data across the memory bus.

Why get PC-133 when the system bus only runs at 100MHz? You know the answer. Overclockability.

You can spend $30 more and get CAS-2 memory, but it's not as good a value. If you intend to run at 100MHz and not overclock, you can get PC100 memory, but you probably won't save much if any money in doing so.

It's usually best to purchase RAM from someplace you trust and where you can return it easily if there is a problem. If there's a local store you like, paying a bit extra for the convenience is well worth it. 
 

Current Price: $235
 
 

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ATA-II or 20.5 IBM ATA-66 HDD with 2MB cache.

With a 7200 rpm spindle speed, 2MB of cache and Seagate quality, the just released 20.4GB Barracuda ATA-II (part number ST320420A) was an easy choice for the High-End Gaming PC.
We've always appreciated Seagate's durability, and with the Barracuda's 3D Defense System, the drive can take up to 300 Gs of non-operating shock. This will give you some peace of mind whenever you move, or play hocky with, your Barracuda.
But what we really want is speed and the Barracuda ATA-II has it. 

Currest Cost: $288

Video Accelerator: Any SDR SDRAM GeForce 256

The core of any gaming system is its video card. A bajillion gigahertz processor will give terrible frame rates if it's hooked up to an inadequate video card. Right now, the market is saturated with video cards capable of all types of frame rates.
So what do we recommend for a low end system?

Splurge and get a GeForce 256 with SDR SDRAM. The GeForce256 with SDR SDRAM is blazing fast on any CPU and will make even the most intense games play quickly. Very little differentiates the various boards as almost all use the NVIDIA reference design, so either get the least expensive one you can find or buy one with a bundle that appeals to you.

If a GeForce is a bit too rich for your blood, consider an inexpensive but overclockable TNT2-A like the Gigabyte GA-660 Plus. If Glide games are your thing, and some Glide games run best on 3dfx cards, pick up a Voodoo3 2000 or 3000 PCI. You can overclock them to the moon and back and, when you want more power, you can buy a cutting edge AGP card and keep the Voodoo3 for a second monitor and Glide games.

Current Cost:  $445 Asus 6800 Pro 64 with 64MB

Monitor: 19" LG Studioworks 995E CRT

19" monitors have become an amazing bargainover the past year as this amazing high-quality
 Lucky Goldstar unit attests.
With its .26 dot pitch and its mind bending 1600x1200 @ 80Hz maximum resolution, the Studioworks 995E offers features usually reserved for monitors costing twice as much as the LG monitor's street $350 price tag.
The 995E is a new monitor for late '99 and its overall level of maturity is evident to all that use it. Right now it's somewhat tough to locate this monitor at online retailers, but persistence will pay off as we found three different stores that stock the 995E.

Current Cost: $745

Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM

Creative Labs calls it the "Value!" for good reason. At $40 for an OEM version, nobody can match the sound quality and features of this card for the money.
And to round out this great gaming package, is uses less CPU power than those A3D hogs. If you're looking for an inexpensive sound card, this is the one to get.

Current Cost: $83

Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS45.1

There are more low-end speakers available than you can shake a stick at. The best way to find a pair you like is to go to a store with a good selection and listen to everything they'll let you. But if you don't have a good store nearby, we think Altec Lansing's ACS45.1 setup will do you just fine.
The ACS45.1 consists of two 6W sattelites and a 20W subwoofer. It sounds better than all the others we listened to in its price range, though it's far from what we'd use in a regular stereo.
If you're considering a 4.1 or 5.1 setup for a low-end system, you might want to think twice. Unless you spend at least $200, 4.1 setups tend to sound just horrid.Most will be better of putting all their money in two or three good speakers instead of five or six mediocre ones.

Current Cost: $95

CD ROM: Pioneer DVD-114 10X DVD ROM

The Pioneer 10X DVD ROM drive is a carry-over from our High-End PC parts list. At $250, its about twice the cost of a good CD-ROM drive, but getting the ability to playback DVD movies is well worth it.
If a CD-ROM is more to your liking, we suggest you add a good Toshiba, Hitachi, or Sony 48X IDE unit to your machine, as each performs and costs very close to the other in the $90 range.

Current Cost: $250

Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer

With LED optical tracking replacing the time-honed mouse ball, the IntelliMouse Explorer is as high-tech as a mouse has ever been. By scanning the desktop surface with light over 1500 times per second the IntelliMouse Explorer delivers the most smooth and accurate movement control we've ever experienced from a mouse, both on the desktop and in games. It also comes right out of the box supporting either PS/2 or USB ports, which is a plus.

However buyers should be warnedthat the IntelliMouse does not like glass or pure white surfaces and it therefore requires a dark mouse pad to work properly when used in those areas.

Highly recommended.

Current Cost: $79

FINAL TOTAL: $ 3113
Our value PC totals $3113 as configured above, and for that total you get a 750MHz PC equipped with full DVD playback capability, 3D Audio, a 19" Monitor, a 7,200rpm hard drive, 128MB of RAM and a good deal of power/flexibility.

Guide 1:

High End Budget

Value Budget

More Spice for your PC!

Guide 2:

High End System

Mid End System

Low End System
 

Created since Aug 1999