mike@mikeshardware.co.uk

Recommendations

In order to build a cost effective, fast computer it is essential to know your hardware. Don't simply assume that all products of around the same price are equally as good as this is certainly not the case! Below you will find my current favourite peripherals.

The majority of prices quoted in this article come from Dabs, with EBuyer, Insight, Micom and Eclipse being used if they provide significantly cheaper prices. If you live in the UK it might be worthwhile checking out PC Index before selecting a supplier - keep a lookout for hidden P&P charges though! It should be noted that all the prices quoted on this page are now INCLUDING VAT (Nov 2006 onwards prices).

SATA Hard Drives (10/11/06)

• Seagate ST3750640AS 750GB (16MB) - £243.99
• Western Digital WD5000KS 500GB (16MB) - £123.27
• Western Digital WD4000KD 400GB (16MB) - £91.76
• Western Digital WD3000JS 300GB (8MB) - £66.02
• Hitachi T7K500 250GB (8MB) - £47.96
• Maxtor 6V160E0 160GB (8MB) - £36.42
• Western Digital Raptor WD1500AD 150GB - £150.75
• Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB - £108.08

The fastest hard drive - bar none - for single user performance is Western Digital's 10,000 rpm 150GB Raptor, with the 74GB drive being the second fastest drive (albeit not much faster than other standard drives). However, the cost per gigabyte is substantial compared to standard IDE drives. The fastest standard IDE drive on the market is the Hitachi Deskstar 7K500, although drives from Maxtor and Western Digital are good performers too.

PATA Hard Drives (10/11/06)

• Maxtor DiamondMax 17 160GB (8MB) - £38.42
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB (2MB) - £28.39

Now that Serial ATA is widely available, and a SATA controller can be had for around £10, I would be hesitant in purchasing a new Parallel ATA drive. Perhaps the only time I would do so is to replace a low capacity drive on an old PC.

DVD Writers (10/11/06)

• Optiarc 5170A - £19.98
• LG GSA-H22N - £22.06

In terms of DVD rewriters, two of the most popular and highest performing drives are Optiarc's 5170A (Opticarc being a merger or Sony and NEC's optical storage departments) and LG's GSA-H22N. Both drives offer support for DVD-RAM in addition to DVD+ and - media and feature high quality writing alongside fast burn speeds.

Graphics Cards AGP (10/11/06)

• Dabs Value GeForce 7600GS 256MB - £77.98
• Dabs Value GeForce 6200 128MB - £29.98
• Asus Radeon 9250 128MB - £25.95

If you are considering purchasing a new AGP graphics card, I would tend to stick to the low to mid end of the market. Whilst high-end AGP cards are available, the demise of AGP will mean your investment will not be transferable to your next PC / motherboard.

Graphics Cards PCI Express (12/11/06)

• DabsValue 8800GTX (768MB) - £399.99
• DabsValue 8800GTS (640MB) - £319.98
• Sapphire Radeon X1950XT (256MB) - £183.40
• Gainward GeForce 7950GT Golden Sample (256MB) - £179.98
• Sapphire Technology Radeon X1950 Pro (256MB) - £129.97
• DabsValue GeForce 7900GS (256MB) - £118.99
• DabsValue GeForce 7600GT (256MB) - £89.99
• XFX GeForce 7600GS (256MB) - £77.78
• DabsValue GeForce 7300GT (256MB) - £54.99
• XFX GeForce 7300GS (256MB) - £47.00
• XFX GeForce 7100GS (64MB) - £26.43

In the lower end of the market, the GeForce 7100 and 7300 series are the obvious choices, offering superior performance to the ageing ATI competition.

In the mid range market we have the GeForce 7600GS and GT competing with ATI's X1650 Pro & XT models. Unfortunately for ATI the nVidia parts are both cheaper and offer similar performance. The upper mid range of the market sees the GeForce 7900GS competing against the X1950 Pro. Once again, the nVidia parts offer similar performance at a lower price point although the difference here is fairly small.

At the lower hi-end we have the GeForce 7950GT against the Radeon 1950XT. Here we find that both units offering similar performance but ATI takes the performance lead. At the highest end, nVidia's new GeForce 8800 series is the undisputed king, being both faster and more feature rich than it's rivals.

Sound Cards (12/11/06)

• SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music OEM - £54.86
• SoundBlaster Audigy4 OEM - £34.21
• SoundBlaster Audigy SE 7.1 - £17.09

The Soundblaster X-Fi series of soundcards represent the best gaming cards you can buy, although at a fairly high price! However, the older Audigy series offers excellent value for money alongside the best gaming compatibility on the market and hardware audio acceleration, which allows superior gaming effects and reduces CPU usage.
It should be noted that Vista will no longer support hardware sound acceleration, therefore it may be wise to purchase a lower priced card or stick with on-board audio.

Speakers (21/01/06)

• Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1  - £206.04
• Logitech Z-680 6.1  - £193.57
• Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 OEM - £57.39
• Creative Inspire 5800 5.1 OEM - £38.95
• Creative SBS560 5.1 OEM - £32.00
• Logitech S500 5.1 - £28.99
• Creative Inspire P380 2.1 - £24.35
• Creative SBS380 2.1 - £21.13
• Logitech S200 2.1 OEM - £13.10

Generally speaking both Logitech and Creative produce excellent PC speaker sets, ranging from stereo speakers up to 7.1 THX compliant systems. For standard PC usage and light gaming a good pair of 2.1 speakers suck as the Logitech S200 or Creative SBS380 is all that is required, taking up relatively little desk space and offering good quality audio.

AMD Socket 754 Processors (21/01/06)

• AMD Sempron 3400+ - £83.54
• AMD Sempron 3000+ - £59.12
• AMD Sempron 2600+ - £45.74

AMD's Socket 754 processors offer good performance - certainly enough for the average user - at a very respectable price. It is my personal platform of choice for lower end builds

AMD Socket 754 Motherboards (21/01/06)

• Gigabyte GA-K8NE (nForce4, PCI-E) - £44.95
• Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF (nForce410, GeForce 6100, PCI-E, MATX) - £43.10
• Gigabyte GA-K8NS (nForce3, AGP) - £39.53
• Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2 (nForce4, PCI-E) - £35.21
• Asrock K8UPGRADE-NF3 (nForce3, AGP) - £30.72

If you are looking for a motherboard to go with an AMD Sempron system then, from a performance perspective, you would be wisest to go for a motherboard based around nVidia's nForce3 or nForce4 chipset. nForce4 boards are the better choice, if you have the budget, due to them featuring SATAII and PCI Express graphics. For a 2D only platform, the MicroATX motherboards based around the nForce 410 chipset with integrated GeForce 6100 graphics is an excellent choice for both performance and value.

AMD Socket 939 Processors (22/01/06)

• AMD Athlon FX-60 S939 Boxed (Toledo) - £604.25
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ S939 Boxed (Toledo) - £287.38
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ S939 Boxed (Manchester) - £205.54
• AMD Athlon 64 3700+ S939 Boxed (San Diego) - £123.59
• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ S939 Boxed (Venice) - £119.92
• AMD Athlon 64 3200+ S939 Boxed (Venice) - £96.18

AMD's 64-bit processors offer the best performance of any x86 CPU. The single core Venice and San Diego processors offer good value for money, although the dual core X2 processors are the more future proof option.

AMD Socket 939 Motherboards (22/01/06)

• Asus A8N32-SLI-Deluxe (nForce4 SLI 32) - £120.42
• DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR (S939, nForce4) - £116.68
• Asus A8N SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI) - £88.75
• DFI LanParty NF4 ULTRA-D  (nForce4) - £84.11
• Gigabyte GA K8N SLI (nForce4 SLI) - £60.02
• Asus A8N-E (nForce4) - £56.35
• MSI K8N NEO4-F (nForce4) - £52.72
• Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 (nForce410, GeForce 6100) - £48.99

Choosing a Socket 939 motherboard really depends on the featureset your require and the level of overclockability that you wish to attain. Asus' motherboards offer great build quality and tons of features at a good price. DFI's boards offer the ultimate overclocking boards based on these platforms.

Intel Processors (22/01/06)

• Intel Pentium D 950 (3.4Ghz, Dual Core, 2x2MB) - £382.98
• Intel Pentium D 920 (2.8Ghz, Dual Core, 2x2MB) - £161.04
• Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8Ghz, Dual Core, 2x1MB) - £146.08
• Intel Pentium 4 531 (3.0Ghz, 1MB, EM64T) - £106.72
• Intel Pentium 4 630 (3.0Ghz, 2MB) - £99.33
• Intel Celeron 351 (3.2Ghz, EM64T) - £74.89
• Intel Celeron 341 (2.93Ghz, EM64T) - £55.49
• Intel Celeron 326 (2.53Ghz, EM64T) - £42.53

In the low end of the market, the Celeron processors offer reasonable performance for a good price. Both 32-bit and 64-bit Celeron processors are available, with little difference in price. If you are likely to upgrade to a 64-bit OS at a later date then the EM64T processors are worth the small additional cost.
Single core Pentium 4 processors are reasonable options in the mod range segment, although an equivalently prices AMD64 processor will offer superior performance.
The Pentium D 8x0 series offers an excellent introduction to Dual Core processing, with the lowest priced Dual Core Intel being £50+VAT cheaper than the lowest prices AMD. The 9x0 series is built on the newer Presler 65nm core and offers twice the L2 cache. At the highest end of the market are the Extreme Edition CPUs which offer Hyperthreading as well as Dual Core processing.

Intel Motherboards (22/01/06)

• DFI Lanparty 875P-T INFINITY (i875P) - £90.14
• Asus P5ND2-SLI  (nForce4 SLI) - £59.56
• Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI (nForce4 SLI) - £53.60
• Asus P5GV-MX (i915, A V L) - £46.80
• MSI PM8M2-V (VIA P4M800, A V L) - £30.95

Intel's i9xx series chipsets has finally got some competition with nVidia's release of the nForce4 series for Intel. If you decide to go the nForce4 route with a Pentium D processor, however, it is worthwhile checking for compatibility as there are certain problems with the Pentium D and older nForce4 chips.

CRT Monitors (22/01/06)

• Iiyama Vision Master Pro 513 22" - £317.43
• Iiyama Vision Master 1451 19" - £116.32
• CTX VL951T 19" - £108.80
• CTX VL701B 17"- £65.05

With the rise of TFT screens, CRT monitors are becoming very rare - particularly if you want a good quality, high resolution model. Low-end CRTs do offer excellent value for money and high end monitors - where available - offer high resolutions and a good quality display at a great price.

TFT Monitors (14/01/05)

• Iiyama ProLite E511S - £527.48 (20.3")
• Iiyama ProLite E481S - £299 (19" High end)
• AG Neovo F-419 - £230.63 (19" Value)
• Iiyama ProLite E431S - £169 (17" High end)
• AG Neovo F-417 17" - £125.98
• Acer AL1716S 17" - £123.40

TFT Monitors are ideal for office applications and, as long as you have a fast 16ms response unit, can be used for gaming - although I would still recommend a high-end CRT for hardcore gamers. Iiyama makes some of the best quality TFT monitors and AG Neovo offer good quality units for excellent prices.

Inkjet Printers (02/04/05)

• Canon IP1500 Pixma - £34.54
• Canon IP2000 Pixma - £45.01
• Canon IP3000 Pixma - £61.26
• Canon IP4000 Pixma - £79.13
• Canon IP5000 Pixma - £112.23
• Canon IP6000D Pixma - £147.53

For the first time since my site started in January 1999 I haven't recommended any Epson or HP inkjet printers in this section! Canon's current crop of Inkjets are both great value (especially the cartridge costs, which are notably lower than HP/Epson) and also very good quality and offer high printing speeds. The lower range 1500 and 2000 printers are excellent for the budget consumer due to their good quality print and low running costs, with the 2000 featuring PictBridge technology for direct printing from the camera. The 3000 and above models feature CD printing and Duplex capability, with the 4000 and above being photo printers with 5 (4000 & 5000) or 6 (6000) cartridges for enhanced quality. The 5000+ features 1-picoliter size ink droplets for grain-free photos and the 6000D additionally features a colour LCD display for standalo0ne printing / previewing.

Keyboards / Keyboard + Mice Bundles (16/01/05)

• Microsoft Cordless Desktop Elite (Bundle) - £50.24
• Microsoft Business Hardware Pack (Bundle) - £28.34
• Microsoft Multimedia + Optical Wheelmouse - £14.46
• Microsoft Digital Media Pro - £15.78

Microsoft keyboards and mice are known for their high quality and reasonable prices. In the absence of old style click action keyboards in today's market, such as the Fujitsu 4725/6, I rate Microsoft's keyboards as the best readily available keyboards around.

Mice (16/01/05)

• Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Bluetooth (Retail) - £47.96
• Logitech MX-900 Wireless (Retail) - £42.06
• Logitech MX-700 Wireless (Retail) - £31.85
• Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3 (OEM) - £25.83
• Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Wireless (OEM) - £24.25
• Logitech MX-510 (Retail) - £24.55
• Microsoft Optical Wheelmouse Wireless, Black (OEM) - £16.50
• Logitech MX-310 (OEM) - £7.90
• Microsoft Optical Wheelmouse White (OEM) - £7.65
• Microsoft Optical Wheelmouse Black (OEM) - £6.80

Optical mice offer excellent value for money and great performance. Unless you are on a very tight budget, an Optical mouse from either Microsoft or Logitech should be high on your list.

Cases (20/09/05)

• Antec Sonata II - 450W - £65.72
• Antec SLK3700BQE 350W - £53.57
• Antec SLK2650BQE 350W - £41.43

Some of the best cases - and definitely some of the best power supplies - around are those made by Antec. The Antec series containing power supplies are excellent value for money, particularly when you consider the fact that the case including PSU is hardly any more expensive than the PSU alone!