Buyer's Guide: High-End Systems - June 2000

Case
Supermicro SC750-A Full Tower ATX - $150
Fong Kai FK-320ATX Mid Tower ATX - $120
We need a case that can handle anything we can throw at it, but at a reasonable price level.  That case is the Supermicro SC750-A full tower and is available for about $150 with an Athlon approved 300W Sparkle power supply.  A total of ten drive bays and the ability to accept an extended ATX motherboard insures that this system will always have room for upgrades. 

If you want something a little smaller than the monstrous SC750-A for your home, 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 Supermicro SC750-A and Fong Kai FK-320ATX Reviews.

Sound card – Sound Blaster Live! Value OEM - $50
The choice here is simple – SBLive!, since Creative is the only manufacturer offering complete driver support under Windows 2000.  If you want to save a bit more money, go with any name brand card supported under Windows 2000.

Speakers – Cambridge SoundWorks Digital - $100
The SoundWorks Digital is a 2.1 system that features the same drivers and sub as the highly acclaimed Desktop Theater DTT2500.  Need we say more?

For more information, read our Cambridge SoundWorks Desktop Theater DTT2500 Review.

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 – 2 x Quantum Fireball Plus LM 20GB - $150 x 2
We initially recommended the Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus on our high-end systems as it seems to be the fastest drive on the market right now that is also widely available. Unfortunately, it appears that this particular series does not get along with the Promise FastTrak66 RAID controller. While the configuration does work, you just don't get the boost in performance you'd expect from a RAID configuration.

With that in mind, we've decided to go with the Quantum Fireball Plus LM, which is nearly as fast, and actually faster under certain conditions. We'll need two of these drives in order to reap the speed benefits of RAID striping. If you’re work is disk intensive, considering going with a 10,000 RPM drive and an Ultra 160 controller.  The Atlas 10K II is widely available and is well known to be one of the fastest drives available.

For more information, read our Quantum Fireball Plus LM Review.

RAID Controller - Promise FastTrak66 - $100
Promise has long been in the add-on IDE controller market so they are the most logical choice for an IDE RAID controller. If you want to save almost 75% off the cost of the FastTrak66, there's information floating out there on the web that shows you how to convert the much less expensive Promise Ultra66 into the FastTrak66 model. The conversion requires soldering skills, will void the card's warranty, and could possibly destroy the card - not a conversion for the faint of heart. An Ultra ATA 100 version should be on the way soon as well.

CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Pioneer DVD-115 16X DVD - $160
Plextor Plexwriter 8/4/32 - $260
What high-end system is complete today without a DVD-ROM?  Pioneer continues to lead the pack with their DVD-115, a 16X DVD-ROM drive. Of course, it also reads CDs as well at a swift 40X max clip. Unfortunately, Pioneer has yet to come up with a tray loading version of the DVD-115, so we'll have to go back to the traditional tray for now.

If you don’t need DVD support, the Kenwood TrueX 72X will provide you with the fastest CD-ROM speed at a slightly lower cost of $120. 

Plextor is back again, this time with the fastest IDE CD-R on the market right now.  The PlexWriter 8/4/32 is their first entry into the IDE market, and it has been selling like hot cakes since its release. 

OS – Windows 2000 - $250
You want to get work done, right?  Well, you definitely don’t want your system crashing and destroying unsaved work all the time.  Windows 2000 is the only way to go for rock solid stability.  If you don’t need all the features of Windows 2000, but want a more tried and true solution, drop back to Windows NT 4.0, but note that you’ll lose access to the vast array of USB peripherals out there.

Bottom Line: $2210 (without software)