Before you go shopping for a new desktop computer, ask yourself this question: "What am I going to do with it?" Most people buy a PC to browse the Web, to check and send e-mail, and to juggle the occasional Word document or spreadsheet. Today, even the least-expensive, lowest-of-the-low-end system can perform any of those jobs admirably--and do it for well under $1000.
If you have particular needs, many PC vendors allow you to customize and upgrade their base-model PCs with a mind-boggling selection of features. Require extra storage? Pick a larger hard drive. Want extra memory? Load up with 4GB of RAM. Ready to burn Blu-ray Discs or to watch HD DVD movies? Choose an optical drive that supports your preferred format.
We recommend that you take your time and select only what you need today, based on the following guidelines. If your budget allows, buy what you anticipate needing within the next year.
The Processor
If you plan to use your PC for standard office productivity and basic Internet tasks, almost any processor will do. But if you want more power, an Intel Core 2 Duo chip is probably your best bet over an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor. Though both are dual-core processors, which will allow for faster multitasking and speedier performance on certain kinds of graphics and video applications, Intel has wrested the edge in performance back from AMD. To save a couple hundred dollars, buy one or two levels down from the top--you're unlikely to lose more than 5 to 10 percent per tier in performance.
For maximum performance when multitasking or when using demanding, multithreaded applications, you may wish to investigate quad-core CPUs such as the 3-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6850, or the dual-core 2.93-GHz Core 2 Extreme X6800; both processors are popular in high-performance gaming machines and power PCs.
Memory
The more installed memory your PC has, the more applications you can run smoothly at once, and the better the system will perform. Upgrading memory in a desktop after you purchase the PC is a snap, but usually it's worthwhile to buy the amount of memory you want preinstalled with the system.
We ran a few
In our Vista RAM boost report, we noted that moving up to 2GB produced significant gains only in our Photoshop test. On an old, low-end Pentium 4 system, the upgrade to 2GB generated a 10 percent performance boost. Meanwhile, a dual-core desktop showed a more modest gain of around 5 percent
Motherboards
A new motherboard can provide cool new technologies that your PC might be missing: faster, second-generation SATA connections, which currently reach 3 gigabits per second (gbps); gigabit ethernet; high-definition audio; and even dual-card graphics (SLI or CrossFire).
Rather than attempting to make an apples-to-oranges comparison between AMD- and Intel-equipped motherboards, we split the chart into two lists: seven boards based on AMD's socket AM2 (for use with the latest AMD chips requiring DDR2 memory) and seven boards employing Intel's socket LGA775 (for use with that company's latest dual-core and quad-core processors).
Make sure your motherboard has at least one or two USB ports on the front, to plug in your digital audio player and a USB memory drive, for example. You'll want additional USB ports in back, for attaching everything from an external hard drive to a printer. Higher-end systems and Media Center PCs should also have audio/video inputs and FireWire ports within easy reach.
The Case
A good case can make your everyday work easier and can simplify the task of upgrading or servicing components--an especially valuable perk in offices with multiple systems. A well-designed case will offer tool-less access to the interior, hard drives mounted on easy-to-slide-out trays, and color-coded cables for internal and external parts.
If you plan to keep the system for a while, leave some room for expansion. You'll want at least a couple of open drive bays and a free PCI slot as well. And since motherboards come in different shapes and sizes, commonly known as a form factor, so do case designs.
The most common form factor is ATX. The ATX specification not only dictates where the connectors on the back of the motherboard should be (to line up with the holes in the case), but also encompasses details such as the power-supply connector. Form factors have variations--for example, MicroATX follows the basic ATX specification but has fewer expansion slots to allow for smaller cases. Other motherboard formats exist. AT was the de facto standard before ATX, and NLX is used in slimline PCs. A new size to emerge, designed to replace the ATX standard, is BTX. Intel is the driving force behind this new form factor, which features some radical design changes to increase cooling. The BTX range has its own variations, too, such as picoBTX and microBTX.
Graphics Cards
Responsible for generating all of the images on your monitor, the graphics subsystem in a PC ships either as a removable expansion board or as a chip that's integrated onto the motherboard. Though we recommend buying a discrete graphics board for gaming, integrated graphics (common on value-priced PCs) are adequate for most other uses. Just make sure to choose a motherboard that has an available PCIe x16 slot so that you can add a graphics card later if necessary.
If you want games, graphics, and other multimedia programs to run faster, a dedicated graphics card should be a priority. And Microsoft's Windows Vista, with its 3D-accelerated Aero environment, gives you another reason to upgrade. To run Aero, you'll need a DirectX 9-capable graphics chip and at least 128MB of dedicated memory. Our advice is to consider nVidia's GeForce 8800 GT; it's the most cost-effective graphics card and, with full DirectX 10 support, it ensures that you won't need another upgrade immediately.
Hard Drive
The minimum size of a new hard drive these days has risen significantly over the past 12 months, and consumers should be able to find a sub-$1500 desktop PC with a drive of 200GB to 500GB. Single drives with up to a whopping 1 terabyte of space (such as
Most business users don't need a hard drive larger than 80GB, but for mixed use you'll want more capacity. People who work with big databases, spreadsheets, or digital photo, music, or video files should think larger--drives are available in up to 750GB capacities. Two drives in a striped RAID 0 array can offer a boost in performance; alternatively you can get two drives mirrored together in a RAID 1 (or similar) configuration, to provide fault-tolerance against hardware failure.
Most drives today are Serial ATA and spin at 7200 rpm; serious gamers and other users who thrive on speed will appreciate the 10,000-rpm high-performance drives of Western Digital. The Western Digital Raptor X maxes out at 150GB, though, so you must make a trade-off in capacity to obtain the performance edge.
Monitor
Don't take your eyes--or your computer--for granted. While monitor shopping, a lot of people become transfixed by huge, beautiful displays and don't take into account a very important number: the native resolution (the average resolution of low-end displays is 1024 by 768 pixels). This is the optimal resolution intended for the monitor. The higher the resolution, the better the graphics card you'll need if you intend to run any video-intensive applications. Keep those factors in the back of your mind as you deal with the temptation to buy a 30-inch panel.
Many people can get by just fine with a 17- or 19-inch LCD monitor, but we recommend buying a 22-inch wide-screen model, many of which now cost only a little more than their 19-inch counterparts do. Look for a digital monitor with DVI (you'll enjoy a sharper image with digital) instead of an analog-only model (often, the sort that comes by default with the cheap PCs advertised online). Wide-screen monitors are an increasingly popular option, as are dual-monitor displays (if you want to go the latter route, look for a graphics card with dual-DVI ports).
Removable Storage
All PCs need an optical drive--a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM model at the bare minimum--to read CDs and DVDs, respectively (a DVD-ROM can also read CDs). For a few dollars more, you can add a rewritable drive for backing up your data to CD or DVD (low-end systems sometimes provide only a CD-RW drive; most PCs offer a multiformat, dual-layer rewritable DVD burner). For standard DVD, the best drive you can buy is one that handles writing to double- or dual-layer DVD discs and offers LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling.
All of the talk about the next wave of optical formats--Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD--might make you think that the venerable rewritable-DVD drive is passé. Not so fast: DVD burners, and the media you use with them, remain a significantly less expensive option for writing discs than those costly new formats. Plus, you can get superior performance from a dedicated DVD burner, as the write speeds top out now at 20X.
Rewritable DVD's advantages over CD-R are long established: Single-layer DVD media lets you store up to 4.7GB on a disc, while dual-layer (also referred to as double-layer, for the DVD+R format) media lets you pack up to 8.5GB on a single disc. Like CD-RW drives, rewritable-DVD drives support both write-once and rewritable media; write-once discs are best for creating movies playable on standard DVD players and for data archiving, while rewritable discs are well suited for regular file backup.
Communications
Most PCs come with a modem for dial-up Internet access and an ethernet port for broadband access. If you want to connect to the Internet wirelessly, you'll need a wireless network adapter.
To share your broadband connection or to network your PCs, get a gateway or router. A PC and router with gigabit ethernet will give you a faster local network connection than products with 10/100 ethernet. If you go wireless, you'll also need a card or an external adapter for each PC.
Sound
In the office, the basics should suffice; integrated sound in your PC is more than adequate for most work. At home, though, you'll probably want surround sound. If your PC doesn't already support surround sound, for $100 or more you can upgrade to a dedicated sound card with Dolby 5.1 support, plus a decent set of speakers that includes a subwoofer.
Most modern PC motherboards deliver extremely high-quality sound, because they all integrate Intel's High Definition Audio standard. Hardware that conforms to the standard can produce up to 7.1-channel, 24-bit output (32-bit internal processing) and 192-kilohertz sound. Compared with the older AC'97 specification's maximum output of 20-bit, 48-kHz audio, the newer standard provides substantially better audio quality. To take advantage of the more advanced audio capability, of course, you need to have content that has been encoded at the higher quality level--for example, songs on DVD-Audio or DTS audio discs--as well as software that can play it.
Keyboard and Mouse
Almost all systems include these commodity components, usually a Windows-compatible 102-key keyboard and a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel. Many vendors are switching from PS/2-connected devices to USB models that offer more features, such as additional programmable keys that can launch favorite applications or Web sites. Wireless keyboards and mice are also common; Windows Media Center PCs generally include wireless keyboards and mice, as well as a remote control.
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