Each Component Considered, Continued : System Builder Marathon (Media PCs): Day 2

Each Component Considered, Continued

By Ed Tittel, published on May 17, 2007
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: system, builder, marathon

Contents

3. Each Component Considered, Continued

Windows Media Center can handle only 3 GB of RAM, but we think 2 GB is entirely workable for a system where you'll be watching and recording multiple video streams, some or all of which are high definition. Because the sky is the limit, after all, we chose 2 GB of Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066 RAM. This proved wise for reasons we'll disclose in tomorrow's summary and conclusions for this high-end build, plus yesterday's low-end build.

The only 8800 graphics card available for the System Builder round was an older model that lacks High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support and the audio input necessary to feed an HDMI input. Nevertheless, we decided to go ahead and use an eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTX, just to see how the system would do - and sound.

We chose two Samsung Spinpoint SP2004C 200 GB SATA II drives for this system, largely to stock our larder with capable drives. The maximum drive size in the P series is 250 GB, while the T series goes up to 500 GB; those who wish to buy bigger (and spend more) would do well to check out the 400 GB and 500 GB models in this series, or the Western Digital WD Caviar SE 16 500 GB drives. The Spinpoint drives (and the WD drive also named) are well-known for quiet, dependable operation.