System Builder Marathon: Sub-$4000 PC

Features
By Thomas Soderstrom
published

Audio: Asus Xonar DX

The Asus Xonar DX made waves in the industry by being the first “EAX 5.0 Compatible” audio card not to use a high-end Creative sound processor. This seemingly impossible task comes courtesy of redirecting EAX 5.0 sound calls through the DS3D GX core, and also requires EAX 5.0 to be manually enabled in every game. By being the first card to bypass Creative’s lock on a key audio effects technology, the Xonar DX has also become the first card to bypass Creative’s historical driver and technical support issues.

Asus Xonar DX

Rated at 116 decibels signal-to-noise ratio, the Xonar DX comes up just a little short on specifications compared to the firm’s top-end Xonar D2X, but makes up for any perceived deficits in superior design. While the D2X was too long to fit the top slot of most Asus motherboards, the DX is slightly shorter. Also, while the low-mounted power plug of the D2X further hindered card installation, the repositioned power connector of the D2X is high enough to provide memory module clearance, again enabling it to be mounted easily in the top slot. Top slot mounting is key to the use of any audio card in an Asus-based 3-way SLI configuration, because the other six slots are covered by graphics card coolers.

The Xonar DX also features key Dolby technologies, including Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, Dolby Headphone, and Dolby Virtual Speaker.

Xonar DX Package

Asus includes a half-height slot adapter plate, optical breakout adapter, driver CD and manual with the Xonar DX. The company’s inclusion of the optical breakout adapter is greatly appreciated in light of the fact that its higher-priced D2X arrived with an optical cable...but without the required adapter.

Floppy Drive: NEC 1.44MB

We didn’t use the floppy drive because we didn’t need it for loading Vista, yet we had enough money left in the budget to include this inexpensive part as a reminder to some builders. Many gamers still prefer Windows XP, and the floppy drive is very handy for installing RAID drivers during Windows XP installation. Even though we purchased the drive to keep the Windows XP option available, it sits on the shelf rather than inside our finished system.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
79 Comments Comment from the forums
  • L1qu1d
    Good Article, i'd still like to see more current generation games, such as COD4, Bioshock, Grid, Gears of Ware etc, I mean prey is a very old game and warhammer meh...

    Either way very well explained article, but for some1 like me the 8800 Ultras still sell for around 500$ here, and 3 of them would set me back 1500, while the GX2s 1000-1200:P
    Reply
  • Waspy
    Liquid, what was their old rig? Wasn't it 2x 8800GTXes? That pretty much squarely beat 2x 9800GX2s? So you don't need 3, only 2!

    Also, good point, they need to benchmark games like GRID and Age of Conan as well!
    Reply
  • Waspy
    Ahhh too bad about the videocard choice here. I would have liked to see a 2x GTX260 rig...I think that'll be the next power-gamer's rig without dropping the extra $500 on the 2x GTX280 and the extra $300 on a 1wK PSU...although I'm sure this 850W could handle it. I'm going to be running GTX260s on a 750W quality PSU...I predict absolutely no problems.
    Reply
  • mr roboto
    Yes good article but I have to echo the exact sentiment from above. Prey is a fun game but it was never really the system killer to begin with. Some shader intensive games would be nice too.

    I think Nvidia is going to discontinue the 8800GTX\Ultras real soon here. Right now on Newegg.com they don't have any of either card. Over the last few weeks they've been sporadic as far as being in stock. I would consider adding another 8800GTX to my rig but like L1qu!d said they're still pretty expensive. The lowest price I've seen for the 8800GTX's is around $350. If I could find one for $250-$300 range it would be worth it.
    Reply
  • L1qu1d
    Yeah because I kno in certain games tri and quad scale better. Age of Conan, COD4 are some examples:)
    Reply
  • mr roboto
    WaspyI think that'll be the next power-gamer's rig without dropping the extra $500 on the 2x GTX280 and the extra $300 on a 1wK PSU...although I'm sure this 850W could handle it. I'm going to be running GTX260s on a 750W quality PSU...I predict absolutely no problems.
    Are you high? 2 GTX's on an 850w or even a 1KW PSU? With all the other peripherals installed, no way. Asus's new top of the line ARES rig uses 2 1KW PSU's for three GTX 280's. So GTX 260 SLI rig will need a minimum 1KW.
    Reply
  • neodude007
    Nice article guys. Its funny that a $1,200 could beat that $4,000 rig in a lot of games/benchies. My E8400 @ 3.8GHz and SLI 8800GT get around 18,000 3dMark06
    Can't wait to see how the other test builds are going to perform.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    9458565 said:
    Nice article guys. Its funny that a $1,200 could beat that $4,000 rig in a lot of games/benchies. My E8400 @ 3.8GHz and SLI 8800GT get around 18,000 3dMark06
    Can't wait to see how the other test builds are going to perform.

    Of course it beats it in some things, it's overclocked. All the systems will get overclocked on Monday.
    Reply
  • Waspy
    Mr RobotoAre you high? 2 GTX's on an 850w or even a 1KW PSU? With all the other peripherals installed, no way. Asus's new top of the line AREShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares rig uses 2 1KW PSU's for three GTX 280's. So GTX 260 SLI rig will need a minimum 1KW.
    Well I was using an instanced case...I'm not going to be running mad-donkey peripherals. Plan is 4 HDDs, 1 DVD burner, 2x GTX260, E8400, bunch of fans and LEDs but those are tiny draws.

    Dude anyways, no, 1kW is overkill. Look at this build! A quality 850W for a water-cooling rig with a QX9650 and 2x 9800GX2s! The GTX260 draws like 10W or more LESS than the 9800GX2, plus I won't be running a quad core OR water cooling. 750W is completely sound. My plan is for this rig to last me until Nehalem so I don't think I'll be going quad core on it etc.
    Reply
  • The_Blood_Raven
    I am shocked, I must give Tom's a hand for this build it was well thought out and they picked the right parts. Only thing I do not like is the TJ09 case, that case does not cooler very well, an Antec 900 beats it with all fans on low, sad. They need to drop the TJ09, I had one and returned it, because it's cooling performance was not great, for a $4k gaming rig you need GREAT cooling. The Cosmos S is not much better, but there are so many other cases on the market that could fit that cooling system in that are a lot better and much cheaper. Oh well, besides the case GOOD JOB THW!
    Reply