From...

October 19, 1998
Web posted at: 11:30 PM EDT

by Kirk Steers

(IDG) -- Watch out. The quiet rivalry among budget PC manufacturers has turned into a barroom brawl. Amid the flying beer bottles and broken chairs, innocent bystanders can grab some terrific deals on surprisingly powerful systems. The reason: A new crew of inexpensive yet fast processors has rolled into town.

Just take a look at our charts this month. Of the eight new systems we tested, six cracked the Top 10 -- and three of those are budget PCs sporting new low-cost processors from Intel and AMD. Even on the power side, the deals aren't bad. Our three newcomers all pack speedy Pentium II punch for less than $2300.

To the Max

Topping the budget list is a great new system from CyberMax, the PowerMax H1. The PowerMax's terrific price and the company's impressive reliability and support scores propel the system into the number one spot.

Based on the AMD K6-2-300 chip, the nimble PowerMax H1 posted a PC WorldBench 98 score of 168, making it as fast as your average Pentium II-333 machine. Unless you're creating a 3D model of the human brain or digitizing the works of Dali, that's all the speed you'll need to do anything -- including playing the latest games. As a matter of fact, the K6-2 processor comes with special 3D capabilities that may even give it a performance edge over the Pentium II chip on some games that support DirectX 6.0, like Microsoft's Baseball 3D 1998 Edition.

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With a $1389 price tag, the PowerMax H1 includes a 17-inch monitor, a DVD-ROM drive, and a mediocre software package that includes Corel's WordPerfect Suite 8 and Calendar Creator 5.0. The machine also comes with a token game (Final Four) and an educational CD-ROM (Creativity Workshop for Kids).

New at number two this month is Dell's Dimension V333c. The V333c features Intel's latest (and vastly improved) low-cost CPU, the Celeron-333. Early versions of the Celeron lacked secondary cache memory and were dog-slow as a result. But the Celeron-333 processor features 128KB of secondary cache, which helped the V333c post an impressive 169 on our PC WorldBench 98 test suite, an eyelash faster than the PowerMax. (If you're considering other Celeron systems, note that new and old 300-MHz versions of the chip are available. Make sure you get a system with the Celeron 300A--its performance is superior.)

The Dell name will cost you, though. At $1529, the V333c costs $140 more than CyberMax's machine, even though the two systems' specifications are almost identical. In addition, Dell's software package is scantier (just Microsoft Home Essentials 98 and Greetings Workshop come bundled with the V333c). Nevertheless, it's a great choice for your home office or for a game-crazed family on a budget.

You can also find bargains on low-cost Pentium II systems like this month's third-place finisher, the QP6/266 M-1x from Quantex. This Pentium II-266 machine is a little slower than the Dell and CyberMax systems (by around 16 percent), but it's also considerably less expensive at a price of just $1199.

Cheaper still are Pentium MMX systems -- if you can find them. They won't be around much longer, but if your needs are modest and your budget is limited, these systems may be just the ticket. Hewlett-Packard's $1098 Pavilion 3265, for example, is a basic, easy-to-set-up PC that's great for word processing, e-mail, and Internet exploration. On the downside, it's the slowest machine on the chart.

Debut from Panda

There's a new kid on the block: The Panda Project. We tested the company's brand-new Rock City PC, the ST-300/2, and the home system scored high enough to capture the fourth spot on our budget chart.

The ST-300/2 looks like an alien object of worship found at the edge of our galaxy. The case is a black cube decorated with little white lines; it rests eerily on a small metal stand and appears to be balancing on a single corner. Unfortunately, the system and stand were fairly cumbersome to assemble, and the setup instructions were only mediocre.

Looks aside, the Rock City is a fully functional PC. The AMD K6-2-300Ðbased machine posted a PC WorldBench 98 score of 168, matching the PowerMax's rating. The $1154 price includes a 15-inch monitor and minimal software.

Because the Rock City ST-300/2 is the first system built by The Panda Project for consumers, we have no information on the quality of the vendor's reliability and support. That means you're on your own.

Our overall impression of the ST-300/2 is that it's really more of a "dorm" system than a home PC. It even comes with a wireless keyboard with built-in mouse controls -- great for cramped spaces that are cluttered with empty cans and pizza boxes.

Top 5 power systems

1. Dell Dimension XPS R400
2. Micron Millennia 400
3. Quantex QP6/350 M-4x
4. IBM Aptiva E5D
5. Gateway G6-400h

Top 5 budget systems