Introduction

Welcome back for the latest edition of our Price Guides. This week seems to be a good one for anyone looking to do a major system overhaul or build a new system as prices on some of the newer technologies continue to move closer to acceptable ranges, and have had some time to prove themselves in the market.

As always, be sure to visit our RealTime Pricing Engine to get the latest prices on products mentioned in this guide and beyond.

AMD Processors

Processors from AMD continue to be the favorite among those who are driven by getting the most out of their money. Dollar for dollar, AMD tends to provide an overall better value than Intel-based systems when it comes to things such as gaming and "standard" computer usage. Unless you have a need for the absolute best video editing, encoding, and the likes, AMD has some top-notch products available with some even better toys, such as dual-core chips, coming up fast.

This week, the AMD Athlon XP 2600+ is available for less than some lower models and is based on the same Barton core, which made the Athlon XP 2500+ so popular among overclockers and gamers alike. Paired with an nForce2 chipset motherboard, this chip can keep you running for quite a long time before you will need another upgrade.

If you have a little extra cash to spend, both for the processor and the requisite new motherboard to support it, then an Athlon 64 is definitely the way to go these days. At the top of the list of affordable 64-bit processors from AMD stands the Athlon 64 (754) 3000+ 512KB. This processor offers great performance and value while safeguarding your investment by being fully ready for 64-bit computing. Microsoft will be releasing the 64-bit edition of Windows XP long before beasts such as Longhorn see the light of day, which only helps to preserve the viability of this chip that much longer. One side item to note is that some users have reported issues with A64 chips when running on XP with Service Pack 2 installed. Specifically, the inclusion of Data Execution Protection (DEP) can cause some applications to die unexpectedly. This, however, can be resolved by simply adding the application in question to the exceptions list, or just flat out disabling DEP via the boot.ini file. Being a very new technology, hiccups like this are expected and should not discourage the adoption of 64-bit computing.

Intel Processors

Intel has been pushing their new Socket 775 just as aggressively as ever, and this week is not an exception. The new socket, which moves the pins from the CPU to the socket on the motherboard, was initially met with some mixed reviews as some questioned the physical reliability of this new design. Many cited the fragility of the new design as a possible major flaw, but so far, so good. It seems that those who have already adopted this new format have not had any more problems with bent pins than with older designs. For this reason, among others, it is certainly worth looking at the newer 775 chips when making a purchase.

Intel's 2.8GHz Pentium 4 (775) 520, which sports an 800MHz FSB and 1MB of cache, is a well-priced option for anyone looking to adopt the new socket, and the other niceties that come along with it, such as boards supporting PCI Express and DDR2. Since the core doesn't change with the socket, the performance will be pretty much the same regardless. The advantage is that since Intel will be moving completely to the new socket, your investment in a new motherboard will last longer as you will be able to upgrade the CPU for a longer period of time and will also be able to take advantage of said PCI Express and DDR2 as those technologies begin to see store shelves. For now, only a few video cards support PCIe, and DDR2 itself can be prohibitively priced, but this will change as time goes on and adoption picks up.

If taking the plunge isn't within your means or you just wish to err on the side of caution, Intel's 3.0GHz Pentium 4 (800MHz FSB, 1MB cache) for the older socket 478 is priced to sell this week. Although this chip isn't as future-proof (and we use that term very loosely), it is still a very fast processor that will last most users for at least one or two years after purchase.

AMD NVIDIA Motherboards

NVIDIA has ruled the roost for AMD - based chipsets for quite some time and they don't appear to be in the mood to give that up any time soon. From the first days of the nForce2 chipset up until now, NVIDIA has pretty much been the standard if your new rig was to incorporate an AMD processor.

In the Socket A realm, the NF2 chipset continues to be the favorite among gamers and overclockers. On top of this, Abit's nForce2 NF7-S Rev. 2 remains a very popular motherboard for a good number of reasons. One of the top reasons for the board's popularity is the extensive overclocking capabilities that it possesses. Some of the best overclocking can be done with the NF7-S when paired with a Barton-based Athlon XP. Stability and support are two other reasons why we recommend this board. Abit is known among enthusiasts to be a solid name in motherboards. Dual-channel memory, SATA, and onboard LAN and audio help round the package out.

For anyone going with an Athlon 64 based on the Socket 754 design, which you might as well, since 939 tends to still be a bit pricier on the motherboard side and even more so on the CPU side, there are two boards which should fit any user's needs.

The first is the Chaintech nForce3 250 (754) VNF3-250, which sells for under $80 shipped at many online retailers. It lacks some of the bells and whistles found on higher end NF3 boards, but certainly has all of the basics including onboard LAN (of the 10/100 variety) and audio, and a working PCI and AGP lock for the overclocker in all of us. Basically, it's the best overclocking board around for that price-point and the Silver Editors Choice award that we gave it in May of this year is a direct result of that fact.

If price isn't such an issue and you are willing to pay a little more for the rest of the toys, the MSI nForce3 Pro 250 (754) K8N Neo Platinum is the board to buy. This board is fully loaded with 7.1 audio from the Realtek ALC850 7.1 audio chip, GB Ethernet, firewire, optical and coaxial digital sound output, and plenty of options for storage. The board has a standard four SATA and four PATA drive capabilities and utilizes nVidia's "Any Drive" RAID, which lets you mix and match drives for RAID arrays across the controllers.

AMD VIA Motherboards

While NVIDIA does take most of the thunder away when it comes to A64 chipsets, Via still has its share of quality high-performance motherboards available. One such board is the Asus K8V SE Deluxe, which is based on Via's own K8T800 chipset. This board is of the Socket 754 flavor and comes fully loaded with GB LAN, firewire, and PATA/SATA RAID capable of supporting a total of 10 drives, not counting the floppy.

The board is also capable of accepting an Asus WiFi card courtesy of the included proprietary WiFi slot near the bottom of the board. Another nice feature is the onboard Virtual Cable Tester (VCT). This is basically circuitry built into the onboard Marvell GB LAN chip that allows the NIC to detect and diagnose network problems at the physical layer. In short, it's a free cable tester that will never have dead batteries, which might come in handy if you go to a lot of LAN parties.

Intel Motherboards

Last month, we mentioned that the new Socket 775 boards might be something to hold off on until some time has passed and they have proven themselves to be durable enough in the real world. Well, it's been about a month and a half since that statement and we have yet to see the flood of frustrated and angry users that some may have been expecting. We take this as a very good sign for the new socket design and have very little reason, other than price, not to recommend the new socket in this guide. Abit's 925x (775) AA8-DuraMAX motherboard may have a long name, but it has a list of features just as long to make it worthwhile. Dual-channel memory, GB LAN, PCI Express for graphics and expansion cards, SATA, DDR2 support, 7.1 audio support, and a handy 2-digit diagnostic LED display make this board one to write home about. Of course, there's one minor catch if you go with this board. It will require a new video card (unless you just can't let go of your Voodoo 3 2000 PCI), memory, and of course, a new processor. For this particular reason, we can only really recommend this board, and others with the same or similar specifications, to someone looking at building a new system from scratch or someone who has a good bit of money to spend.

If neither of the two descriptors above applies to you, then sticking to a Socket 478 board is probably the more appropriate choice. For this market, Abit has their 875P IC7-G MaxII board. This board is one of the best around for your 478 P4 and has Intel's own Pro 1000CT GB LAN controller sitting atop the CSA bus, SATA, sound, firewire, etc. Basically, it's what you would expect from a high-end motherboard.