Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level Guide - April 2004
by Evan Lieb on April 17, 2004 3:05 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
CPU and Motherboard Alternatives
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (retail)Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S Rev.2 (nForce2 Ultra 400)
Price: CPU - $80 shipped (retail). Motherboard - $98 shipped
Prices on Athlon XP 2500+ desktop processors have stayed exactly the same since the last time we checked them 4 weeks ago. So, like before, an additional $26 (compared to a 2000+) will net you an Athlon XP 2500+ that runs at 1.83GHz on a 333MHz DDR FSB and comes with a 512K L2 cache. In contrast to the Athlon XP 2000+, the 2500+ runs roughly 167MHz faster, comes with double the L2 cache, and has a FSB that is 67MHz faster. All this adds up to noticeably better performance, though depending on what applications you run, you may not notice it. Still, there's no denying that if you're willing to spend a little more, you will definitely be getting a better performing processor.
Other differences between the Athlon XP 2000+ and the 2500+ is the 2500+'s higher Vcore (1.65V instead of 1.60V) and larger die size. Another nice thing about this processor is that it's quite an excellent overclocking CPU, and has been for months now, even if they are shipping multiplier locked these days. On a side note, this is the retail version of the 2500+, so your HSF (heatsink and fan) cooling is included for $80 shipped.
Like the 2500+ desktop version of AMD's Athlon XP processor, the ABIT NF7-S Rev.2's price hasn't changed at all in the last 4 weeks. The NF7-S Rev.2 is a better budget board than the A7N8X-X due to its better feature set (SPDIF, MCP-T South Bridge for superior sound), but it lacks a price as competitive, at $98 instead of $69, like with the A7N8X-X. $29 is quite a large difference, but if you don't need better sound and/or SPDIF, then you have absolutely no reason to pick this motherboard. Though, if you're an overclocker, you have every reason to look at this motherboard, but that's probably not the case if you're reading an entry level guide like this one.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on the Intel CPUs and motherboards from many different reputable vendors:
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
22 Comments
View All Comments
qquizz - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
Try this Intel option for a value system I built for a client:(for those that gotta have Intel and a S/PDIF in out)Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M ATI 9100IGP P4 800FSB Skt478 DDR M-ATX Motherbaord (Prescott ready) w/400/533/800FSB, ATA/100, AGP 8X, 4DDR DIMM, 3PCI, USB 2.0, Audio, Video, LAN, S/PDIF (in,out) header.........$83 shipped (Newegg)
CPU: Intel Celeron 2.4 GHz 400MHz FSB, 128K Cache - Retail..........$72 shipped (Newegg)
The rest can be the same I guess but I would get NEC 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A for $85 shipped instead of SONY crapola.
Of course no discrete video card needed with this rig but can be upgraded if one feels the urge. Also support for 3.2C or 3.2E w/ current bios.
ZobarStyl - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
Even on a value rig, 512 is a must. As for the graphics card...remember the object of this guide is an entry level system...not a gaming tower.Cygni - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
9000 Pro is a much better choice than a 9200 non-LE for that price point.Pumpkinierre - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
Agreed #1,2,4,6 I'd go for a Duron 1.8 (more cpu speed than the 2000+), 512Meg RAM and low cost 9600. The extra memory is the most costly but would prove beneficial in HDD swapping reduction.TheDigitalDiamond - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
I pretty much have the same to say as #1. Upgrade the video just a tad, use Antecs beautiful little 300Watt PSU included cases. There's a time when you save money, and then there's a time when you stop being a cheap ass..farscape - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
I'd wish you'd consider the Shuttle AN35 ultra - save you a few bucks. Built a number of systems with it - never a prob and OCs like crazy. WDs work fine for me. I try to stay away from the SE cards tho.blckgrffn - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
First off, sorry about the blank post.I agree - 512 of RAM is all that I will put into a machine that I build these days. And, there is no reason not simpy opt for the 2500+, because you will have to spend at least $15 for a decent/quiet cooler (speeze falcon rock comes to mind) for the 2000+. So the price difference if only $13, and you get a lot of bang for you buck by going that route. You could pretty much absorb all of those costs by going with an nForce IGP mobo - the graphics are actually pretty good usually and the the biostar is cheaper than your ASUS. Lastly, beige drives with a black case???? Go with the black Samsung combo drive, that is what I would do. But, then again, I would simply buy an Antec case, either there copper of black ones, so to be assured that I have good power and cooling (12 cm fan!). Lastly, I cannot stand WD drives unless they be Raptors. I would opt for the Samsung drives - fluid dynamic bearings (NO WHINING!) and a 3 year warranty.
That's my opinion!
Nat
blckgrffn - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
newuser12 - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
I'm pretty sure this has already been noted on another buyer's guide, but:I think the alternative for the RAM should be 512 MB, not 256. I have an athlon 1800+, ECS mobo, geforce 4 mx-440 AGP vid card (running at 4x AGP not 8x), a 30 GB 7200 hard drive, and I can still play unreal 2004 on it....probably cause I have 512MB of RAM. its not even high-end RAM, i think its DDR 2100 (or maybe 2700), but it works nicely.
Anyways, my point was, A little extra RAM can go a long way. It even makes a noticeable difference in windows' performance, at least on my computer (that is, when I'm not on my linux harddrive playing unreal tournament ;) ).
DannyOcean - Saturday, April 17, 2004 - link
You could save $25 by going with an AMD Duron 1.6GHz and still have enough processing power to power anything a value-rig would need to run.A 128MB 9600SE goes for only about $10 more then 64MB 9200SE, both use 64-bit memory, and rather or not a value-rig would need such an upgrade is questionable.
A FoxConn/CasEdge case would likely have a PSU that is the equivilent of poor-quality Allied PSU's. A quality PSU is important even in value-rigs, as it helps keep down on the annoyingly noticable problems caused by poor power supply. An Antec SLK1600 (w/ SL 300W), $58-Shipped, or any AOpen QF50 (w/ FSP ATX-300GU) ATX case, around $50-60-Shipped), would be great cases for a value-rig.