Holiday Buyers Guide, Part I: CPUs, GPUs, Mobos, and RAM
by Editorial Staff on November 21, 2007 2:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Graphics Galore
While plenty has happened in the graphics industry of late, the operative word these days is availability. Our preferred cards are currently difficult to come by, regardless of brand or manufacturer, so we will focus on chipsets rather than on specific offerings here. Outside of any extra warranty of factory overclocking, most of the cards come with nearly identical features and use the reference designs anyway.
Entry-level (IGP)
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AMD Radeon X1250 (690G Chipset)
For those using IGP systems, the 690G chipset represents remains one of the best solutions. Considering the IGP market accounts for 90% of PC shipments, it makes sense for both AMD and NVIDIA to have strong packages in this area. The 690G features low power consumption and ATI X1250 graphics performance with HDMI output and full HDCP support. It also includes DX9 and Shader Model 2.0 (SM2.0) support along with excellent audio and video capabilities. Don't expect to be doing much gaming on the 690G (especially with the latest games), but for general home or office PCs the 690G IGP is an excellent choice for AM2 systems.
In reality, the graphics performance offered by the three top IGP solutions - Intel GMA X3100, AMD 690G, and NVIDIA GeForce 7050 - is pretty similar, at least when drivers are up to date and working properly. Intel's Windows XP drivers have been ahead of their Vista drivers for a while, but the gap is finally narrowing. X3100 also offers SM3.0 support, as does NVIDIA's 70xx IGP, putting them one step higher on the feature checklist. We would still give the edge to AMD and NVIDIA, however, since we appreciate better graphics driver support. The inclusion of DVI and/or HDMI/HDCP on more motherboards plus the lower price is one more reason to choose AMD/NVIDIA offerings instead of Intel.
Budget Gaming
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GeForce 8800 GT 256MB: $???
With the availability of the 8800 GT causing prices to rise above the $300 mark, the HD 3850 could not have come at a more fortuitous time for AMD. They have been struggling on to the CPU and GPU fronts for the past year, but the pricing and availability of HD 3850 cards - not to mention great performance for the price - gets our recommendation for a budget gaming system.
There are cheaper graphics cards that provide adequate performance and DirectX 10 support, but the difference in performance between the $100 you might spend on the Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB/GeForce 8600 GT 256MB and the HD 3850 is substantial. Let's not even get into a discussion of performance requirements for Crysis, Hellgate: London, or Unreal Tournament 3. Needless to say, there are plenty more titles coming out where $100 graphics cards will need to drop down to lower resolutions and medium detail settings in order to provide adequate performance. NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should also start showing up with a similar price to the Radeon HD 3850; availability remains a concern, naturally.
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Midrange/High-End
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GeForce 8800 GT 512MB: $249 MSRP
CrossFire or SLI optional
Given what we just finished saying about availability, we obviously have a problem coming up with any reasonable upgraded solutions. If you don't mind the price gouging (and can still find cards in stock), Radeon 3870 and 8800 GT 512MB comprise our midrange recommendation. The GeForce 8800 GT 512MB is faster, but it also has a higher MSRP, so price/performance ends up being a tie.
CrossFire or SLI with any of the above offerings would be our next recommendation. Obviously, you need the appropriate motherboard. We showed in our recent HD 3850/3870 article that 3850 CrossFire performance roughly matches what you get from a single 8800 GTX; at current prices, that should make HD 3870 CrossFire about $60 cheaper and significantly faster - $60 which would then go towards the price of a CrossFire compatible motherboard. That said, we prefer the smaller card size and added features that you get with the newer cards.
High-End/Extreme Performance
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GeForce 8800 Ultra SLI: $1200
(Mail-In Rebates available)
We're loath to recommend anyone purchase an 8800 GTX/Ultra card at this stage, let alone two. NVIDIA has confirmed December 3 as the launch date for the 8800 GTS (G92 core), and GTX and Ultra editions will no doubt follow in time. If you haven't already, it makes little sense to purchase an older model GTX/Ultra now. Still, if you want maximum gaming performance right now, NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra in SLI is the most stable, mature, currently best-performing option at the extreme end of our price range. Just remember that the 8800 GTX/Ultra cards are often CPU limited at 9x266MHz (2.4GHz) CPU speeds on current Intel platforms. With SLI, you definitely don't want to skimp on the CPU.
Although we considered including AMD's Spider platform for the Extreme Performance option, it's a bit early for that. Outside of the HD 3850/3870, this has so far been a paper launch by AMD. Motherboards with the required AMD 790X/FX chipsets are still in their infancy and Phenom X4s are almost impossible to find without paying a price premium. We recommend waiting for AMD to iron out some of the inevitable bugs before making any move to the Spider platform. It looks like that won't happen until January at the earliest, at which time we will be more than happy to reevaluate the platform.
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rudreshsj - Monday, June 16, 2008 - link
the last buyers guide was way back in november the market has substantially changed after that ... pls post a newer updated guide.THX
imperator3733 - Friday, November 30, 2007 - link
On page 2 in the part on the QX9650, you say that the QX9650 has "2x6MB vs. 2xMB on the Q6xx0". It should say "2x4MB", not "2xMB".ac3shi6h - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
Just upgraded, everything from Newegg.Under $400******
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4 - $89
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition $129
MSI NX8600GTS Diamond Plus GeForce 8600GTS 256MB $149 -$20= $129
Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 PDC22G6400LLK 79 - 40= $39
*******
Total = $389,-
Can't beat this value in upgrading from 939 x2-4200+ with a 7800gs
3dmark05
OLD
3dmark = 6932
3d cpu = 6095
New (cpu @ 3ghz 15x multiplier)
3dmark = 12234
Cpu = 7422
Now I probably would have gotten better scores if I spend a little more, but at a 400 dollar budget I don't think I could have gotten any better then this. The only thing I forgot to order was a heatsink.. that bumped me up to 409,-... still though.. I couldn't find any sli capable deal for anything less...
AceY
strikeback03 - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
We need to build a new computer to interface with our microscope for the lab. Don't need 3D capabilities to speak of, but does need to be able to run a pair of CRTs at 1600x1200 and have Firewire. I checked out the Gigabyte motherboard suggested with the Intel build, but the Gigabyte website says the DVI output cannot be used with an adapter to D-Sub. Can you confirm if this is true, or recommend any other boards that might fit the bill? Or should we just look for a discrete card for either graphics or Firewire?tshen83 - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
I agree that the 8800GT is in short supply. However the Radeon HD3870 is also in short supply, if not worse than the 8800GT.Look at the MSRP. AMD advertised 219 as the MSRP, however, newegg and buy.com both raised the price to 269. And you still cannot buy them.
It looks more and more that the HD3870 is here for benchmark purposes, whereas the HD3850 is really what AMD wants to sell. But the Radeon HD3850 is really slow, in my mind, not worth 180 dollars when the 8800GT 512MB is selling for $208:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/games/...">http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/prod...mp;dgc=C...
JarredWalton - Sunday, November 25, 2007 - link
We actually aren't too surprised, but the text was written last week when supply of 3850/3870 cards was better. That's why we state, "While we're on the topic of availability, we must say that we don't know how long AMD will continue to keep up with demand for the Radeon HD 3850/3870. As with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, many resellers are now backordered and we wouldn't be surprised to see prices begin climbing."JarredWalton - Sunday, November 25, 2007 - link
On a related note, Dell currently has a killer deal on an 8800 GT 512MB card. How long will it last, and how long will it take to get the card if you order right now? Well, those are questions we don't have answers to right now. Still, if you're interested in an 8800 GT card, http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Games/...">here's the link(I don't know if that's the correct way to link, and the link buttons appear to be broken. Anyway, you should at least be able to see the URL; go to Dell.com and search for 8800GT if you need to.]
FrankM - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Am I the only one feeling that there's a bit of a gap between the IGPs and the ~$200 mainstream cards that you called "budget"? I sort of agree that there's not much worth getting between these extremes for current games, but 8600GT @ ~$100 runs OK on medium resolutions and settings, and also offloads HD-media from the CPU.Also, calling ~$200 cards "budget" is a bit weird. Not so long ago, that was mainstream, with budget being sub-$100...
JarredWalton - Friday, November 23, 2007 - link
Well, we did mention them: "There are cheaper graphics cards that provide adequate performance and DirectX 10 support, but the difference in performance between the $100 you might spend on the Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB/GeForce 8600 GT 256MB and the HD 3850 is substantial. Let's not even get into a discussion of performance requirements for Crysis, Hellgate: London, or Unreal Tournament 3. Needless to say, there are plenty more titles coming out where $100 graphics cards will need to drop down to lower resolutions and medium detail settings in order to provide adequate performance."Chubbbs - Thursday, November 22, 2007 - link
"the G35 is next week"Yes, finally!! This is the platform I've been patiently waiting for. Not all enthusiasts are gamers. Some of us want a superior workstation without the cost, power consumption, acoustics, and binary blobs associated with discrete graphics. All we ask is for is modest composite and decode acceleration and a digital output (two would be nice). But that doesn't mean we don't want a premium ATX board with 8 SATAs, solid caps, and effective chipset radiators.
There *is* a retail market for a $150-200 motherboard with integrated graphics. In fact, if we're going to pay $200 or more for a motherboard, shouldn't we expect it to include onboard graphics? It's not like it precludes adding discrete graphics, and it offers a much lower power mode for those rare moments when you're not gaming. I look forward to AT's in-depth analysis of Intel's long-overdue foray into integrated graphics for the midrange performance market.