Closing Thoughts
So we tested three "budget" platforms today with varying results. The one firm recommendation we can make should come as no surprise. Simply put, socket 754 is a dead end, even though performance is still generally acceptable. AMD might continue to support it, and the motherboards and chips are on the market at reasonable prices, but for a slight increase in price you will definitely get more potential out of socket AM2 or socket 775. Unfortunately, as nice as the Biostar TForce 550 motherboard appears, it seems to be in need of some updates before it can truly become a great budget overclocker. (Never underestimate the importance of a motherboard BIOS.) Still, we're inclined to recommend socket AM2 right now, as we have yet to see any budget socket 775 motherboards available that will support Core 2 Duo chips. Hopefully, that will change during the next few weeks.
What else have we learned? If you're really interested in high resolution plus high image quality gaming, there's no substitute for a fast graphics card. The 7600 GT is a very impressive card given the price, but you're not going to run UXGA/WUXGA (1600x1200/1920x1200) resolutions with 4xAA on any of the more recent titles. If you don't have a monitor capable of supporting higher resolutions, however, it's currently one of the most reasonable gaming GPUs on the market for SXGA (1280x1024) gaming. A few titles (F.E.A.R., Oblivion, Call of Duty 2) will need to run with lowered detail settings, as will future titles, but unless you're ready to spend $250 or more on the graphics card we would recommend sticking with the 7600 GT. Fans of ATI will get similar performance - better in some games, slightly worse in others - from the X1800 GTO, typically for about $25 more.
Going back to our original budget of $650, there are a few other options that are worth considering. First, we used a socket AM2 Sempron processor, but prices on single core Athlon 64 chips really aren't much higher. Clock for clock, you might get another 5%-10% performance increase, but in the end you're still going to be GPU limited in games. If your primary concern isn't gaming, then you really have to consider what you plan on doing with the computer.
For most office tasks, all of the systems -- even without overclocking -- are more than sufficient. If you plan on running some applications that can benefit from SMP configurations, dual core processors are definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Whether you want to make a purchase of the Pentium 805 now or wait for the reduced prices on Athlon X2 and Pentium D processors that are coming later this month is up to you. It is also worth mentioning that Intel's product road maps don't seem to indicate any new budget chips coming out in the near future; once Core 2 Duo launches, Intel will be further shifting its NetBurst products into the budget price sector, so this overview of the current budget platforms will continue to be valid for several more months at least.
The bottom line? You really can get a ton of computing power for a reasonable price these days. 18 months ago, a $500 computer would have consisted of a moderate Athlon XP or Celeron D processor, 512 MB of RAM, and integrated graphics. Another $150 would have given you an upgrade to a Radeon 9600 Pro and possibly 1 GB of RAM. For now, Moore's "Law" seems to be holding steady, as dollar for dollar we've more than doubled performance. Outside of gaming, many people might not actually need that much processing power, but when Windows Vista launches next year we have a feeling Microsoft will find lots of new ways to bring your computer to its knees. As always, though, we recommend people upgrade only when they personally are unhappy with the level of performance (or stability) that their current computer offers. Something better is always right around the corner.
So we tested three "budget" platforms today with varying results. The one firm recommendation we can make should come as no surprise. Simply put, socket 754 is a dead end, even though performance is still generally acceptable. AMD might continue to support it, and the motherboards and chips are on the market at reasonable prices, but for a slight increase in price you will definitely get more potential out of socket AM2 or socket 775. Unfortunately, as nice as the Biostar TForce 550 motherboard appears, it seems to be in need of some updates before it can truly become a great budget overclocker. (Never underestimate the importance of a motherboard BIOS.) Still, we're inclined to recommend socket AM2 right now, as we have yet to see any budget socket 775 motherboards available that will support Core 2 Duo chips. Hopefully, that will change during the next few weeks.
What else have we learned? If you're really interested in high resolution plus high image quality gaming, there's no substitute for a fast graphics card. The 7600 GT is a very impressive card given the price, but you're not going to run UXGA/WUXGA (1600x1200/1920x1200) resolutions with 4xAA on any of the more recent titles. If you don't have a monitor capable of supporting higher resolutions, however, it's currently one of the most reasonable gaming GPUs on the market for SXGA (1280x1024) gaming. A few titles (F.E.A.R., Oblivion, Call of Duty 2) will need to run with lowered detail settings, as will future titles, but unless you're ready to spend $250 or more on the graphics card we would recommend sticking with the 7600 GT. Fans of ATI will get similar performance - better in some games, slightly worse in others - from the X1800 GTO, typically for about $25 more.
Going back to our original budget of $650, there are a few other options that are worth considering. First, we used a socket AM2 Sempron processor, but prices on single core Athlon 64 chips really aren't much higher. Clock for clock, you might get another 5%-10% performance increase, but in the end you're still going to be GPU limited in games. If your primary concern isn't gaming, then you really have to consider what you plan on doing with the computer.
For most office tasks, all of the systems -- even without overclocking -- are more than sufficient. If you plan on running some applications that can benefit from SMP configurations, dual core processors are definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Whether you want to make a purchase of the Pentium 805 now or wait for the reduced prices on Athlon X2 and Pentium D processors that are coming later this month is up to you. It is also worth mentioning that Intel's product road maps don't seem to indicate any new budget chips coming out in the near future; once Core 2 Duo launches, Intel will be further shifting its NetBurst products into the budget price sector, so this overview of the current budget platforms will continue to be valid for several more months at least.
The bottom line? You really can get a ton of computing power for a reasonable price these days. 18 months ago, a $500 computer would have consisted of a moderate Athlon XP or Celeron D processor, 512 MB of RAM, and integrated graphics. Another $150 would have given you an upgrade to a Radeon 9600 Pro and possibly 1 GB of RAM. For now, Moore's "Law" seems to be holding steady, as dollar for dollar we've more than doubled performance. Outside of gaming, many people might not actually need that much processing power, but when Windows Vista launches next year we have a feeling Microsoft will find lots of new ways to bring your computer to its knees. As always, though, we recommend people upgrade only when they personally are unhappy with the level of performance (or stability) that their current computer offers. Something better is always right around the corner.
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JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I'd be more inclined to drop to a 3200+ and spend the money for a 7900 GT if you're looking for gaming performance. Get that with one of the 570SLI boards (yeah, there goes the budget) and maybe 2x1024MB of DDR2-667. That'd be a nice mid-range config.Avalon - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I've also had good luck with Apex/Allied case/PSU combos. Bought several a couple years ago for some AXP systems, and they're still going strong. Generic isn't always bad. Just powmax ;)DrMrLordX - Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - link
Sadly, the Apex case + PSU combo I got for my current system didn't work out well at all PSU-wise. I got the Apex TU-124 and it came with a dinky little 350W PSU that I immediately removed from the case and replaced with my old Antec Smartpower 400W PSU. The Antec had previously been in my 1 ghz Tbird rig and is still running, while the PSU from the Apex case went into my Tbird rig when I upgraded. I later gave away the Tbird, only for the system to die after about 6-8 months of operation in new hands. The Tbird was put together in early 2001, and can you guess what component died after I gave it away? The PSU.I'm not sure what it was about that Tbird rig, but it killed two generic PSUs (the original that came with the case I bought for it and the one from the Apex case I bought in March 2005). The Antec PSU, however, worked just fine. I got that one back in 2004 or so when Antec was still putting out PSUs with high marks for reliability.
Operandi - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
"Generic case with iCute 400W PSU (Purchased Locally)"Generic PSUs and cases should never be recommended, particularly PSUs. Reliability is not something you can benchmark with one sample in six months time. If you can't afford a $50 InWin, Evercase, or entry level Antec case along with a $30-50 Forton-Source PSU you should probably be shopping at Dell or HP which will almost certainly get you more reliable machine.
I believe AOpen cases are still shipping with Fortons built in, so that would be a very good choice. Antec case PSU/bundles while not the best are fairly decent and that really should be the entry level even for a low budget machine, not generic garbage.
johnsonx - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I do grow tired of the Power Supply snobs. Yes, yes, we all know that there are some really lousy power supplies out there bundled with cheap cases. There are also many perfectly good power supplies bundled with cheap cases. For the purpose herein, *most* generic power supplies will work just fine.Anyone looking for a low-cost case that comes bundled with a reasonably good power supply, check out Athenatech:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Subm...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...rchInDes...
I've used several of these cases, including quite a number of the MicroATX cases which include Sparkle power supplies.
mindless1 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
There are snobs and then there are SNOBS.Fact is, we dont' actually have sufficient data about longevity of generic PSU with modern, higher wattage system configs. That your 4 year old box has now 4 years running off a different generic is no evidence that another generic will run a modern system pulling 50% more current.
DrMrLordX - Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - link
Sparkle is hardly generic, though. Those are rebranded Fortrons.mesyn191 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Yup, FSP/Sparkle are quality PSU's that are cheap. Inwin aint' bad either.OP is really a PSU snob he just doesn't know it!!
JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
Cases are something you can go out and grab whatever you really want; I bought this locally because that was convenient 6 months ago. Sorry if this isn't clear, but the case/PSU was listed for disclosure purposes. Yes, there are better choices, but that's what was used for these benchmarks. Fotron Source would be a great choice for a 400W-500W PSU that would certainly be better than the iCute I used. I hoped people would understand that the configurations were a look at some available parts and not a specific recommendation, i.e. get a different GPU than the XFX, possibly different RAM, the Tforce 550 has some performance issues right now....Basically, I built three budget platforms that more or less were priced similarly, and looked at how they compare in terms of performance. Out of the three, I'd take the PD805 for my purposes. Makes a nice addition to a folding farm. :)
CSMR - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
The title says budget PC, but the article makes clear it is a "budget gaming system" that is being talked about. So the title should be changed to budget gaming system or budget gaming PC.