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
Drop the $180 GPU and throw in a $50 GPU and you've got a non-gaming platform.mino - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Wrong,i.e.: changes to make 754 config a good budget PC:
drop DFI MB, drop the GPU, put in quality ATI Xpress200 or Geforce 6100 MB
drop that dual channel Patriot nonsense for singel channel s754, put in Kinkston/
Corsair 1GB stick of DDR400 CL3
drop that insane 400W PSU(100W system), drop in budget case, drop in FSP300-60GLN
example:
CPU: Sempron 2800+ ~$50
MB: JetWay A200GDMS ~$70 or some Geforce6100 board
RAM: 1GB brand DDR400 ~$90
HDD: any 250G ~$80
DVD: NEC 4571 ~$35 or any you like
case: ASUS TM250 ~$30 or any generic case without PSU
PSU: FSP300-60GLN ~$30
Final price: <= $400
You can drop some better GPU later but such a system will be with you for a long time.
As someone wrote above, your configs are good budget GAMER/OVERCLOCKER choices. Not budget PC choices.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
But I would quantify my system as a "better" budget system - the extra $200 or so goes a long ways towards improving features and performance. Again, you don't *have* to buy these systems, but they are what I had available and you can see performnace (stock and OC'ed). It's something a bit different from our regular budget buyers' guides.mino - Thursday, July 13, 2006 - link
Almost forgot,I really appreciated the review, realy.
Just not for the text part, instead for the numbers and mostly the configs being tested.
mino - Thursday, July 13, 2006 - link
IMHO we have a common attitude for system config creation. But a different view on what a budget PC is. For me, it is a -as cheap as possible- workhorse, for you, a gaming machine able to work.My intention was just to show off that it is not so simple - like change the GPU and it is a classic budget system. IMHO you know that it is more complicated, but many readers do not(an the article supports them here).
the message:
"To build a good, balanced PC is a system solution problem, not a component solution one."
Best regards.
mino - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Wrong,i.e.: changes to make 754 config a good budget PC:
drop DFI MB, drop the GPU, put in quality ATI Xpress200 or Geforce 6100 MB
drop that dual channel Patriot nonsense for singel channel s754, put in Kinkston/
Corsair 1GB stick of DDR400 CL3
drop that insane 400W PSU(100W system), drop in budget case, drop in FSP300-60GLN
you've got:
CPU: Sempron 2800+ $50
MB:
mino - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
this post was unintentional, gog give us EDIT :)Josh7289 - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
So, the Pentium D's are going even lower, when the X2's lower as well? What about the other single cores from Intel and AMD, are they lowering with Core 2 Duo's launch?Looking back at that article from one and a half years ago. it's pretty cool to see what one can get today for less money than what one could get back then. I remember reading that article last year shortly before I built the PC I use now and using it as a kind of guideline, even though it was a few months old then.
Anyway, this spell check on Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 is freaking sweet. :)
PC Surgeon - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
The review overall was very good. But I do have one problem and it has to do with this statement:
"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.
Oh yeah? Well what about this one?
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA $58.99 www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092
It supports Conroe, DDR, DDRII, AGP, PCI-e....which to me is somewhat the equevelent of the ASROCK 939DUAL SATAII. For people with older systems that have DDR, or AGP, the 775Dual-VSTA is the board that can make the transition a little cheaper.
Why you guys didn't recommend this board I don't know...maybe you didnt know about it? Or worse (and I doubt this is true) it was showing AMD bias.
That's my bone to pick....
JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I will let Gary's review explore overclocking on the ASRock motherboard. I really have no idea how it will perform, and the truth is that I started working on this article several weeks ago. If I knew for sure which budget motherboards can run Core 2 Duo and overclock well, I would be happy to recommend such a motherboard. We'll probably have to wait a few more weeks to get a clear feel for that market.