AMD Value Midrange
The AMD value midrange system is built around the new Phenom II 720BE 2.8GHz triple-core CPU. The 720BE is a Black Edition processor, which means it has an unlocked multiplier and can be easily overclocked if you choose. The Phenom II offers better raw performance than the older AMD processors and much better overclocking. In fact, with prices as low as $125 for a Phenom II we can no longer recommend anything less than a Phenom II for a midrange AMD system. As has been stated many times at AnandTech, the Phenom II performance matches Intel performance through the midrange. Unless you are looking for a top-performing and top-priced Core i7 system, you can choose Intel or AMD based on price and features.
| AMD Value Midrange PC | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE (2.8GHzx3, 3x512KB L2, 6MB L3 Cache) |
$145 |
| Cooling | AMD Retail HSF | - |
| Video | Gigabyte GV-R485ZL-512H Radeon HD 4850 512MB (After $20 Rebate) | $120 |
| Motherboard | Biostar TForce TA790GX A2+ (after $10 Rebate) | $95 |
| Memory | 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1066 Patriot Extreme Performance PDC24G8500ELKR2 5-5-5-15 (after $25 Rebate) | $39 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS 1TB | $90 |
| Optical Drive | LG BD/HD DVD / 16x DVD+/- RW GGC-H20LK | $99 |
| Audio | On-Board 8-channel HD Audio | - |
| Case | Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower | $55 |
| Power Supply | BFG Tech LS Series LS-550 550W SLI/CrossFire 80 PLUS Certified | $80 |
| Base System Total | $723 | |
| Display | Acer X233Hbid 23" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor (1920x1080) | $190 |
| Speakers | Creative Inspire T6100 76W 5.1 Speakers | $80 |
| Input | Microsoft CA9-00001 Black PS/2 Standard Keyboard and Optical USB/PS2 Mouse - OEM | $16 |
| Operating System | Microsoft Vista Home Premium OEM | $99 |
| Complete System Bottom Line | $1108 | |
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The Phenom II 720BE is one step up from the lowest priced Phenom II 710 CPU. The 710 is also an option at just $125, but the extra $20 for the 720BE buys you lot. For just $145 you get an unlocked multiplier, three cores each with 512KB of L2 cache, and the same 6MB L3 cache used in the X4 Phenom II processors. Rated speed is 2.8GHz, which basically makes this an unlocked 920 with a disabled core. In bench testing we easily reached 3.8GHz, about the same as the most expensive 940BE Phenom II, and you will only miss that fourth core in the few applications that actually take advantage of parallel processing. All in all the 720BE is a value buyers dream CPU.
To continue the value theme we have used the AMD stock retail HSF with the Phenom II 720BE. It is perfectly adequate for stock operation and modest overclocking, but if you plan to heavily overclock you should choose a heavy duty cooler like the Tuniq Tower 120. The Tuniq can move a lot of air and it is superb at dropping temperatures in ambitious overclocks. It has been on sale recently for as little as $45, but the best price we could find today was $54.
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The Biostar TForce TA790GX A2+ motherboard is a perfect match for the Phenom II 720BE. Those looking to squeeze as much performance out of their money as possible will be very pleased with the Biostar. The board is loaded with overclocking features and it even features integrated AMD HD 3300 graphics with an HDMI/DVI interface and 1080P support. This means very decent performance using the onboard graphics if you need to save the cost of a video card, or upgrade to a video card at a later date. Biostar offers both AM2+ and AM3 CPU support for processors like the Phenom II 720BE when used with cheaper DDR2 memory. Biostar includes 128MB DDR2 sideport memory for improved GPU performance, Realtek ALC 888 HD Audio codec, Gigabit LAN, 16GB memory support, six 3Gb/s ports capable of RAID 0/1/10/5, 10 USB ports, two PCI-E x16 slots (dual x8 CF), two PCI-E x1 slots, and two PCI slots. The BIOS caters to the casual overclocker and this board performs very well in a variety of tests. Performance is similar to the 790FX, though our motherboard editor still recommends the older FX chipset when you are trying to squeeze the very last bit of performance from your Phenom II.
Memory could be the same Corsair choice as the Intel value midrange, but another potential 4GB kit is featured in the AMD system build. The 4GB Patriot Viper PVS24G8500ELKN provides solid DDR2-1066 performance at 5-5-5-15 timings at DDR2-1066. With the current $25 rebate the final price is just $39.
The rest of the component selections are shared between the Intel and AMD value midrange systems. You can find more information on these component choices on page 3, which details the common system components.
Comparing our $1150 systems, we find that performance is a tossup between the AMD and Intel systems. It has been a long time since we could say this about a midrange system, and it is very good for all of us that Phenom II is competitive with Intel midrange. However, just as AMD finally competes in 45nm midrange space Intel is ready to soon move to an even smaller die size. Still, no matter how long or short the parity, the Phenom II competition is good for all buyers.
With the prices of computer components generally trending down, both our AMD and Intel value midrange system builds give you room to grow. This gives you some room to customize some of the components to your liking - such as a keyboard or laser gaming mouse, updated graphics or an even larger monitor.
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RadnorHarkonnen - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
Don't be Pedantic. Chill Out mates.I have a X2 4800+ OCed to 3Ghz. I game on it, i have a small file server on it, an exchange server always rolling, I GIMP some fotos, use sum torrentz, test like things i have fun with on my VMware, the wife is always seeing a movie of some sort (Desperate housewives or sex in the city, or some crap like that) plugged via HDMI to my TV. And much more...
A bit of this, a bit of that.
I personally like his rig. I wouldn't buy one like his, but hey there are other priorities. Maybe in the summer ill buy another for crossfire.
Wineohe - Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - link
Hmm. Not sure I get 1TB Barracuda. Sometimes price isn't everything. I guess you gotta spread the love.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
The Seagate is now quite reliable and fast. The speed is a true 7200rpm, and not a "green" 5200rpm. Cache is 32MB, and not 16MB like many competing drives.Warranty is reduced to 3 years from the previous 5 years, but warranty service and replacement is very easy directly with Seagate. Seagate still offers the Enterprise version of this drive with 5-year warranty for $140, but if truth be know it is the same drive with a longer warranty and a higher price to pay for the longer coverage.
You can pay more for the same features and specifications. As we have said many times, you are generally safe with an HD from the major players and you can shop on price as long as specs are the same. There are good WD choices as well.
MadMan007 - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
Seriously? Did you just say it's a great drive based upon paper specs? Features and specifications do not equal real world performance. Seagate drives after the 7200.10s should not be recommended. Supposed reliability issue aside the firmware is heavily slanted toward reads and the drives perform middle of the pack overall when looking at a wide range of real world uses. I understand for an article like this there's a need to stick to a strict price point but anyone who wants a 7200RPM 1TB drive ought to look elsewhere (WD drives are great atm) or if they don't need the space they'd be better served by a 7200RPM 640GB WD drive.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
We use both the recent Seagate and WD 1TB drives. Both have performed well in the labs.MadMan007 - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
Then you aren't testing them well enough but that's ok I've never read Anandtech for HD reviews. Heck the last non-SSD review is almost a year old and that was the V-Raptor, before that there is a 1TB drive review which is thoroughly outdated. Obviously in fairlyland everyone has only SSDs by now, the SSD articles are intriguing but don't reflect what people actually buy for storage as your own guides show.MadMan007 - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
Sorry the above reads more rantishly than I meant it. Anyway my point was that quoting a bunch of paper specs doesn't mean much.erple2 - Friday, April 10, 2009 - link
Some thing that seems to get lost a lot is the question for the normal user:"How much faster is this drive in the stuff I care about?"
Benchmarks are good, I suppose, but they're also ridiculously non-linear. a two fold increase in sequential read performance in HD Tach doesn't translate into a two fold reduction in windows boot up time (or application startup time).
Maybe they are linear, but only with extenuating circumstances - If I have an old drive that loads application X in 20 seconds, getting a more recent drive could reduce the load time by 2 seconds. Getting a drive that's "twice" as fast as the slower new drive may reduce the application loading time by twice the increase, not half the time - the app now loads in 16 seconds rather than 18 seconds.
I dunno. It seems that the more I look at "real world" scenarios (which I understand are very hard to quantify and benchmark - they're essentially wall clock timings), the difference between 2 drives of the same rotational speed are marginal. Heck, even the difference between a 7200RPM drive and a 10k drive seems awfully marginal.
How often do I copy a single huge (on the order of 1 gigabyte) file that's stored sequentially? I dunno. Most of my data is lots of files that are smaller than 10 MiB (music and pictures), with significant numbers that are in the < 1 MiB range (everything else that isn't MP3's or pictures).
Huh.. Now I sound like I'm ranting.
However, if Anandtech is using the drives all the time in their test systems (and they haven't failed), then I'd believe that they're at least reliable. They may not be faster than a couple of Raptors in Raid 0, but from what else I've read, that's a total waste of time and money for my usage patterns (which don't include running a heavily used database, or other server application).
marc1000 - Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - link
wow, while I read the article I lost the 1st comment spot.. hehewell, I read a lot of these guides here at AT, and should shay the components choices are generally good. too bad I live in a country other than USA or England, so I can never buy those parts with the "real" pricing, instead I always pay higher for newer parts... it's a joke for us.......
anyway, I would like to say to anyone interested that these new CPUs and GPUs are really terrific performers. Today I have a fairly simple Core2Duo e7200 (2.6ghz 3mb cache) paired with a Radeon HD3850 and 4GB RAM. I never could completely stress this simple system... even gaming, I can run almost all games at a very good quality (22" LCD monitor with 16x10res), except for CRYSIS of course (but I don't like it anyway).
ssj4Gogeta - Wednesday, April 8, 2009 - link
"too bad I live in a country other than USA or England, so I can never buy those parts with the "real" pricing, instead I always pay higher for newer parts"same here. :( Especially when a new graphics card is launched. The price is as high as 2x the price in the US.