Kryotech Super G2 Athlon 1.86GHz

Final Words

The Kryotech Super G2 is, in many cases, the fastest system you can get your hands on today.  But that title does come at a price, a very high one at that.  This has unfortunately been the story with Kryotech ever since the start; $2281 will buy you a 1.866GHz Athlon barebones system, while you can get a similar 1.4GHz setup for less than $500 without the supercooling of course.  Is the 33% increase in clock speed really worth it?

If you're a gamer or an enthusiast simply craving more power then the answer is probably no.  In a few months, provided that AMD adheres to their roadmap, the desktop Athlon 4 should be available at 1.73GHz making a $2300 investment today worth considerably less by the end of the year. 

For the professional market the decision is a bit more difficult especially when taking the next best alternative, the 760MP platform, into account.  If the application(s) you're running are heavily MP optimized then you're probably better off with a 760MP setup and a pair of Athlon MPs.  However the choice becomes a bit more difficult if your application(s) are not heavily MP optimized but will benefit from dual processors. 

The dual Athlon MP/760MP setup is still quite a bit cheaper than a barebones Super G2, but the highest clocked Athlon MP is still only 1.2GHz meaning that it may be tough to attain the performance levels of a single 1.866GHz Super G2.  You also have to deal with the fact that higher clocked Athlon CPUs will be available before the end of the year. 

Although it is possible to upgrade the Super G2 later on with a faster processor (provided you modify the multiplier bridges yourself) and push it even further using the Kryotech, you still have the memory bank limitation on the motherboard itself which may be an issue currently. 

It’s a tough call to make, and this time around it’s even more difficult of one since the Athlon won’t reach the 1.866GHz clock speed Kryotech is offering today until sometime next year.  For the mass majority, the price will definitely not justify the performance, regardless of how incredible it may be.