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Hardware Recommendations for June 2007

06.06.07 - 01:22pm

It’s that time again, I once again get to window-shop for computer parts and bring you guys along. I skipped over May due to the vast amount of product launches and uncertainty, I couldn’t confidently recommend a solid setup as I was aware that there could potentially be an upset in the market. Now all those fears are put aside as we have seen what AMD brought to the GPU-table and Intel’s E6×20 series has launched along with the respective price cuts. K10 still isn’t out and as far as I am concerned it’s a long-term “threat” but for the next few months it’s pretty clear what one should and shouldn’t buy.

Processors

AMD’s K8 processor lineup had another nail hammered into it’s coffin with the release of the ultra-budget E2xxx line of chips from intel. The chips feature 1MB of L2 cache, 800MHz FSB, and diminished clockspeeds but they help replace the Pentium D as Intel’s lowest tier processors. The E2140 operates at 1.6GHz while the E2160 operates at 1.8GHz. Now I cannot honestly suggest purchasing an AMD processor, if you need a sub-$100 processor then the E2xxx chips will fit the bill. In the $100-$150 sits the E4300 and soon to be launched E4400. These chips features 2MB cache, 800MHz FSB, and 1.8GHz and 2.0GHz clockspeeds. One thing that should be taken into account is that these processors don’t support Intel’s virtualization technology however for most individuals that isn’t an issue.

The mid and upper range processors get to be very interesting. Once again AMD doesn’t honestly have anything competitive so once again it’s going to be Intel. Quadcore chips are the future and you can effectively future-proof your build with a Q6600 for ~$530. Unfortunately there is another price-drop imminent, on July 22nd the Q6600 will drop to a staggering $266. Considering how that is roughly 50 days from now you need to determine how much the ~$260 savings are worth to you. I myself am holding out for this final price drop but even the $530 price-tag is pretty decent. Besides the Quadcore chips you have two choices to make for the mid/high-range dualcore chips. If you fancy overclocking then I’d suggest dropping the cash on the E6420, this is the new revision from Intel featuring a full 4MB of cache. Otherwise I’d suggest going with the E6600 for $200 as the E6700 is still overpriced considering the “close” price proximity between the E6700 and the Q6600. I consider the $200 price difference for double the processing power to be too close, either go E6600 or go Q6600. Once again I cannot recommend the Extreme Edition processors. As appealing as an unlocked multiplier is, the price premium on these chips is too high to make it an option for a “normal” build.

Video Cards

Normally I’d hit up motherboards next but lately your graphics solution determines which boards you can use. AMD’s HD2900XT launched and suffice to say it’s performance is less than desirable. The 2900XT is basically the Pentium 4 of the graphics industry, it consumes a ton of power while offering equivalent performance to a part that’s cheaper than it. I’d only suggest a 2900XT if you either enjoy supporting the underdog or you plan on heavily overclocking the cards AND don’t care about your power consumption. Otherwise Nvidia is your only true option for now. Unless you have the money to burn don’t purchase the 8800GTX, for highend I’d recommend the 640MB 8800GTS. Midrange is a bit choppy and I’d like to throw in the 320MB 8800GTS as the 8600GTS lacks the horsepower to really make purchasing it worth the money. If you do purchase an 8600GT make sure you purchase the DDR3 version as the extra bandwidth will be very useful due to the weak 128-bit memory subsystem. The 8500GT isn’t really an interesting card, you can’t game on it and for a Vista-capable card the 7600GT and 7300 cards are a much cheaper option.

Motherboards

Intel’s “budget” P35 chipset just recently launched to replace the P965 chipset. So far the results have been very impressive and I’d suggest moving on to the P35 motherboards if you need a single-GPU motherboard. From what I’ve seen there isn’t a board to avoid so find a board with the features and price that fits you. If you somehow feel compelled to run Crossfire then you are stuck with the 975X chipset, the Bad Axe 2 is a very safe option. For SLI you have choices between the 680i and 650i chipsets, I personally am a bigger fan of the 650i as it’s proven to clock chips higher compared to the 680i with results approaching P965 levels. The DFI LP UT NF680I is a very promising 6×0i motherboard but the pricetag is very steep, nearly double what other boards cost. From what I’ve heard most if not all the bugs from this chipset has been sorted out so feel free to take your pick.

Memory

This used to be one of the most expensive components in a build only behind video cards. Now memory is easily the cheapest component, funny what a lawsuit can accomplish. High-performance Micron D9GMH/GKX memory now costs $100-$180 with budget memory easily running below $80 for 2 gigs. With such cheap DDR2 prices I see no reason not to purchase atleast 2 gigs, if not 4 gigs. DDR3 has just recently launched with the P35 chipset and right now the price is too high to warrant purchasing it. DDR3 will eventually replace DDR2 with 1600MHz+ clockspeeds becoming the norm soon but for now you’ll have to wait. Perhaps in about 6-9 months prices will drop to $200-$300 but until then it makes no sense to purchase DDR3. If you plan on overclocking your memory then make sure you get yourself some Micron D9GMH or D9GKX, the other modules will still clock rather nicely but they’ll wall earlier than the Micron.

Peripherals

The rest of the components for a build are primarily up to user preference. For powersupplies remember that in general the more you pay the higher the quality. A low-quality powersupply can and will completely destroy your computer when it finally decides to blow up. Don’t skimp on the PSU, overloading a PSU is an easy way to destroy your investment. Harddrives have continued to slowly drop in price with the 400GB drives starting to look very nice for main-drive builds.

Conclusion

That’s about it for now, currently I am waiting for the 65nm refresh of AMD’s HX2900XT along with the launch of K10. Intel’s chips will continue to offer great performance at a great price, my only hope is that AMD’s Phenom will come out swinging. AMD’s R6×0 graphics lineup isn’t completely out of the race as the HD2600XT along with other cards haven’t yet released and they could be good budget cards if AMD markets them correctly. Solid-state hard drives are still much too expensive to consider and the throughput straight up sucks but eventually they’ll get to be faster than Western Digital’s Raptors. In the workstation market Intel is rumored to be releasing a true enthusiast 2 socket motherboard utilizing normal DDR2, if this is true then we could see the rise of “budget” Octa-core builds as the FB-DIMMs are a considerable barrier to entrance in the 2-socket field. Doubt there will be many changes over the next ~60 days besides price drops, hopefully K10 will come sometime soon though.

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