Thread,
Sharky's monthly posted buyer's guide
sharkyextreme.com
A snip:
CPU: AMD Athlon 800 CPU
Intel's P3-800MHz Coppermine CPU is still nowhere to be found, but the new Athlon 800MHz is popping up all over the place.
The Athlon 800MHz gives cheek-flapping speed with moderately good value. Value shmalue! This is the high-end system, is it not? And with the addition of a good motherboard from ASUS, FIC or MSI, it becomes the core of one of the fastest Windows compatible PCs that money can buy.
And to make it even more appealing, an 800MHz Athlon should be able to overclock to 900MHz with an Athlon overclocking device. Remember though, there are never any guarantees with overclocking.
AMD has recently announced their 850MHz Athlon, and if it's out by the time you read this, you may want to consider it instead.
For the value system:
CPU: Athlon 650MHz CPU
For $260, you can get an Athlon running at 650MHz. That is what we call value!
At 650MHz, an Athlon will give you stunningly high frame rates for the money. The 700MHz Athlon is about $150 more, which hurts its value, and the 600MHz version is only $50 less, which puts the 650MHz version in a value sweet spot.
Add the Athlon's overclockability to the mix and we're talking one sweet gaming CPU.
Current Cost: $260
OR
CPU: Intel Pentium III 650MHz Slot 1 w/256K L2 Cache
If you want to stick with Intel, another possibility is to go with a Slot1 PIII 650 with 256K L2 cache and a 100MHz FSB, which runs for $425.
It's nowhere near as good a value as the Athlon, but you can match it with a tried and true 440BX based motherboard for the ultimate in stability and compatibility.
By getting a Slot 1 Pentium III, you avoid having to use one of those slow i810 boards with their evil integrated video or one of the i820 motherboards with expensive RDRAM.
-Scot |
