Weekly Buyer's Guide: Entry Level System - June 2004
by Evan Lieb on June 9, 2004 12:02 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
CPU and Motherboard Recommendations
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Retail (heatsink and fan included)Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X-X (nForce2 400)
Price: CPU - $57 shipped. Motherboard - $69 shipped
The AMD Athlon XP 2000+ continues to be AnandTech's runaway favorite for Entry Level Systems month after month. This month is no different. We had originally favored the Athlon XP 1800+, but AMD decided to level its prices off on Athlon XP processors at the 2000+, so it only made sense for us to upgrade our recommendation from an 1800+ to a 2000+ with the negligible price difference. Both the Athlon XP 1800+ and the 2000+ are absolutely identical to each other feature-wise, save for their clock speed; the 2000+ operates at 1.67GHz while the 1800+ operates at 1.53GHz. As we mentioned before, this CPU offers excellent performance in today's business applications and games while being very light on the wallet. $57 is a steal and will satisfy even the cheapest of cheap systems. There aren't many 2000+ processors available in retail, but any old CPU cooler will do. If you're looking for something quieter than retail cooling, we suggest mounting a Panaflo L1A fan to reduce noise or even just using your BIOS' speed fan control to reduce noise.
We suggest that you read up on AnandTech's very own Budget CPU Shootout from last December for detailed information on how your Athlon XP 2000+ might perform. Keep in mind that the 2000+ isn't listed in our benchmark charts there, but you can still get a good idea of the performance of the 2000+ by approximating based on how their siblings perform.
The ASUS A7N8X-X and its older derivatives have been a favorite among the editors here at AnandTech for quite some time, and continue to be a favorite to this day. We have written extensively on ASUS' nForce2 motherboards in the past, namely about their exceptional reliability, feature sets, and excellent price points. The performance that the nForce2 400 chipset brings to the ASUS A7N8X-X is an especially nice bonus considering the price tag, as this is basically the exact same chipset that you'll find in high end Socket A motherboards minus the dual channel DDR memory support, which is totally unnecessary for entry level user needs. We've had lots of personal experience with this particular ASUS model, and simply put, we love this motherboard to death. Due to the type of chipset used with this motherboard, you will be able to upgrade to the best Athlon XP processors in the future, namely the 400MHz FSB kind.
All in all, we can't think of much that will go wrong with this motherboard, especially considering how mature BIOS support is at this stage in its long life. Some users who have experience with ASUS' older nForce1 motherboards will love the A7N8X-X.
Listed below is part of our RealTime pricing engine, which lists the lowest prices available on the AMD CPUs and motherboards from many different reputable vendors:
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
jamesey - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
i think the buyers guide should be titled by price and there can be 4 of them$600 and less - budget/entry level
600-1200 - mid range
1200-1800 - high end
1800-up - overclocking/luxury
aw - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
I second the motion for the SFF guide!!!mcveigh - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
how setup spme parameters for the systems?like the budget box will be under $600
mid-range under $1000, or 1200
the high end system will be under $5000
etc.
GP40X - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
Aw come on guys, The laste "Overclocked" system guide was April 8th. I'm starting to suffer withdrawl here. Two full months of guides & not a single one of the Overclocked system.Oh, I almost forgot. Recommend the 80 Gig. $10.00 isn't going to break the bank on this system. Cost vs. benefit shows to be a really good deal. More bang for the buck than the other alternatove recommnedations.
cKGunslinger - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
I'm going to agree with the 80GB HD suggestions. It doesn't make much sense to save $10-15 and only get *half* the storage space. 40 GB just doesn't go as far as it used to anymore. Especially with bloated OS and applications, MP3s, video clips, games requiring 3 CD for install, and the proliferation of Broadband access (which is assumed, since no modem is included.)
Onboard video might also shave a few $$ off the price, as long as the MB still has an AGP slot for some upgradability. The current Entry System has a pretty good upgrade path. If the user decides he wants to get into a little heavier gaming, an XP 2500+ and Radeon 9600 can be added for relatively little scratch and you'd have a respectable system. Actually, you'd have something resembling my main gaming rig. :)
cosmotic - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
Why not use an NF2 board with on-board video, it would take the price down quite a bit (relitivley) and still be pretty nice video.ZobarStyl - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
I'll have to agree with MAME even though it's a completely budget-oriented system a 10 dollar premium for 80 gigs is worth it; it would be a lot more tangible benefit than a processor upgrade and a lot of people these days are filling up these low-end HDD's fast.buckcow - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
I would like see the average price of the mid range system go up a bit. Below is the data of the last 3 months of guides, and the prices of the systems. Column 1 is low end, 2 is the middle, and 3 is the high end system. The 4th row of data is the average of the 3. I would like to see the mid range price really be about half way between the low and and the high end. Keep up the good work.552 934 3034
527 935 1965
504 833 1979
528 901 2326
Booty - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
Good call on that... of course, would it be a high-end or budget SFF? Or maybe one geared to home theater usage?MAME - Wednesday, June 9, 2004 - link
Guys, just recommend the 80 gig WD. It's $10 more than the 40 gig one and has an 8 meg buffer (instead of 2).I know you're keep prices low but seriosuly...$10!
I just can't see any justification for letting someone get the 40 gig flavor when $10 provides twice the storage and a much larger cache