Price Guides November 2004: CPU and Motherboards

Introduction

Motherboards and processors have been the most active components with respect to PC hardware advances and development over the years. This has become even more apparent in the last year during which Intel and AMD both rolled out new sockets, new chipsets and new ways of computing. It's now very easy to create a system, or upgrade an old one, to incorporate enough computing power to make NASA of the 1960's wish that they were you. With that in mind, you can see how overkill can be had very easily and how obsolescence can be had just as easily.

We'll take a look at what's available on the market and try to find out which motherboard and/or processor makes the most sense for your needs while, hopefully, steering safely clear of buying instantly obsolete hardware.

As always, make sure that you take a look at our RealTime Pricing Engine to get up-to-date prices on everything that you see in this guide and more.