Pre-AM2 Mid-Range Buyers' Guide, May 2006
by Jarred Walton on May 9, 2006 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Video Recommendations
Both platforms use PCI-E graphics, naturally, so at least we don't have to worry about that aspect of choosing a graphics card. Beyond that, there are a wide variety of graphics cards that are all suitable recommendations, especially depending on individual needs. If you don't care at all about gaming performance, we would still stick with a GPU that costs somewhere in the $125 range. On the low end, the Radeon X1600 and GeForce 7600 products are reasonable choices. We spent slightly more money in order to get more performance. |
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Graphics Recommendation: EVGA GeForce 7600GT CO 256MB (580/1500)
Price: $184 shipped (Retail)
For only a few dollars more than the stock 7600 GT, the EVGA 7600 GT is factory overclocked (from the default 560/1400 clock speeds). The price difference is small enough and EVGA's warranty policy is so much better than average that we feel it's a good choice. If you can't find the EVGA card in stock where you live, just about any 7600 GT should be acceptable. The performance offered is slightly better than the old 6800 GT cards overall, due to architectural enhancements. That said, there are certainly games out there (Oblivion and F.E.A.R. for example) where you will still have to turn down the detail levels in order to get acceptable frame rates. If gaming is your only passion, you might consider one of the following upgrades - and you can always cut the cost of the processor if you're trying to stay within a budget, as most games will still be GPU limited at high resolutions.
If you prefer ATI cards, for a bit more money (about $200) you can go with the X1800 GTO. In benchmarks, the GTO trades places with the 7600 GT, and both are 12 pipeline cards. Priced at around $290, you can find the 7900 GT cards. Maximum performance (with factory overclocked models) is about 50% to 75% higher than the 7600 GT, so performance scales almost linearly with price. At just over $300, you can now find X1800 XT cards on sale. They don't have all of the architectural improvements of the X1900 series, but you do get 512MB of RAM which is starting to become useful in a few games. We would say it remains a reasonable alternative to the 7900 GT, and in games like Oblivion the X1800 XT comes out on top. Going beyond the $300 range, cards like the X1900 XT/XTX and 7900 GTX are available, but that's definitely moving out of the realm of midrange components.
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APKasten - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Or you could just get this low latency G-Skill RAM that's on sale over at Newegg.com for $45 less. ;)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Well, I mentioned the $55 MIR on the RAM. If you don't want to deal with MIRs, I suggested several alternatives. :) The G.Skill should work, yes.SexyK - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Shouldn't that be Core 2 Duo?peternelson - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
"choice of components is also going to be limited - mostly in the motherboard area"So, you expect a limited number of AM2 motherboards? Well there is a choice of several ATI and NVIDIA chips.
As for motherboard manufacturers with AM2 products, I know of (at least): ABIT, Asrock, Asus, Biostar, DFI, ECS, Epox, Foxconn, Gigabyte, MSI.
Many of these have several different boards, not just one, but I will not post all the model numbers for brevity.
I'm just saying I don't think choice of boards will be a big problem there are SLI/non-SLI etc. Single or dual lan etc.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
I'm talking about availability at launch. In a few months, the selection should be quite good. At launch, it will be FAR fewer in terms of options than socket 939. That's pretty much a given. Cost is the big question, of couse, and I don't know what AM2 chip or mobo cost is going to be just yet.peternelson - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Ah yes, that is somewhat down to distribution.
I figured if you can get your hands on AM2 cpus, you can probably find at least one board to put it in from the same shop/channel.
I guess first motherboard makers to market could own the market so they may be falling over themselves to get them out on time. Early launch times like this are premium prices thus one of the most profitable times to be selling boards.
Obviously there are loads of 939 boards but older ones are less desirable now.
For AM2 all will have up to date features.
ChillBoy - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Yes, I'd be interested in the HTPC guides. As the home is moving more integrated This would be an asset. May I suggest silence, HDCP support, optical media and media server be options explored for the hardware options. Thank you.policy11 - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
I would definitely be interested in an HTPC buyers' guide.CKDragon - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
I'd love to read an Anandtech HTPC guide as well. Hey, I'd settle for just a HTPC case roundup. I know there are other sites that have similar information, but none of them seem to be updated frequently enough for my liking. A solid, professional AT review would be great.CK
kleinwl - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
YES!!!