Price Guides December 2003: The Year in Component Prices

AMD motherboards underwent few changes in the Socket A department over the last 12 months.  The largest change came in the form of 400FSB chipsets, both from NVIDIA and VIA.  Of course, most of us already knew that the original nForce2 chipsets were in fact 400FSB capable, designed from the beginning for expansion.  VIA, on the other hand, had some severe trouble getting up to 400FSB.  KT333, KT400, KT400A and then finally KT600 all came within 12 months of each other. 

But then, the quintessential problem plagued both avenues of 400FSB; what is the purpose of 400FSB if there are no 400FSB chips?  Athlon XP 3200+ became the first 400FSB AMD processor and although it was welcomed, the cost was prohibitive.  A 3000+ 400FSB processor was released without any PR endorsements (think Athlon 64 3000+), but prices on that processor were also prohibitive.  Even today, the cost of a 3000+ 400FSB XP processor costs the same as a Pentium4 2.8C.