Budget Buyer's Guide - October 2006
by Jarred Walton on October 25, 2006 8:10 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Baseline AMD Budget Platform
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that we had to go with a single core processor and integrated graphics in order to come anywhere near our $500 price target. We still overshot the budget by $150, but we certainly haven't eliminated every potential downgrade. Here's the basic AMD configuration that we are actually comfortable recommending.
Our processor choice goes to the AMD Athlon 64 3000+, which is currently priced at $74. The Athlon 64 3000+ has been a favorite of overclockers ever since it first came onto the scene just over two years ago. In terms of performance, not much has really changed with the move from socket 939 to socket AM2. It still comes with a 1.8GHz clock speed and 512K of cache, and with the right overclocking equipment you should be able to reach at least 2.6GHz and often more. Both platforms are at a mature state, even though socket AM2 is only a few months old. AM2 should also support quite a few future processor upgrades if that's important to you, and it will typically perform slightly better than an equivalent socket 939 configuration. If you already have a socket 939 system, there really isn't any need to upgrade to socket AM2 right now, but we definitely wouldn't recommend purchasing a new socket 939 system unless you can get it for less money than the equivalent AM2 setup.
We could have chosen to downgrade the CPU to a Sempron model, although it's important to keep in mind the fact that model numbers do not represent identical clock speeds between the Athlon and Sempron families. The Athlon 64 3000+ has a 1.8GHz clock speed, while the Sempron 3400+ has the same clock speed and half the L2 cache. The Sempron 3400+ is about $10 cheaper, but our experience is that it usually won't overclock as far as the Athlon 64 and the L2 cache is important enough that we felt the extra $10 was warranted. If you are really interested in saving money, the best bet would be to downgrade to the Sempron 2800+, which comes with a 1.6GHz clock speed and 128K of cache. If all you are looking for is a system capable of surfing the web and doing office work, such a computer would still be sufficient and you could even get down to the $500 price point with a bit of work. On the other hand, multiple processing cores are the talk of the town these days, so if you'd like more performance than the single core Athlon 64 offers, take a look at our upgraded configurations.
Moving to the motherboard, there are definitely cheaper alternatives available, but we have had far better luck with ATI and NVIDIA integrated graphics than the solutions offered from VIA or SiS. The nForce 6100 chipset supports the full DirectX 9 feature set, although performance will still be less than just about any DX9 discrete graphics adapter. The nForce 6150 sports higher clock speeds that help to improve performance slightly, but that's not the reason we went with the upgrade. The primary factor in our choice of the ASUS 6150 motherboard over something like the Biostar TForce 6100 is ASUS' inclusion of a DVI output. As we have stated many times in the past, we're done recommending CRTs, and if we're going to recommend an LCD it is going to include a DVI port. That's one less digital to analog conversion that has to take place, resulting in a slightly better image. The ASUS M2NPV-VM offers limited overclocking support, and while it should be enough to get you a ~10% overclock, that's certainly not the focus of the board. With true budget platforms, overclocking isn't high on our list of priorities either. If you're willing to spend a bit more money for overclocking capabilities, the Abit NF-M2 is very similar in features (including the DVI port) and costs about $10 more, but in general overclockers will be better served by fullsize ATX boards with discrete graphics.
ATI Xpress 1100 might have been a reasonable alternative, but we were unable to find any motherboards using that chipset that included a DVI port. If you don't care at all about overclocking, DVI, or integrated graphics performance, you should be able to get just about any of the current AM2 motherboards using an ATI or NVIDIA chipset. You should also be able to shave up to $30 off the price of the motherboard. However, motherboards are such a critical component that we have to strongly caution against trying to cut costs too much, as often that will result in a somewhat flaky system and/or component incompatibilities.
The one area of our base configuration that is likely to cause the most debate is our choice of memory. DDR2 memory is anything but cheap these days - and DDR memory is no better - with prices that have gone up sometimes 100% over the past several months. The current prices are likely to last at least another month or two, although thankfully they are no longer on the rise. The shortage appears to have been caused by the impending holiday season with many of the major OEMs purchasing large quantities of memory in advance. Whatever the cause, however, the end result remains the same: high prices that we are none too happy with. If you're trying to keep costs down, it might be tempting to consider purchasing only 512MB of memory, and it is definitely an option. Depending on how you intend to use your computer, 512MB of memory may be sufficient. For most of us, it has quickly become the bare minimum we are willing to install on a new system, and looking towards the future it is going to be woefully inadequate for anyone planning on running Windows Vista next year. You can save about $60 by going with a single 512MB DIMM, but we're not going to recommend it.
Instead, we will grudgingly recommend spending more money on a 2x512MB configuration. We have selected the A-DATA Vitesta DDR2-667 memory, which we have found to be highly compatible in our testing, and it is also capable of overclocking a fair amount. Overclocking headroom isn't nearly as important on AM2, as the way memory speeds are derived from the CPU core speed means you can use "ratios" without degrading performance much. As with most DDR2-667 memory, increasing voltage up to around 2.1V should allow you to reach the maximum timings and bandwidth the modules are capable of. Given the various bottlenecks that are likely to exist elsewhere within our base AMD configuration, it's probably best not to worry about it too much and just stick with the default or slightly tweaked performance.
One final memory option worth considering is getting a single 1GB DIMM instead of 2x512MB. Single channel performance might be up to 5% or even 10% slower depending on what task you're doing (typically it's around 2-3% slower), but going with a single 1GB DIMM allows you to add more memory in the future if/when it becomes necessary. This particular ASUS motherboards still has four DIMM slots, so it's not as big of a concern, but if you get one of the other motherboards that only includes two DIMM slots we would strongly recommend going with 1GB memory modules.
We will take a closer look at the remaining components on the budget Intel platform.
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that we had to go with a single core processor and integrated graphics in order to come anywhere near our $500 price target. We still overshot the budget by $150, but we certainly haven't eliminated every potential downgrade. Here's the basic AMD configuration that we are actually comfortable recommending.
| Budget AMD Athlon 64 AM2 System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| Processor | AMD Athlon 64 (AM2) 3000+ - 1.8GHz 512KB | $74 |
| Motherboard | ASUS M2NPV-VM - NVIDIA GeForce 6150 AM2 | $84 |
| Memory | A-DATA Vitesta 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2-667 5-5-5-15 |
$120 |
| Hard Drive | Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB SATA3.0Gbs 160GB 8MB 7200RPM |
$61 |
| Optical Drive | LiteOn SHW160P6S05 16X DVD+/-RW | $29 |
| System Total | $368 | |
| Complete Package | $654 - $926 | |
 |
We could have chosen to downgrade the CPU to a Sempron model, although it's important to keep in mind the fact that model numbers do not represent identical clock speeds between the Athlon and Sempron families. The Athlon 64 3000+ has a 1.8GHz clock speed, while the Sempron 3400+ has the same clock speed and half the L2 cache. The Sempron 3400+ is about $10 cheaper, but our experience is that it usually won't overclock as far as the Athlon 64 and the L2 cache is important enough that we felt the extra $10 was warranted. If you are really interested in saving money, the best bet would be to downgrade to the Sempron 2800+, which comes with a 1.6GHz clock speed and 128K of cache. If all you are looking for is a system capable of surfing the web and doing office work, such a computer would still be sufficient and you could even get down to the $500 price point with a bit of work. On the other hand, multiple processing cores are the talk of the town these days, so if you'd like more performance than the single core Athlon 64 offers, take a look at our upgraded configurations.
 |
ATI Xpress 1100 might have been a reasonable alternative, but we were unable to find any motherboards using that chipset that included a DVI port. If you don't care at all about overclocking, DVI, or integrated graphics performance, you should be able to get just about any of the current AM2 motherboards using an ATI or NVIDIA chipset. You should also be able to shave up to $30 off the price of the motherboard. However, motherboards are such a critical component that we have to strongly caution against trying to cut costs too much, as often that will result in a somewhat flaky system and/or component incompatibilities.
 |
Instead, we will grudgingly recommend spending more money on a 2x512MB configuration. We have selected the A-DATA Vitesta DDR2-667 memory, which we have found to be highly compatible in our testing, and it is also capable of overclocking a fair amount. Overclocking headroom isn't nearly as important on AM2, as the way memory speeds are derived from the CPU core speed means you can use "ratios" without degrading performance much. As with most DDR2-667 memory, increasing voltage up to around 2.1V should allow you to reach the maximum timings and bandwidth the modules are capable of. Given the various bottlenecks that are likely to exist elsewhere within our base AMD configuration, it's probably best not to worry about it too much and just stick with the default or slightly tweaked performance.
One final memory option worth considering is getting a single 1GB DIMM instead of 2x512MB. Single channel performance might be up to 5% or even 10% slower depending on what task you're doing (typically it's around 2-3% slower), but going with a single 1GB DIMM allows you to add more memory in the future if/when it becomes necessary. This particular ASUS motherboards still has four DIMM slots, so it's not as big of a concern, but if you get one of the other motherboards that only includes two DIMM slots we would strongly recommend going with 1GB memory modules.
We will take a closer look at the remaining components on the budget Intel platform.
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mpc7488 - Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - link
Thanks for the reply. I'd like to caveat my response by saying I'm *not* trying to argue or be a jerk - I just enjoy a good hardware discussion :) I also use your guides for comparison to what I'd do for myself (midrange usually) or for my friends, coworkers, etc. (budget). I totally agree, in this price range, you're still always getting better expandability with these. However, features and performance is much greyer to my mind, and with the right deals I think an OEM with a little tinkering can be a powerful option for the non-power user, even at prices outside of the bottom range.Speakers: point made, I meant to include them and forgot. The X-230s are $31.25 at Newegg (free shipping).
OEM configurations: I've found the trick with Dell is generally not to upgrade their base configurations to get the best deals. For instance, buying the DVD-R/W and speakers from Newegg saves you $38. That can get put towards a real video card, instead of the 7300LE. Upgrades will quickly inflate the price and skew the deal.
Ok, direct comparisons:
Budget AMD: Athlon 64 3000+, 1 GB DDR2-667, 160 GB HDD, GeForce 6150, DVD-R/W, 19” Sceptre, keyboard, mouse, X-230 speakers, Win XP Home, $749
Dell E521: Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 1 GB DDR2-533, 160 GB HDD, GeForce 6150, DVD-R/W, 19” Dell 1907FP Ultrasharp, keyboard, mouse, X-230 speakers, Win XP Home, 1 year on-site warranty, $686.25 (with burner and X-230 speakers from Newegg)
"better expandability, performance, and features at roughly the same price"
Expandability: Without a doubt. This is where OEMs can't compare.
Features: $65 savings for a faster dual-core processor, better monitor, and warranty coverage. You lose DVI output (thanks yehuda) and have slightly slower memory. It's close enough though, as prices will fluctuate, I'll concede this one.
Performance: I'd have to say the crown would go to the 3800+! More impressively for media encoding and Windows tasks than for gaming, with the weak 6150.
Upgraded Budget AMD: Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 2 GB DDR2-533, 250 GB HDD, GeForce 7600GT 256 MB, DVD-R/W (with DVD-RAM), 19” Sceptre, keyboard, mouse, X-230 speakers, Win XP Home, $1090
Upgraded Dell E521: Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 1 GB DDR2-533, 160 GB HDD, GeForce 7900GT 256MB, DVD-R/W (with DVD-RAM), 19” Dell 1907FP Ultrasharp, keyboard, mouse, X-230 speakers, Win XP Home, 1 year on-site warranty, $875 (with burner, PCIe video card and X-230 speakers from Newegg)
Expandability: Without a doubt. This is where OEMs can't compare.
Features: $215 savings for a much faster video card, better monitor, and warranty coverage. You lose 1 GB of memory and HDD space.
Performance: The 7900GT would absolutely smoke the other box in just about any game, even with less RAM. Media encoding and Windows tasks would benefit from the greater RAM of the other config.
Obviously I am bored at work today. To each their own of course - I think OEM builds with alterations can be a powerful adversary, in price, performance and features, to self-builds in the budget price range, especially if overclocking is not a consideration, and shouldn't be relegated to the bottom of the heap. Just my $0.04.
It'd be interesting to see how a custom build would hold up against a Dell box with upgrades, in a cheapo-gaming-and-media-machine shootout.
batter - Friday, November 10, 2006 - link
Nice discussion; I always compare to dell/hp and always decide to build my own: I know what is in it, I build with future upgrades in mind, I do not use proprietory hardware. Also keep in mind that a bunch of people already have a keyboard, mouse, windows license, speakers etc and might even be able to re-use the case and or PS. With that in mind I usually come out ahead.Calin - Thursday, October 26, 2006 - link
For the difference between the Dell and the homebuilt system (75$) you could easily buy a video card with not one but two DVI outputs. So, in features, Dell (with upgrades) would be a better deal(but I would build my own anyway :D )
JarredWalton - Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - link
You can also do:Upgraded Budget AMD Alternative: Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 1 GB DDR2-533, 250 GB HDD, GeForce 7900GT 256 MB, DVD-R/W (with DVD-RAM), 19” Sceptre, keyboard, mouse, X-230 speakers, Win XP Home, $1109 shipped.
Upgraded Dell (purchasing everything from Dell): Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 1 GB DDR2-533, 250 GB HDD, GeForce 7300TC LE, DVD-R/W, 19” 1907FP, keyboard, mouse, 2.1 speakers, Win XP MCE2005, $759 (plus taxes). Add $240 for 7900GT = $999. You still get MS Works for "free" though.
Once you start going online and purchasing upgrades, however, I think you have moved away from your typical Dell PC buyer. Most people either want to buy the whole system with everything they want, or else they will go to a local store to buy a system or just put the whole thing together themselves. If you actually want Dell to put together a better gaming solution -- or anything with even moderately upgraded graphics -- you basically have to move up to their XPS line. That gives you a better CPU and maybe a few other extra perks, but the price suddenly jumps up to $1289.
As you say, you can usually do better getting the base OEM configuration and making upgrades on your own, but I'm not sure how many people really go that route.
yyrkoon - Thursday, October 26, 2006 - link
I recently upgraded for under the cost of your listed upgrade, however I migrated HDDs, mouse, keyboard, monitor, and PSU. In my opinion, this would be a 'true' upgrade for a person such as myself. I could have even saved another $160 usd, if I didnt care about the onboard graphics where gaming is concerned, and unfortunately, for my wallet, I do ;)At last tally, I spent between $750-$800 usd, including the low-end Lian Li case (very nice BTW), eVGA 7600GT, AM2 3800+, Corsair DDR2-6400 XMS (advertised at 5-5-5-18 timings, but my motherboard typicaly detects it as 4-4-4-12, as long as I'm running it stock), and an Asrock AM2NF4G-SATA2 motherboard. I'd like to add that this motherboard is JUNK, it overclocks fine, but the system gets BSoDs regularly, whether I OC it or not. Wont be long before I make a platform upgrade, to a Conroe CPU/ ABIT motherboard . . .
ThelvynD - Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - link
It's a fairly decent monitor and you can pick them up from Newegg right now for 179.99. My biggest complaint about it is the rather cheap stand it's on.imaheadcase - Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - link
That memory is now the most expensive part of a normal computer.Memory manufactors are making a fortune I bet on all types of memory. Not to mention off all these suckers who buy "gaming" memory. "Oh please mom i have to be the best geek on the net to have camo on my memory heatsink spreader!".
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, October 25, 2006 - link
Memory manufacturers make the finished dimms, and almost all of them buy memory chips on the open market from Samsung, Micron, Elpida, and other huge semi-c0nductor manufacturers, This means companies like Corsair, OCZ, Kingston, Mushkin, etc. are as much at the mercy of chip prices as buyers are. I bring this up because the chip makers themselves are where chip prices haves been rising, and that is where the questions should be directed.yyrkoon - Thursday, October 26, 2006 - link
Forgot to mention, look at the latest part (sold by newegg) thats obviously jacked up in price, the 'Killer' network adapter, marketed as the 'the ultimate gaming NIC'. Somehow, I seriously doubt the card is worth $270 usd, I dont care if it shoots sparks out its behind . . .yyrkoon - Thursday, October 26, 2006 - link
Yeah well, Crucial is part of Micron, and they charge more for thier memeory than alot of 'manufactuers', IF you buy direct from them. Then again, if you buy direct from Crucial, IF your memory ever goes bad, they will send you a replacement before they even recieve the bad part (atleast this is what thier reps claim over the phone).I myself paid $230 usd for my Corsair DDR2-6400 XMS memory about 3-4 months ago, 5-5-5-15 timings (supposedly, my system regularly detects it as 4-4-4-12 timings). At the time, I thought it was outrageous, and they also gave me a $50 rebate, which I've recieved by now. Turns out comparred to now, I actually recieved a good price ;)
This all seems to be a trend started by the graphics companies over a year ago, offer a product that you CLAIM is a gaming part, and jack up the price. Motherboard manufactuers, and memory manufactuers just now seem to be catching on, this wont go away, until the kids stop spending mommies, and daddies money on such parts. Hopefully, this trend will go away eventually, and once these companies realize they could actually make more money from people like us who build systems for more than just themselves. *shrug* I dislike buying non branded memory, and preffer a company with a reputation for reliability, but at the same time I refuse to buy parts that have obviously been jacked up, because the manufactuer has turned greedy.