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Buyer’s Guide to Budget Motherboard and CPU Bundles - Intel
siliconbits
Posts: 389 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
I posted it on my blog (can't link to it I think). So rather than leave the content there, I figured out that I posted it here as well
As for Intel, it is delivering terrific value for money. While only one processor socket rules them all, it is slightly more problematic than that because Intel has several chipsets for different segments.
Forget socket 478 motherboards, they are already obsolete. Look rather for Socket 775 models models.
But first the processor that I will go for is the Celeron D 326. 2.533GHz with a 533MHz FSB, 256Kb cache with EMT64 compatibility, three year warranty and a Heat Sink Fan included, all for only £29.22.
It has a dark secret though. You would probably be able to overclock it a bit. It is built on 90nm process and with a Prescott Core. I expect it to reach more than 3GHz easily.
As for the motherboard, well, same situation as for AMD. There's the MSI 649 Neo-V, which is a non-integrated motherboard.
It has most of the features that you would find on entry level models plus this one has a PCIe slot. Only £27.86
If you are looking for an integrated video card for yor board, I urge you to consider the MSI RC410M-L which is a mATX model with the Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, which itself comes with the X300 core, much better than other non-Intel graphics out there.
It is DDR2 compatible, is RAID compatible, has 7.1 audio and most interesting, it seems to have Firewire onboard. Am not sure about the last one. But for only £29.99, this is a heck of a motherboard even if various reviews that its overclocking is fairly poor.
Well, at the end of the day, it seems that Intel is marginally better than AMD. The boards are cheaper and so are the processors. Intel Bundles start from £58.32 while AMD's at £66.89. Hence, Intel's entry level bundle is around 14% cheaper than AMD's.
Ebuyer has a few bundle deals for those who are ready to grab them. The interesting thing with those deals is that quite a few of them are built around Mobile AMD XP2800+ processors - that's no Sempron, which are cooler to run and should overclock a bit. Unfortunately, you can forget upgradability with those few.
Legionhardware overclocked the AMD processor here to 2.4GHz, a 50% improvement.
Behardware did the same exercise with both processors
Sleektech reached 3.6GHz using the Celeron D
As for Intel, it is delivering terrific value for money. While only one processor socket rules them all, it is slightly more problematic than that because Intel has several chipsets for different segments.
Forget socket 478 motherboards, they are already obsolete. Look rather for Socket 775 models models.
But first the processor that I will go for is the Celeron D 326. 2.533GHz with a 533MHz FSB, 256Kb cache with EMT64 compatibility, three year warranty and a Heat Sink Fan included, all for only £29.22.
It has a dark secret though. You would probably be able to overclock it a bit. It is built on 90nm process and with a Prescott Core. I expect it to reach more than 3GHz easily.
As for the motherboard, well, same situation as for AMD. There's the MSI 649 Neo-V, which is a non-integrated motherboard.
It has most of the features that you would find on entry level models plus this one has a PCIe slot. Only £27.86
If you are looking for an integrated video card for yor board, I urge you to consider the MSI RC410M-L which is a mATX model with the Radeon Xpress 200 chipset, which itself comes with the X300 core, much better than other non-Intel graphics out there.
It is DDR2 compatible, is RAID compatible, has 7.1 audio and most interesting, it seems to have Firewire onboard. Am not sure about the last one. But for only £29.99, this is a heck of a motherboard even if various reviews that its overclocking is fairly poor.
Well, at the end of the day, it seems that Intel is marginally better than AMD. The boards are cheaper and so are the processors. Intel Bundles start from £58.32 while AMD's at £66.89. Hence, Intel's entry level bundle is around 14% cheaper than AMD's.
Ebuyer has a few bundle deals for those who are ready to grab them. The interesting thing with those deals is that quite a few of them are built around Mobile AMD XP2800+ processors - that's no Sempron, which are cooler to run and should overclock a bit. Unfortunately, you can forget upgradability with those few.
Legionhardware overclocked the AMD processor here to 2.4GHz, a 50% improvement.
Behardware did the same exercise with both processors
Sleektech reached 3.6GHz using the Celeron D
:rolleyes: Links are a man's best friends.com
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