March 2007 Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 2

Intel CPU: Core 2 Duo E6700 (2.66 GHz)

Current Cost: $520
Consecutive Guides: 2
Price Change: +$20

Intel's upper-range processors aren't getting any cheaper, and the Core 2 Duo E6700 has actually gone up in price since it was initially selected for our November guide. Quite a few readers are sure to question why a quad-core part wasn't chosen, but our $4000 budget is far from endless, and moving too far above the $500 level would have taken money away from other parts of the system. The "entry-level" Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 is priced at well over $800 and the Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is pushing $1,000, and both processors were eliminated from consideration for the same budgetary reasons.

Even so, the Core 2 Duo E6700 is by no means a major compromise. Clocked at 90% the speed of Intel's fastest-ever Core 2 Extreme X6800, it still beats AMD's best dual-core solution in the vast majority of benchmarks, while offering an energy-efficient and cool-running architecture. And as we've found out in processor reviews, dual core is more than enough for the current crop of games.

AMD CPU: Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.00 GHz)

Current Cost: $460
Consecutive Guides: New
Price Change: N/A

AMD has finally caved to pressure from Intel's mid-priced E6700, presenting a new Athlon 64 X2 model that is both faster and less expensive than the FX-62 we included in November's guide. The Athlon 64 X2 6000+ features an FX-level 2x1MB of L2 cache and ships clocked at 3.0GHz - all for under $500.

AMD's recent 65nm manufacturing process has not yet worked its way up to the highest speed parts, so the added clock speed in this 90nm Windsor core does come at the expense of some overclocking ability. On the other hand, the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ is clocked 200 MHz higher than the FX-62 it replaces and costs several hundred dollars less, so overclocking is more of a privilege than a performance necessity.

Cooling: Thermalright Ultra 120

Current Cost of Cooler: $45 (+$7 for AM2 Mounting Kit)
Selected Fan: $15
Consecutive Guides: 2
Price Change: -$20

Thermalright still gets a lot of press over the cooling power of its Ultra 120, a seriously large 120mm-fan supporting flat tower design with huge surface area and four U-shaped heat pipes (effectively an 8-pipe design). This should prove the perfect match for buyers who think our processor choices are "too slow" as excessive cooling leaves extra overclocking headroom. Adding value in place of "age", it has dropped $15 from our November guide.

AMD users will still need to buy a separate mounting kit, which will add $7 to the bill.

The Scythe S-Flex SFF21E 1200RPM cooling fan remains our choice for the "bare" Ultra 120, providing 49CFM at 20.1db. Its price is down $5 from the November guide.