August Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide - Page 8

Price Roundup

AMD Athlon 64 X2 System

Case: RAIDMAX Smilodon ATX-612WBP (with 500W PSU) - $85
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.0 GHz) Retail - $170
Cooling: included Retail HSF - $0
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 (570 SLI) AM2 - $95
Memory: Corsair XMS2 DDR2-667 2x1-GB- $78
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SE 200GB (8-MB) SATA 3.0 Gb/s - $54
Video Card: GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB (PCIe) - $160
Monitor: 19" LCD with 5-8ms Refresh - $165
Sound Card: 8-Channel Integrated - $0
Speakers: Logitech X-530 6-Piece Speaker System - $48
CD/DVD-ROM: LG GSA-H62NK 18X SATA DVD Writer - $29
Communications: Onboard LAN - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX310 - $23
Keyboard: Microsoft Digital Media Pro Keyboard - $14
Operating System: Windows XP Home or Vista Home Basic- $76

Total: $997

Intel Core 2 Duo System

Case: RAIDMAX Smilodon ATX-612WBP (with 500W PSU) - $85
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6750 (2.66GHz) Retail - $198
Cooling: included Retail HSF - $0
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (P35) - $92
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM DDR2-667 2x1-GB - $65
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SE 200GB (8-MB) SATA 3.0 Gb/s - $54
Video Card: GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB (PCIe) - $160
Monitor: 19" LCD with 5-8ms Refresh - $165
Sound Card: 8-Channel Integrated - $0
Speakers: Logitech X-530 6-Piece Speaker System - $48
CD/DVD-ROM: LG GSA-H62NK 18X SATA DVD Writer - $29
Communications: Onboard LAN - $0
Mouse: Logitech MX310 - $23
Keyboard: Microsoft Digital Media Pro Keyboard - $14
Operating System: Windows XP Home or Vista Home Basic- $76

Total: $1,009

Closing Remarks

Our latest Value Gaming PC Buyer's Guide upgrades overall performance in one very important area, which is always a primary objective. The move to the 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo E6750 is a serious speed injection, while the new 3.0 GHz Athlon 64 X2 6000+ is a welcome upgrade for AMD buyers. Other changes included a new system enclosure, brand new AMD and Intel motherboards, a 19" LCD, a SATA DVD writer, and even a new keyboard. Some of the other sections will be harder to upgrade, and it's difficult to imagine needing more than 2GB of DDR2 in the foreseeable future.

Both the AMD and Intel systems continue to show very high performance levels, although we'd give the edge to the Intel configuration. The ability to add a 2.66 GHz Core 2 running on the 1333 MHz bus for under $200 is a real feat, and it helps the Intel value system put some distance between it and AMD. The Athlon 64 X2 6000+ is certainly no slouch, and this was the flagship AMD processor until just recently, when the 3.2 GHz Athlon 64 X2 6400+ replaced it.

The rest of the system configuration is solid, and includes high-end PCI Express motherboards, a 19" LCD, 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 Gb/s hard drives, a SATA DVD writer, and a very fast GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB PCIe video card. If overall value is your main goal, these AMD and Intel gaming PCs certainly deliver, and both offer a noticeable price-performance advantage over our higher-end buyer's guide configurations.

* Please note that the prices in our guide do not include shipping costs or taxes. The final system price also reflects a "best case" scenario of finding an online vendor that stocks the majority of internal components, or having access to a number of local computer retailers for system quotes and comparison shopping.