[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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Link :

Value Cpu Roundup

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

posting this from my $100 Amd Phenom II 555 running at 3.4 Gigahertsz on an MSI 770-C45 mouther board AM3 with DDR3 memory at 1600 .

See conclusion where 555 is the winner.

great to have large Cache for browsing....seems to help with Firefox, Linux Mint , compiz with 8 desktops available and multiple tabs...usually between 20 and 50.

[garyhope]

Thanks for posting this. I’m currently in the looking and thinking about doing a new build stage.

I’m wondering what is the best future proof CPU that will still be worthwhile 2 or 3 years down the road. Does that mean an i7 only? An i7 system is only a few hundred dollars (pennies per day over 2 or 3 years) more than a good AMD AM3 quad core right now, but what will hold up the best over a few years?

This would be mostly for multi monitor financial trading and just surfing the net. I’m not a gamer.

Opinions please.

[Sprite518]

Let me tell you a little secret that Intel and AMD do not want people to know. The truth is the actual cost (once everything is set up which it is) to make a chip is about 3 to 4 cents (now this was in 2000). Trust me I know someone on the inside that broke it down for me. I was shocked. I don’t believe the actual cost has gone up to much 10 cents at the most. 99% of the people DO NOT know this. I can see why...

[freedumb2003]

It’s a great way to go but it is the software that gets you. Unless you are willing to have 100% free/sharewaye (Ubuntu, Star Office, etc.) then by the time you are done with the most basic packages you have exceeded the cost of a simple desktop (these days about $400).

For hobbying, putting together a computer is a lot of fun.

Just noting. YMMV...

[ShadowAce]

[conservativehusker]

Ping for later

[OldMissileer]

I have built every computer I have owned, except for my first in 1992.

I have built hundreds for special purposes for the DoD over the years and last year I finally tossed my old Slot 1 units for new AMD Dual Core CPUs on ASUS motherboards.

I know there are better but I loaded them each with 8 Gigs of DDR2 PC800 RAM, Windows XP Pro 64bit, and 500Mb 256K interface graphics cards.

My son loves his for the gaming and I have no problems processing video and photo files quickly.

They should last several years before I have to do it again.

[JoeProBono]

[Vision]

bm

[Billthedrill]

Wow - it comes, it goes, and this swing of the pendulum means that home-builts are cost-effective once again. W00t!

I'm gonna git me an EISA motherboard with a 512-MB hard drive and this time I'm laying down the money for a math co-processor. You guys are gonna be soooo jealous...

[surfer]

I also suggest the following links to review when looking for new hardware.

http://www.dailytech.com/

The daily hardware reviews are really good. Just ignore any blog posts by Jason Mick - helpless liberal.

Also this site is excellent.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/

[SunkenCiv]

:') Thanks Ernest!

Intel Core i5 750 = $195 -- Without question this modestly clocked 2.66GHz quad-core processor is the most powerful product featured in this round-up. Whereas the Phenom II X4 processors carried a 6MB L3 cache, the Core i5 750 bumps this figure to an even larger 8MB L3 cache.

BTW, is your system homebuilt, and regardless, did you overclock it?

[SunkenCiv]

BTW, thanks for the answer to my question. If I wind up building one, I probably will use this one, add a video card, use one of the old cases around here, and i5 quad 750.