Introduction
Greetings and welcome to our March 2006 CPU price guide. We’ll take a look this week at the latest offerings from both AMD and Intel while also making a few product recommendations that we deem worthy. All of the prices presented here come from our RTPE, so feel free to search there for any of your other computer hardware needs. We try to have all the latest and greatest items in our database, but if there is anything you cannot find listed, drop us a line and we'll do our best to add it! We strive to make shopping around for the best deals as easy as possible for our readers.
Starting with a broad overview of the market, we are again noticing that the Intel Celeron Ds are at incredibly low prices, making them a sure buy for anyone looking for a decent, low performance chip. Sempron chips also compete well on the budget price range, but we really wish that socket 939 versions were made available to the retail market. While the AMD X2 CPUs have been quite stagnant, we have noticed that the single-core Athlon 64s, Pentium 4s and Pentium D processors have seen a very mediocre price adjustment. The big news is the release of the Intel Pentium D 805, which is now far and away the cheapest dual-core processor available. It might not be the fastest chip, but in terms of price/performance ratio, it's a difficult option to beat.
One item that we need to bring up right now and address is the pending release dates for both AMD and Intel next-generation platforms. Both are about four to six months away, and while it appears that Conroe will offer a serious performance boost to Intel, we don't normally recommend waiting that long if you're ready to upgrade. AMD socket AM2 at present doesn't sound like it will offer any major performance boost, so for the AMD crowd, we definitely don't recommend waiting unless you're happy with your current system. If you are happy with your system, then, of course, you're better off waiting. This philosophy has always been what we recommend: upgrade your system when you are unhappy with performance, not just when something faster comes out.
Let’s take a close look and venture further into the guide, beginning with the dual-core processors.
Greetings and welcome to our March 2006 CPU price guide. We’ll take a look this week at the latest offerings from both AMD and Intel while also making a few product recommendations that we deem worthy. All of the prices presented here come from our RTPE, so feel free to search there for any of your other computer hardware needs. We try to have all the latest and greatest items in our database, but if there is anything you cannot find listed, drop us a line and we'll do our best to add it! We strive to make shopping around for the best deals as easy as possible for our readers.
Starting with a broad overview of the market, we are again noticing that the Intel Celeron Ds are at incredibly low prices, making them a sure buy for anyone looking for a decent, low performance chip. Sempron chips also compete well on the budget price range, but we really wish that socket 939 versions were made available to the retail market. While the AMD X2 CPUs have been quite stagnant, we have noticed that the single-core Athlon 64s, Pentium 4s and Pentium D processors have seen a very mediocre price adjustment. The big news is the release of the Intel Pentium D 805, which is now far and away the cheapest dual-core processor available. It might not be the fastest chip, but in terms of price/performance ratio, it's a difficult option to beat.
One item that we need to bring up right now and address is the pending release dates for both AMD and Intel next-generation platforms. Both are about four to six months away, and while it appears that Conroe will offer a serious performance boost to Intel, we don't normally recommend waiting that long if you're ready to upgrade. AMD socket AM2 at present doesn't sound like it will offer any major performance boost, so for the AMD crowd, we definitely don't recommend waiting unless you're happy with your current system. If you are happy with your system, then, of course, you're better off waiting. This philosophy has always been what we recommend: upgrade your system when you are unhappy with performance, not just when something faster comes out.
Let’s take a close look and venture further into the guide, beginning with the dual-core processors.
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AlexWade - Monday, March 27, 2006 - link
I want to know where I can get a Core Yonah CPU. I can't find one outside of a Mac or a pre-built.Also, I was thinking about this earlier. In the Conroe benchmark, did Intel compare a dual-core (Conroe) against a single-core (FX-57)? Would a better comparison be a FX-60 which is also dual-core. I was just wondering. I won't be buying Conroe anytime soon, you know it will cost far too much. Anyway, I may be ignorant. I was just trying to clarify. Reply
JarredWalton - Monday, March 27, 2006 - link
It was an overclocked (2.80 GHz) FX-60, so both were dual core. Unless there was something tricky done behind the scenes - possible but not likely IMO - Core is looking quite nice!Yonah Core Solo/Duo are not yet available as retail chips. You can get them in laptops from most of the major OEMs now, but otherwise you're stuck waiting. I'm not sure if there are any shipping non-laptop platforms for the chips anyway, though. (I actually checked out some price engines to see if I could find any Core chips on the market, and I couldn't, which is why they aren't in this Price Guide.) Reply
hravn - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Hmm, that's weird. Here in Sweden they are available (and in stock) from lots of retailers. ReplyDarthPierce - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Yes, I also find that weird..... where are you unable to find them from? A quick look at newegg (one of the largest etailers in the US) shows they have the 1.66, 1.83, and 2.0 GHz yonah chips in stock for $244, 293, and 417 respectively.I was also wondering why these guys aren't in the reviews since the turion and pentium-M are... Reply
rrcn - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
Thanks.I have gone ahead and added them into the guide.
Haider Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - link
I don't believe I saw them listed last week, but I may have been mistaken. I do know that they only showed up in the RTPE as of today - Haider already added them. I could swear they weren't in stock when I looked last Friday. Maybe I was just too sleepy from staying up late playing Oblivion? ;) Replykmmatney - Monday, March 27, 2006 - link
"upgrade your system when you are unhappy with performance, not just when something faster comes out."I totally agree with that one. There are far too many clowns on these forums who constantly upgrade for no reason whatsoever, often only gaining 100-200 MHz after overclocking. Drive's me nuts...
Reply
Dfere - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - link
WOW- not only do the authors need to check for typo's!As in : The article drives your nuts where????? Reply
NerV04 - Monday, March 27, 2006 - link
i also completely agreeim still running on my 2800XP with a 9800xt and it still gets everything i want done. I can still play the games i want at medium settings cause i really cant notice the difference at the highest settings at times...
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Poser - Monday, March 27, 2006 - link
I'm still running a 1600+ XP coupled to a 6600GT. The graphics card is completely unable to fufill it's potential, but it runs Half-Life 2 like a charm and that's about the only FPS I've been interested in. I've spec'd out an upgrade multiple times, getting as far as having all the items in my newegg shopping cart before finally asking myself -- what would I be spending the money for? My current rig still does what I want it to. I've got plenty of money right now, but I don't have a good reason to part with it. Reply