RAM, CPU, and OS
Our selection of memory was yet another difficult choice as the prices for high quality DDR2-800 memory is almost absurd at this time. We mean that in a good way as a year ago the prices were absurdly high at this time. In the end, we decided upon the
Patriot eXtreme Performance DDR2-800 2GB kit,
SUPER TALENT DDR2-800 2GB kit, and the
OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB kit as our memory selections. However, due to recent price reductions we would not hesitate recommending the
Crucial or
G.Skill DDR2-800 2GB kits. Our base configuration for each of our platform setups consists of 2GB but all boards with be additionally tested with a 4GB configuration in both stock and overclocked conditions to ensure compatibility with four DIMMs.
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The price war between Intel and AMD continues unabated at this time. While that is very good for consumers, it has made our choice of processors difficult to nail down for testing. Our initial choice was the AMD X2 3800+ versus the Intel E2140, but with the recent price reductions and the elimination of the X2 3800+ from AMD's product roadmap we ended up pairing the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ against the Intel E2160 for our main test results. Both CPUs are priced right around the $85~$90 range and as you will see they offer great performance for the dollar. When we get to the platform testing we will provide additional results with the AMD X2 BE-2300 Energy Efficient CPU, AMD Athlon X2 6000+, Intel E6320 Core 2 Duo, and the Intel Q6600 Quad Core for our ultimate budget gaming system.
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The Operating System decision actually turned out to be fairly easy. We still use Windows XP on a daily basis in most of our systems but we have already switched over to Vista for our motherboard testing. Unfortunately, we have been using Vista Ultimate 64-bit but that particular version of Vista just did not make sense at this time for our budget minded µATX roundup. We chose Vista Home Premium 32-bit as our operating system of choice. Not only do most OEM systems ship (often exclusively) with Vista but generally the consumer machines come preloaded with Vista Home Premium 32-bit for compatibility reasons. Whether we like it or not, Vista is the future for Windows based machines so our configuration reflects this trend. The use of Microsoft's latest OS will also serve as a good indication of how up-to-date motherboard manufacturers are in the driver department.
Our other operating system choice is SUSE Linux 10.2. We have received countless requests asking about Linux compatibility on the motherboards we review so we decided to check it out for ourselves with a commercially available package. Our testing will not be as rigorous or extensive as our standard Windows test routines. In fact, let's just say our initial foray into the world of Linux will mostly consist of checking compatibility and driver support at this time. We will provide our results at the very end of the roundup and hopefully our experiences will be helpful for those first time Linux users. (While we're really not interested in starting up a lengthy discussion of which distro is best, if
you are then feel free to
head over to the forums.)
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yyrkoon - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Well you see . . . I often take reviews from *any* review site with a grain of salt anyhow (personally). There are many reasons why, but one of the major reasons is that most reviewers only test a single board. I like to read user reviews from sites like newegg to get a broader 'idea' of how the board works in use, and potential problems that may crop up. Granted, you need to weed out the 'weenies' and their reviews to get at the heart of the matter. This is one factor why I choose ABIT boards, they have a very active forum, and if there are problems with a board, you can bet it will be plastered all over ABITs forums. That, and often times you can get your problem solved very quickly there, and I have seen Anandtech staff there helping ABIT make their boards the best they can be. However, I really do wish ABIT would do away with their current replacement policy, but I guess it is to be expected (replacing bad parts with remanufactuered/recertified parts, would be nice to get a new part, for a new part). Thankfully, I have rarely had the need to replace any motherboard from ABIT.Alyx - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
I must agree, it is their choice. Personally I skip most articles too, I read the first and last pages and maybe glance at charts. Its mostly just to keep me informed.If I'm buying though I read every word. Devil's in the details.
ATWindsor - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
"While performance is important, does a few tenths of second or an additional two frames per second in a benchmark really mean that much when you cannot get a USB port working due to a crappy BIOS release or your system does not properly recover from S3 sleep state when you are set to record the last episode of the Sopranos? "I couldn't agreee more, the main thing is that the board works, miniscule performance-differnces comes far behind in importance.
AtW
Mazen - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
The timing of this article couldn't be better. I really look forward to see what you guys have to say. Question is, how long do we have to wait before we can read it (yes, impatient!). I'll contribute coffee!JarredWalton - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Word on the street is Gary will have the first part posted within the next week. Beyond that... guess we'll see.Mazen - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
Woooo Hoooo! Can hardly wait for next weekAlyx - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Where in the world did you find these? I see newegg has the lower end Swan stuff but I couldn't seem to find any retailers that sold these speakers.Must be to new?
Alyx - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
nvm. Looks like The Audio Insider is the only place to carry them that I can find. Didn't realize that they sold speakers (Based on the name I thought they did reviews).http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?pr...">http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?pr...
Bozo Galora - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
OMG!! Reviews that reflect actual "in use" reality??
Reviews that dont fear to tread on alienating a manufacturer that ADVERTISES on AT??
Articles where the reviewer is not terrified that the vendor will cut them off from free samples and insider info??
No more hand selected or engineering sample salivating previews????
Are you saying after 8 years of "we are sure the next bios release (due out in 2 days) will fix everything", you are finally breaking free???
This is unprecedented.
Who woulda thunk it.
Will wonders never cease.
It may even start a trend - ha
sprockkets - Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - link
Do any of the tuner cards you tested allow you to record Xvid and mp3? My leadtek did but some other programs for other tuner cards didn't allow you to use the direct show codecs directly.Also, does vista in general not allow you to use the CDROM/AUX input on the sound card? I have a Foxconn nForce 4 board with onboard audio, and when using Vista on it, it decided I didn't need the cdrom audio input anymore, but kept all the others. I can't use the Leadtek tuner card because that is how it outputs audio. Thanks Microsoft!