Price Guide, February/March 2006: Motherboards
by Haider Farhan on February 28, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Introduction
Welcome to the latest edition of our price guides, where this week, we'll take a look at the current trends in the motherboard marketplace. As always, we like to start by quickly mentioning our Real-Time Pricing Engine. Speaking of which, we have some stellar news about the RTPE. About a week ago, we had all of our databases updated, including the RTPE's. So for now, those who had stated that the RTPE was just so slow making it unbearable to use will have no excuse to not give it another shot. A few tweaks here and there have made using the RTPE much more user friendly and enjoyable.
There hasn't been too much action with motherboard pricing; although, we are noticing that the i975X chipset based boards are becoming more common and the latest offering for Intel CPU users is the nForce 4 Ultra for the socket 775, which has recently dropped into the market. We are also noticing that many of the socket 754 motherboards are gradually decreasing in number and at this rate, it appears as though they will be phased out soon enough.
Beginning this week's motherboard price guide, we will first take a look at the Athlon 64 socket 939 motherboards.
Welcome to the latest edition of our price guides, where this week, we'll take a look at the current trends in the motherboard marketplace. As always, we like to start by quickly mentioning our Real-Time Pricing Engine. Speaking of which, we have some stellar news about the RTPE. About a week ago, we had all of our databases updated, including the RTPE's. So for now, those who had stated that the RTPE was just so slow making it unbearable to use will have no excuse to not give it another shot. A few tweaks here and there have made using the RTPE much more user friendly and enjoyable.
There hasn't been too much action with motherboard pricing; although, we are noticing that the i975X chipset based boards are becoming more common and the latest offering for Intel CPU users is the nForce 4 Ultra for the socket 775, which has recently dropped into the market. We are also noticing that many of the socket 754 motherboards are gradually decreasing in number and at this rate, it appears as though they will be phased out soon enough.
Beginning this week's motherboard price guide, we will first take a look at the Athlon 64 socket 939 motherboards.
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Marlin1975 - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
What about VIA for the Intel boards. The Asrock and other PT880pro boards are getting a lot of talk with the support of the 805 dual core chip. i.e. $200 gets a dual core P-D and a board with AGP and PCIe.Phiro - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
Why on earth do you relegate the mATX market to a niche group?Your article flow for AMD starts off with everything 939 then on the second page you say "on to socket 754", which is a dead as hell market. AFTER all of that is done, then you slip in a chunk of 939 6100/6150 boards. No comments on those boards, they aren't grouped with the rest of the 939 boards. It's all about the back of the bus for mATX 939 boards, isn't it?
The 6100/6150 didn't land on Plymouth Rock, did it? Plymouth Rock landed on the 6100/6150!
Calin - Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - link
The market for Socket 754 boards is based around the cheap Sempron processors. The minute I can buy a Socket 939 Sempron processor (preferably boxed) for $60 or around, I will forget about the Socket 754. Until the cheapest Socket 939 variants are double that, 754 is a viable platform.About mATX boards... even if I haven't bought one, I am thinking at buying one...
JarredWalton - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
I've moved the remaining IGP 939 boards to the top of the second page. No slight was intended, but there are a lot of boards to cover and sometimes things end up in odd places.DigitalFreak - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
Man, I wish AM2 was going to be released sooner. I'm jonesing to replace my P4 system.SonicIce - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
wheres 939/AGP? :(JarredWalton - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
Unless you're looking to replace an old (broken) 939 board, I can't see any point in purchasing a new 939 AGP board. The ASRock ULi board is your best bet for AGP 939 at this point, as it has both AGP and PCIe X16.JarredWalton - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - link
Note: I've added a paragraph on the second page highlighting this information. If you disagree with our assessment of AGP boards, please direct complaints towards me and I'll be happy to discuss the situation. Basically, what's the best AGP card out there right now? 7800GS, or perhaps the outdated X850XTPE (outdated as in no SM3.0). 7800 GS costs close to $300 and offers inferior performance compared to the 7800 GT.Starting at around $285 (not counting MIRs), you can get a 7800GT. Throw in a PCIe board starting around $75, and it's difficult to support AGP as a platform any longer. Again, if you have a fast AGP card and you need a new 939 board, the ASRock is a great option. Low price, support for AGP and PCIe, and it performs well in nearly all areas.