Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/837



Introduction

It's back! After a summer vacation and countless requests, the AnandTech Weekly Price Guides are back in full effect. The Guide has received a few changes but its goal remains: to give you the best deals on the hardware you want to buy. As usual the Guide is broken into two parts: CPU & Video Cards and Memory & Motherboards. This week is the return of the CPU & Video Cards Price Guide and next Thursday you'll see the return of the Memory & Motherboards Price Guide.

We select vendors to appear in our Price Guides based on two requirements: solid consumer feedback and having the lowest possible pricing. You'll notice that these vendors aren't paying us to be listed here; we do not accept requests to be listed here. We have tried to eliminate vendors with low feedback rating, but we do encourage you to do your own research before purchasing from any of these vendors.

With the new and improved Price Guides we have not only increased our standards when evaluating online vendors, but we have also partnered up with our friends at CNet to offer yet another service to you all. Using CNet's Shopper.com search engine we can provide you with an additional pool of vendors to search from that are checked up on by CNet. You can wade through those results by clicking on the CNet Pricing link in the second to last column on the right.

If there are any problems with the guide or a vendor's pricing changes dramatically then be sure to email the author listed at the top of the page and we'll take appropriate action. Remember that although some vendors may be cheaper, we only list those with generally positive feedback from a decent number of consumers. As usual, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to email us or post in the AnandTech Forums.

Also be sure to check out AnandTech's Hot Deals Forum for even more great CPU, video card and other technology buys.

Disclaimer

AnandTech does not endorse any vendor listed in the following price guide. AnandTech does not sell positions on the Price Guide. AnandTech nor any of the vendors listed in this guide guarantee the prices presented in the following pages.

This Week

Since this is the first week back from the summer hiatus there are no price changes listed in the Guide. We will reintroduce Price Tracking in our next CPU & Video Card Price Guide due out in 2 weeks.



AMD CPUs

Weekly AMD CPU Prices
CPU
Price
Change
Vendor
Shipping
CNet Pricing
Notes
Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz)
$215
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47GHz)
$155
Viking Computers
$9.95
OEM
Athlon XP 1600+ (1.40GHz)
$127
Viking Computers
$9.95
OEM
Athlon XP 1500+ (1.33GHz)
$116
EconoPC
$10.75
OEM
Athlon MP 1800+ (1.53GHz)*
$295
Monarch Computer
See Site
OEM
Athlon MP 1600+ (1.40GHz)*
$195
Lynn Computer Products
See Site
OEM
Athlon MP 1500+ (1.33GHz)*
$185
Lynn Computer Products
See Site
OEM
Athlon MP 1.2GHz*
$154
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Athlon MP 1.0GHz*
$146
EconoPC
$10.75
OEM
Athlon-C 1.4GHz
$114
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Athlon-C 1.33GHz
$91
Viking Computers
$10.95
OEM
Athlon-C 1.2GHz
$81
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Athlon-C 1.13GHz
$80
Compubuzz
$10.74
OEM
Athlon 1.4GHz
$117
CnetPC
$10.55
OEM
Athlon 1.3GHz
$92
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Athlon 1.2GHz
$84
EconoPC
$10.75
OEM
Athlon 1.1GHz
$80
Compubuzz
$10.74
OEM
Athlon 1.0GHz
$77
Accubyte
$10.75
OEM
Athlon 950MHz
$55
Viking Computers
$10
OEM
Athlon 900MHz
$49
Newegg.com
$10
OEM
Athlon 850MHz
$50
Compubuzz
$10.74
OEM
Duron 1.1GHz
$92
Spartan Technologies Inc.
$10
OEM
Duron 1.0GHz
$61
IComPz.com
$10.75
OEM
Duron 950MHz
$55
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Duron 900MHz
$46
Viking Computers
$10.95
OEM
Duron 850MHz
$35
Viking Computers
$10.95
OEM
Duron 800MHz
$35
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM

We leave for a couple of months and all of the sudden AMD CPUs become even more affordable. The top of the line Athlon XP 1800+ carries a price premium that really isn't worth the performance increase over the next best offering (1700+). Remember that in spite of the 100 point difference in model numbers, there is only a 4% difference in clock speed and sometimes an even smaller difference in performance. Be sure to look at our Athlon XP Review for more information on the performance of the CPU.

The XP 1600+ gets our recommendation since it offers a great balance of performance and price. We have been hearing some fairly positive overclocking stories so you may be able to get 1800+ performance out of your 1600+ chip.

The Athlon MP processors are just multiprocessor enabled versions of the new Palomino core for use in 2P workstations; the chips themselves are no difference from the new XPs but AMD officially validates them for 2P operation. Because of this they do carry a price premium over the desktop Athlon XPs although both work just fine in 2P systems.

The Thunderbird based Athlon CPUs are now a dying breed; there is no longer a reason to purchase an Athlon-C (266MHz FSB) 1.4GHz since it is only $2 cheaper than the Athlon XP 1500+. The regular Athlons (200MHz FSB) are even less attractive as they are even slower but they are necessary for those of you that don't have motherboards with 266MHz FSB support. If you must go with a 200MHz FSB Athlon then we recommend the 950MHz part at $55.

The Duron continues to redefine entry-level pricing as you can now pick up a Duron 850 for less than dinner and a movie for two.

Recent Related Reviews

AMD Athlon XP: Great performance, poor marketing

AMD's New Duron: Now at 1GHz

AMD Athlon 4: Palomino is here



Intel CPUs

Weekly Intel CPU Prices
CPU
Price
Change
Vendor
Shipping
CNet Pricing
Notes
Pentium 4 2.0GHz (Socket 478)
$553
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Pentium 4 1.9GHz (Socket 478)
$365
Newegg.com
$10
OEM
Pentium 4 1.8GHz (Socket 478)
$261
Atacom, Inc.
$9.25
OEM
Pentium 4 1.7GHz (Socket 478)
$192
Newegg.com
$10
OEM
Pentium 4 1.6GHz (Socket 478)
$169
Newegg.com
$10
Retail
Pentium 4 1.5GHz (Socket 478)
$158
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Pentium 4 2.0GHz (Socket 423)
$515
Viking Computers
$10.75
OEM
Pentium 4 1.9GHz (Socket 423)
$373
EconoPC
$10.75
OEM
Pentium 4 1.8GHz (Socket 423)
$246
RunTime Computer
$8.80
OEM
Pentium 4 1.7GHz (Socket 423)
$178
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Pentium 4 1.6GHz (Socket 423)
$150
RunTime Computer
$8.80
OEM
Pentium 4 1.5GHz (Socket 423)
$124
Compubuzz
$10.74
OEM
Pentium III 1.2GHz
$280
Googlegear.com
$10.24
Retail
Pentium III 1.13 GHz
$195
Power Up, Inc.
$8.95
OEM
Pentium III 1.0 GHz
$164
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Pentium III 933 MHz
$142
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Pentium III 866 MHz
$128
EconoPC
$10.75
OEM
Pentium III 850 MHz
$121
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Pentium III 800B MHz
$101
Accubyte
$10.95
OEM
Pentium III 750 MHz
$91
Compubuzz
$10.74
OEM
Pentium III 733 MHz
$97
PC Progress
$11.00
OEM
Celeron 1.1GHz
$99
Googlegear.com
$10.24
Retail
Celeron 1.0GHz
$67
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Celeron 950MHz
$69
Compubuzz
$10.74
OEM
Celeron 900MHz
$47
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM
Celeron 850MHz
$44
Newegg.com
$10
OEM
Celeron 800MHz
$41
Thompson Computer Warehouse, Inc
$6.95
OEM

The first thing you'll notice is that very few of the CNet vendors had any Pentium 4 or Pentium III processors listed; very interesting indeed. There is no longer a reason to purchase any Socket-423 Pentium 4 CPUs and the best bang for your buck ends up being at 1.6GHz.

The Tualatin based Pentium IIIs are still very expensive and do require new Socket-370 motherboards thus making them less desirable of an upgrade path to current Socket-370 Pentium III owners.

The Celerons have dropped in price considerably, but the new 0.13-micron processors are still rare and too expensive to list as a value solution. We'll most likely add them in the next Guide.

Recent Related Reviews

Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz: The clock strikes two

Intel Pentium III 1.2GHz 0.13-micron Tualatin: The Celeron of the Future



Video Cards

Weekly Video Card Prices
Video Card
Price
Change
Vendor
Shipping
CNet Pricing
Notes
ATI Radeon 8500
$211
Atacom, Inc.
$9.50
OEM
ATI Radeon 7500
$149
Atacom, Inc.
$9.50
OEM
ATI Radeon 7200
$69
Newegg.com
$10
OEM
ATI Radeon 64 DDR
$145
Comp-U-Plus
$14.95
OEM
ATI Radeon VE
$49
Newegg.com
$10
OEM
NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500
$319
Accubyte
$10.95
Retail
NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200
$174
ENPC.com
$9
OEM
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ti 200
$116
OCIE.com
$9
OEM

The past couple of months have been very big for the graphics market with the release of NVIDIA's Titanium line and ATI's Radeon 8500. Without a doubt the best buy here goes to the GeForce3 Ti 200 which not only performs very well but carries a pretty decent price tag for its performance.

If you're not a gamer, then the dual display capabilities of the ATI Radeon VE will definitely impress you as will its very low price tag.

Recent Related Reviews

ATI's Radeon 8500: She's got potential

NVIDIA's Fall Product Line: GeForce3 Titanium

Dual Display Comparison - February 2001

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