AMD Plans On Releasing $99 Quad Core
AMD plans to release the first sub-$100 quad-core chip with Windows 7 in mind. This is of course yet another competitive act aimed at Intel.
According to AMD, this new chip is priced at $99 “for system builders”. Mike Ybarra, general manager of Windows Product Management at Microsoft, stated, “The introduction of the new AMD mainstream desktop platform coupled with Windows 7, allows…a faster, higher performing experience at an attractive price point”.
The new chip is said to be able to keep up with more expensive quad cores such as Intel’s Q8200. Some reviewers were more critical, stating that the new AMD Athlon II X4 620, the name of the chip, is priced only $20 cheaper than the Phenom II X3 (triple-core), of which will perform slightly faster than the 620 due to a 200 MHz higher clock rate.
Though besides price, AMD claims better energy efficiency due to the 45 nanometer technology used in the Athlon II X4 620.
Build #4 – Codename: ASMODEUS-I
This week’s build will focus on efficiency on a low budget. The focus of most builds on Smart PC Builds is to save money but this particular budget build will be one of the cheaper ones. Codenamed, Asmodeus-I, the first of the Asmodeus lineup of custom builds from the site, will feature the capabilities to perform efficiently in today’s computer tasks while staying at a low budget.
Unlike other budget builds in our site, this one does not focus on enforcing luxury on a specific ability or on being a power build. Instead, this build focuses on saving you the most money you can while still having enough power and capabilities for today’s computer tasks and needs. Asmodeus-I will not give you as much luxury as for example, Eurynomos-I (Build #1, Power On A Budget), but it will be able to perform satisfactorily. Therefore if you’re looking for a PC that can perform well enough for today’s demands but you’re on a really tight budget, this is the build for you.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93 GHz 3 MB L2 Cache 1066 MHz FSB
- Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512 MB Graphics Card
- 4 GB DDR2 RAM
- Energy Saving Motherboard
- On-board High Definition 7.1 Surround Sound Audio
- Coolmax 500 Watts Power Supply
- Price: Approx USD $398
MOTHERBOARD
The motherboard I’ve chosen here:
CLICK HERE:Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L S-Series Easy Energy Saver Motherboard – $55 @ Amazon
I chose the GA-G31M-ES2L S-Series for the simple fact that it has just enough support for our build while costing only $55, which allows us to save a great deal of money. This motherboard has only one PCI-Express slot running at x16 but that’s fine because that is all we need for our Radeon HD 4670 graphics card. It has a maximum support of 4 GB of DDR2 RAM which is all we need since that’s our build’s spec, so we save a lot here as well. It also features an energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology which can help lower overall costs on your electricity bill.
You can find the full specs of this motherboard at their official page at the following link: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L Specifications
CASE / CHASSIS
For the case, we’ll use:
CLICK HERE: NZXT Apollo Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Case – $70 @ Amazon
This chassis was chosen for two main things: It’s really low price and it’s quality for it’s price. It’s a mid tower case that supports our motherboard’s microATX form factor and has good airflow. It supports today’s technology such as firewire and Intel HD as well as a screwless design. That means plugging your motherboard and other components such as your hard drives and power supply will be a lot simpler. All that and an attractive exterior design, all for $70.
The full specs with more pics can be found at NZXT Apollo Official Specifications
CPU / PROCESSOR
Our CPU of choice is, of course:
CLICK HERE: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93 GHz 3 MB L2 Cache 1066 MHz FSB – $120 @ Amazon
The Core 2 Duo E7500 is one of the lowest priced Core 2 chips on the market currently. It features two cores running at 2.93 GHz each, which is great, 3 MB of L2 Cache and 1066 Mhz front side bus which is decent. This CPU does more than satisfy today’s average computer demands, it performs a small margin above it, and for a cheap price like this, especially with our overall price being so low, this is a very good choice.
GRAPHICS / VIDEO CARD
For our graphics card, we’ll be using TWO of these:
CLICK HERE: Sapphire Radeon HD 4670 512 MB DDR3 Graphics Card – $70 @ Amazon
The Radeon HD 4670 easily beat out and dominated the nVidia GeForce 9500 GT in the benchmarks and they cost basically the same. Both are still very powerful cards even today, and costing only $70 makes the Radeon HD 4670 an easy choice for this pure-budget build.
POWER SUPPLY / PSU
Now we need an efficient power supply. Remember to only use quality power supplies, for any build. For this we chose:
CLICK HERE: Coolmax M-500 B 500 Watts Power Supply – $35 @ Amazon
For this build all you really need is a 500 watt power supply. This build uses less than that but the 500 Watt Coolmax power supply can be bought for only $35. As always, do not buy no-name power supplies, and the Coolmax M-500 B is far from being a no-name. It features all the important aspects that make up a good power supply such as voltage protection and smart cable management. It’s also relatively silent compared to most.
RAM / MEMORY
And of course, our last major component, the RAM. For this, we chose:
CLICK HERE: OCZ OCZ2RPR8004GK 4 GB 800 MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit – $60 @ Amazon
Our motherboard only supports a maximum of 4 GBs of dual channel memory at 800 MHz, which is fine because that’s all we need for this build. The OCZ OCZ2RPR8004GK kit is available for an extremely cheap price of $60 and even features Reaper HPC heatsinks.
Total Cost: $398
NOTES
As you can see, there’s no hard drive. That decision is left entirely up to you. In today’s market, you can find a 250 GB HDD for just $50. You may even opt for an affordable Solid State Hard Drive. For this build you may even opt to install an affordable quality PCI sound card, such as the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Card which is only $50. Peripherals such as HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drives are left entirely up to you as well.
Enjoy!
Future AMD Chips, ‘Human Eye’ Reality
Last Thursday, AMD demonstrated a new graphics chip technology they claim approaches the arc and clarity seen by the human eye.
They called this new breakthrough, Eyefinity, a multi-display technology that they’ll include as part of their Radeon graphics cards. It is designed to use up to six connected high-definition displays that AMD claims can achieve “up to 12 times 1080p high-definition resolution, which approaches the eye-definition optical clarity”.
That level of definition can yield a resolution of 268 megapixels on a single PC, which is roughly equivalent to the clarity and detail of a 90 degree arc of what the human eye sees. Compare that to the fact that an average 19-inch LCD screen today delivers a resolution of about 1 megapixel.
Simon Solotko, a Senior Advanced Marketing Manager at AMD explained in a blog three ways Eyefinity might be used. The first being that a single user can surround his/herself with multiple displays to create an immersive experience which was previously only possible on high-end workstations.
The second way is many users working on different monitors on a single computer. “For example, one user enjoying dual monitor productivity, and a second user or group of users enjoying a movie or game on a third or fourth screen,” he blogged. Supposedly one user controls the keyboard and mouse and can control what goes on in the other monitors for the other users.
The third usage is similar to the second, except where each display has it’s own mouse and keyboard or any other input/output device. “Dad can be in the den playing Tom Clancy’s Hawks (against his son) while his daughter is doing homework in her room and mom is managing finances in the office, all on the same, centrally managed PC,” Solotko blogged.
