Once again, it’s high time we did a price guide update. This time around we’re doing things a bit differently. We’ve priced for the future. Three days in the future, to be exact. We’ve taken into account the reported price cuts by AMD and the reported cost of the new Intel Core 2 chips and come up with our latest price guides. Here’s a quick summary of the changes:

AMD:

On the AMD side of things, the price cuts that have been mentioned all over the internet have certainly made our lives easier in designing a budget dual core system. Previously, AMD had priced their dual cores far above Intel's, due to their superior quality. Those days are now gone, and now it’s time to put high-end dual cores into low budget boxes. In other changes, we’ve moved the price guides over 100% to AM2 so they’re ready to go. New technology like the 7950GX2 and FX-62 also make a few cameo appearances.

Intel:

Picking equipment for our Core 2 Intel systems was tricky. Even if you have the right chipset, sometimes the motherboard won’t support these processors. We decided to stick to those boards that are 99% assured to work with Core 2. We made sure to couple every one of our systems with solid power supplies, good quality RAM, and bleeding-edge graphics. With the launch of any new technology, especially one as big as Core 2, you see massive market fluctuations. For example, when the 7800/7900 were launched, they went from $600-$700 down to $300 in about a month. Therefore, we’ve decided to hold off on the next price guide until prices stabilize. Until then, use these guides with the confidence of knowing that you’re getting the best quality system money can buy.

Price Guides