Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1065



Introduction
For those of you not familiar with the guides here is a brief overview on how we construct them:

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 CPUs, Video Cards 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
As usual, if you have any reports of incorrect prices please feel free to email us with the name of the vendor and the product/price that appears incorrectly on their website. This will help us produce a more useful guide in the future.

There were loots of changes this week in the AMD CPU section. Also, we took a look at some of the plummeting DDR prices!




Product
Current
Price
S+H
Week
Change
Link
BizRate
AMD
Athlon MP 2000+
$147.00
$0.00
$-11.50
PCProgress
BizRate
Athlon MP 2200+ Thoroughbred
$202.00
$0.00
$-2.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Athlon MP 2400+ Thoroughbred
$235.00
$3.00
$2.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Athlon XP 1600+
$50.00
$0.00
$-7.00
PCProgress
BizRate
Athlon XP 1700+ Palomino
$53.00
$0.00
N/A
PCProgress
BizRate
Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred
$53.00
$0.00
$3.01
NewEgg
BizRate
Athlon XP 1800+ Palomino
$63.00
$1.00
N/A
GoogleGear
BizRate
Athlon XP 1800+ Thoroughbred
$63.99
$0.00
$0.99
CompuBuzz
BizRate
Athlon XP 1900+ Palomino
$76.69
$0.00
$0.00
CompuBuzz
BizRate
Athlon XP 2000+ Palomino
$77.00
$0.00
N/A
CompuBuzz
BizRate
Athlon XP 2000+ Thoroughbred
$76.00
$1.00
$1.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Athlon XP 2100+ Palomino
$86.00
$0.00
$0.00
ABS
BizRate
Athlon XP 2100+ Thoroughbred
$93.00
$0.00
N/A
NewEgg
BizRate
Athlon XP 2200+ Thoroughbred
$115.00
$0.00
$-17.50
PCProgress
BizRate
Athlon XP 2400+ Thoroughbred
$153.00
$0.00
$-24.50
PCProgress
BizRate
Athlon XP 2600+ Thoroughbred
$260.00
$0.00
$-13.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Athlon XP 2700+ Thoroughbred
$287.00
$0.00
$-41.00
PCProgress
BizRate
Athlon XP 2800+ Thoroughbred
$395.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Duron 1.1GHz
$30.00
$1.00
$0.12
GoogleGear
BizRate
Duron 1.2GHz
$35.00
$1.00
$1.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Duron 1.3GHz
$38.99
$0.00
$0.00
CompuBuzz
BizRate

This week's price guides brings us to an interesting point that came to my attention last week. As most of you know, there are two different versions of AMD XP chips on the market right now, the Palomino and Thoroughbred cores. The Palomino cores are the older, 0.18 micron cores, while the Thoroughbreds are the newer, 0.13 micron cores. Even though the Palominos are getting phased out, resellers seem to think it is OK to not list whether or not they are selling you a 0.13um or 0.18um cored processor. Going into a little research on the subject, we found a lot of 'interesting' practices occurring among resellers (and not just little ones). So how do you know what processor you are getting? First of all, check to see if it is listed as Palomino or Thoroughbred. Sometimes resellers do not make it obvious. Or, some do not even list it at all! Your next step is to see if they listed an AMD SKU number. Palomino XP's usually start AX while the Thoroughbred chips start AXDA. When looking around at SKU numbers, we tended to see this one often: AXP1700BOX. Do not let resellers deceive you; that is NOT a valid AMD SKU. Every few months AMD puts out a massive chart giving a nice overview on every one of their chips (SKU, core temperature, etc). If you have a few minutes, check out this great link on AMD's website. Our final words of warning, do NOT assume that a reseller is selling a Palomino or Thoroughbred CPU based on the picture. We try to screen our resellers as best as possible, but several websites publish misleading information on their sites.

Furthermore, we have a few more announcements to make about some of our product listings. We used to list a company called GameVE.com fairly regularly. There seems to be isolated incidents with any reseller, but GameVE appears to be a site that stopped fulfilling our needs as a reseller to list in our guides, regardless of their prices. Recently, within the last 3 to 4 weeks, we have noticed an unacceptable amount of complaints about GameVE. Since their listed email address does not even work, we are suspending GameVE's listings from our price engine.

Concerning processors, this was one of the better weeks we have seen for AMD processors in a while. Last week, we were slightly incorrect in stating that there were not going to be any new AMD workstation chips until Athlon 64 comes out. Even though Athlon 64 got pushed back for a release until fall, we will still have the Barton core XP chips hitting the market next week. High end XP processors prices dropped like a rock over the last week; a trend that should continue for several more weeks. Most vendors are posting pre-orders for XP 2800+ and 3000+ chips with an ETA of around Feb 7, so expect to see this chips hit the streets over the weekend. The mid ranged XP chips appeared to have not moved at all since last week, but remember we split the Palomino and Thoroughbred cores into two different categories now. Vendors are telling us that the Palomino chips are drying up fast, so hopefully in the next few weeks we will not even have to worry about tracking them. Be warned, as we stated earlier, that you do not buy at Palomino chip unless you really want one. The Thoroughbred chips run much cooler and if overclocking is your thing, you definately do not want the Palomino core.

For this week's AMD recommendation, we chose the XP 2100+ Thoroughbred. This chip has great overclockability, good perfomance, and an awesome price. Unfortunately, it still runs on the 266FSB, but consider that the XP 2600+ with 333FSB carries a price tag three times that of the XP 2100+. The XP chip prices continue to fall to extrodinary levels, and we expect them to continue falling even after the Barton chips begin to hit shelves.




Product
Current
Price
S+H
Week
Change
Link
BizRate
INTEL
Celeron 1.7GHz
$56.00
$0.00
$2.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Celeron 1.8GHz
$70.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Celeron 2.0GHz
$85.00
$0.00
$1.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Celeron 2.2GHz
$110.00
$0.00
$2.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Pentium 4 1.7GHz Socket 478
$122.00
$2.00
$1.50
GoogleGear
BizRate
Pentium 4 1.8AGHz Socket 478
$142.00
$2.00
$2.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Pentium 4 1.8GHz Socket 478
$134.00
$2.00
$4.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.0AGHz Socket 478
$162.00
$2.00
$3.50
GoogleGear
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.2GHz Socket 478
$196.94
$0.00
$0.00
CompuBuzz
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.4BGHz Socket 478
$191.00
$2.00
$3.50
GoogleGear
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.4GHz Socket 478
$195.00
$0.00
$1.00
ABS
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.53BGHz Socket 478
$233.00
$0.00
$3.00
ABS
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.66BGHz Socket 478
$296.00
$0.00
$6.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Pentium 4 2.8BGHz Socket 478
$378.00
$4.00
$1.50
GoogleGear
BizRate
Pentium 4 3.06GHz Socket 478
$642.00
$7.00
$16.00
GoogleGear
BizRate

This week proved to be an extremely bland week as we accurately predicted in our last installment of the guides. Since we recently delisted one of our larger vendors, some of these prices were artificially inflated. Other than that, not much new news in the Intel sector. Granite Bay boards are becoming a little more mainstream, but as we saw in the MSI SIS 655 MAX review, it looks like Intel has some serious competition until Springdale. Next week when we post the Motherboard guide, we will have a few Granite Bay boards listed, and if possible, a SIS 655 board or two.




Product
Current
Price
S+H
Week
Change
Link
BizRate
DDR
Corsair C2.5 PC2100 256MB
$42.00
$8.00
$-18.00
PCProgress
BizRate
Corsair C2.5 PC2100 512MB
$112.00
$0.00
$-9.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Crucial C2.5 PC2100 256MB
$45.50
$1.00
N/A
GoogleGear
BizRate
Crucial C2.5 PC2100 512MB
$81.00
$1.00
N/A
GoogleGear
BizRate
Kingston C3 PC2100 256MB
$41.00
$1.00
$-8.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Kingston C3 PC2100 512MB
$77.00
$1.00
$-15.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Mushkin C2.5 PC2100 256MB
$82.00
$0.00
$-4.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Mushkin C2.5 PC2100 512MB
$148.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Corsair C2.5 PC2700 256MB
$75.00
$1.00
$-5.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Corsair C2.5 PC2700 512MB
$128.00
$0.00
$-9.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Crucial C2.5 PC2700 256MB
$54.00
$1.00
N/A
GoogleGear
BizRate
Crucial C2.5 PC2700 512MB
$110.00
$0.00
N/A
NewEgg
BizRate
GeIL Value C2 PC2700 256MB
$59.00
$0.00
$-6.00
NewEgg
BizRate
GeIL Value C2 PC2700 512MB
$112.00
$0.00
$-15.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Kingston C3 PC2700 256MB
$49.00
$0.00
$-8.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Kingston C3 PC2700 512MB
$89.00
$0.00
$-24.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Mushkin C2.5 PC2700 256MB
$85.00
$0.00
$-3.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Mushkin C2.5 PC2700 512MB
$158.00
$0.00
$-7.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Samsung C3 PC2700 256MB
$55.00
$0.00
$-5.99
NewEgg
BizRate
Samsung C3 PC2700 512MB
$95.00
$1.00
$-13.50
GoogleGear
BizRate
Corsair XMS C2 PC3200 256MB
$84.00
$1.00
$-2.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
Corsair XMS C2 PC3200 512MB
$162.00
$0.00
$0.00
NuTrend
BizRate
GeIL C2.5 PC3200 256MB
$75.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
GeIL C2.5 PC3200 512MB
$130.00
$0.00
$-20.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Kingston C3 PC3200 256MB
$63.00
$5.00
$-8.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Kingston C3 PC3200 512MB
$141.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Mushkin C2.5 PC3200 256MB
$110.00
$0.00
$-3.99
CompuBuzz
BizRate
Mushkin C2.5 PC3200 512MB
$218.99
$0.00
$0.00
CompuBuzz
BizRate
Samsung C3 PC3200 256MB
$79.00
$0.00
$-14.00
NewEgg
BizRate
Samsung C3 PC3200 512MB
$219.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
GeIL C2.5 PC3500 256MB
$84.00
$1.00
$0.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
GeIL C2.5 PC3500 512MB
$159.00
$2.00
$11.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
OCZ C2.5 PC3500 256MB
$86.00
$1.00
$-2.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
OCZ C2.5 PC3500 512MB
$138.75
$0.00
$-40.75
NewEgg
BizRate
GeIL C2.5 PC3700 512MB
$200.00
$0.00
$-15.00
NewEgg
BizRate

This week was an incredible week for DDR prices. We mentioned last week that DDR prices were down significantly from prices a few weeks before. The price continues to bottom out on DRAM, hurting PC2700 especially. Our choice for DDR is an easy choice, with 512MB modules of PC2700 hitting all time lows. For those of you who have nForce2 boards, Dual Channel 2x512 Samsung PC2700 looks really attractive!

PC3700 DDR began to trickle into the market a little, with GeIL and OCZ hitting the market first. Unfortunately(?), we could not find any stores with a high enough rating to list all of OCZ's products this week. You may note we added a few other manufacturers including the much requested Crucial. Strangely, even though our bot crawls Crucial.com for memory prices, they still have yet to beat their distributors's! We are a little curious as to why Crucial does not seem to have any DDR above PC2700 on the market, but we suppose that will change eventually. Next week we plan on adding even more DDR so stay tuned!




Product
Current
Price
S+H
Week
Change
Link
BizRate
RDRAM
1066 Kingston KVR1066 256MB
$118.00
$0.00
$6.00
NewEgg
BizRate
1066 OCZ 32Bit 256MB
$123.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
1066 Samsung 32bit 256MB
$87.00
$1.00
$-1.00
GoogleGear
BizRate
1066 Samsung 32bit 512MB
$222.00
$3.00
N/A
GoogleGear
BizRate
800 Corsair 16bit 256MB
$105.00
$0.00
$-5.00
NewEgg
BizRate
800 Corsair 16bit 512MB
$275.00
$0.00
N/A
NewEgg
BizRate
800 Kingston 16bit 256MB
$85.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
800 Kingston 16bit 512MB
$235.00
$0.00
$0.00
NewEgg
BizRate
800 Samsung 16bit 256MB
$67.00
$1.00
N/A
GoogleGear
BizRate
800 Samsung 16bit 512MB
$198.00
$2.00
$-8.00
GoogleGear
BizRate

RDRAM has always been a pain to track, but we are getting better at it. Last week's guides we asked if anyone would like us to add a particular RDRAM module please email Kristopher, asking to do so. Surprisingly, we had two people email asking for certain RDRAM modules. To put that in perspective, we had 8 emails asking us to add the Epox 8RDA+ to the guides. What strikes us odd is that the 8RDA+ was already on the guides! Next week we expect to have 16 and 32 bit modules at both speeds, but it seems as if the manufacturers and resellers are staying away from RDRAM like the plague. Mathematically, it seems as though Samsung 256MB modules have a clear edge over everyone else. You can buy four 16bit Samsung 256MB modules for the price of one Corsair 512MB! Next week we should have a better look at some more RDRAM components, so please drop us feedback in the forums or through email about what you want added!

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