Computer Components - Product Reviews

turpit - (October 22, 2004) BACKROUND: My previous system is 3 years old, (an Athlon 1900XP) and while still very good, is showing its age with newer software. In deciding which CPU/mother board combo to purchase, I spent 4 months watching reviews for AMD 64s and P4s at various sites, while tracking prices at Pricegrabber. Based on my results, I decided on the AMD 64 3500. DECIDING PURCHASE FACTORS: Ultimately, I reversed my descision and purchased this unit (AMD Barton Athlon XP 3200+ ) for the following reasons: 1) No 64 bit Operating Sytem available yet(AMD64) 2) Very limited 64 bit optimized software available in the near future (AMD 64) 3) Very limited hyperthreading optimized software available

kenalcock - (July 08, 2004) This processor is powerful. And if you want to save on household utility bills, you can heat at least one room with it. I’m not joking at all here—it runs that hot. I recommend this processor, only if you are willing to go the extra steps to ensure better CPU cooling. This CPU’s normal operating temperature was near 60-62°C in a PC with: a 4-fan Aluminum Coolermaster Praetorian case, all round system cables, wrapped, and stowed for maximum “wind tunnel” system airflow; no system load; a video card that runs cool; HDDs that run very cool; no overclocking; and on a cool Spring day (60°F ambient room temperature). This was with the stock Intel heat sink and fan. I have m

jayhall0315 - (January 15, 2006) I have discontinued this review because as any tech geek knows, times change and better products are manufactured. If you are currently in need of a high end processor then take a look at the Intel Core 2 Duo series. Intel has come back from the edge and has now bested any of AMD's latest offerings. (My review from here was written in March of 2006) When I first got into building power computers for my graduate research a few years back, I said, "Amd, smay-m-d". Nothing was better than a Pentium. Then I noticed the fans in my box making a hell of a whirling sound. Even later, I noticed my BIOS reporting 77 degrees C for the CPU ! (WTF !!!) To cap it off, I saw my friend's AMD box run game

Jerichow - (11/17/2009) For a light gaming or HTPC that needs silence and good, but not top of the line performance, and needs it now, this is a great deal. While the contact surface is all but appealing, it's still copper, and it still cools well. If anyone knows how to "Lap a CPU Cooler" I can assure you this will definitely benefit from it, for those who don't know, look it up but be warned it does void warranty if you choose to do so. Overall, this is a solid 4/5 CPU cooler and I will be getting more for future builds as the price/performance/savings on shipping make it a better deal than equivalent coolers online.

RickCain - (09/21/2009) To put it bluntly, this motherboard is a basket case until you update the bios to the latest version. After that everything will work just fine. The fun part though is getting the bios updated since you have no floppy port! My recommendation is if you want legacy compatibility, search elsewhere. Any old style ports on this board are for temporary use at best. I have a Q6600 with 8 gigs, SATA only drives, lots of USB devices plugged in and a Geforce 8 series card with beefy power supply and lots of 92mm fans and it works well. The fans give off a slight clicking noise, presumably due to how the system reduces voltage to the fans to slow them down. Irritating but not very loud, easily drowned out by the video card fan.

OneAkela - (09/18/2009) Am posting to warn people of the rebate issue. Apparently, Gigabyte is not honoring rebates. I filed in Jan 2009 and I am still waiting in Sept 2009 to get my $20. I filed through the processing agency status-now and they informed me that Gigabyte is having issues with sending the money. So be forewarned.