Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/709



Introduction

Welcome to the second installment of the CPU and Video Card Price guide for January 2001. We publish this article to help you, the consumer, find the best deals on the internet. All the tedious work like finding the best prices and locating reputable retailers has already been done so all one has to do is figure out what product is right for them. As always we encourage the reader to investigate every retailer's reliability before ordering, but we have eliminated typically problematic ones from our price guides.

If you encounter any problems with a vendor on our list, please email us, and we will take appropriate action. Remember that we will only list vendors with positive customer feedback. If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to let us know.

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 receive any advertising fees or/and sponsorship contracts from the listed vendors. All views expressed by listed vendors do not reflect the opinions of AnandTech.

AnandTech, nor any of the vendors mentioned guarantee that the prices listed in this guide.

This Week

This week we see a much needed price drop for Intel's Pentium 4 and 1.0GHz Pentium III processors. This should make the high end Intel processors a little more competitive to their AMD counterparts. Expect all prices of Intel's processors to drop as the most recent cuts settle in.

As we mentioned on our front page recently, the rumors of a 1.3GHz Athlon being launched next week are false. It will be a little while longer until we see that part hitting the streets. Prices on Thunderbirds and Durons should remain steady until Intel becomes a serious threat.

On the video card front we have decided to add a 64MB PowerVR Kyro video card to the price guide. Several readers have suggested this and we feel that KYRO is a formidable alternative to the entry level 3dfx and NVIDIA solutions. As for NVIDIA and 3dfx prices, not much has changed; However, ATI's Radeon continues to fall in price.



Intel CPUs

AnandTech Weekly CPU Prices - Intel
CPU Price Change Vendor Shipping Promotion
Pentium 4 - 1.5GHz (400)
$782
$121
$20
OEM
Pentium 4 - 1.4GHz (400)
$520
$71
$6
OEM
Pentium III - 1.0GHz (133)
$299
$119
$15
OEM
Pentium III - 933MHz (133)
$255
$34
$15
OEM
Pentium III - 866MHz (133)
$197
$13
$11
OEM
Pentium III - 850Mhz (100)
$204
$10
$15
OEM
Pentium III - 800MHz (133)
$180
$0
$11
OEM
Pentium III - 800Mhz (100)
$189
$5
$11
OEM
Pentium III - 750Mhz (100)
$163
$0
$10
OEM
Pentium III - 733MHz (133)
$148
$7
$10
OEM
Pentium III - 700Mhz (100)
$152
$7
$11
OEM
Pentium III - 667Mhz (133)
$126
$3
$12
OEM
Pentium III - 650Mhz (100)
$125
$10
$9
OEM
Pentium III - 600MHz (E-133)
$107
$14
$9
OEM
Pentium III - 600MHz (E-100)
$116
$6
$9
OEM
Pentium III - 550MHz (E-100)
$135
$14
$9
OEM
Pentium III - 500Mhz (E-100)
$121
$1
$10
OEM
Celeron 800 FC-PGA
$202
$2
$9
 
Celeron 766 FC-PGA
$130
$23
$10
OEM
Celeron 733 FC-PGA
$110
$3
$11
OEM
Celeron 700 FC-PGA
$80
$0
$10
OEM
Celeron 667 FC-PGA
$73
$0
$10
OEM
Celeron 633 FC-PGA
$67
$1
$11
OEM
Celeron 600 FC-PGA
$61
$1
$10
OEM
Celeron 566 FC-PGA
$57
$1
$10
OEM
Celeron 533 FC-PGA
$60
$2
$11
OEM

This week, Intel finally decided to slash the prices on it's Pentium 4 line of processors as well the 1.0GHz Pentium III. From the chart above, we can see that the Pentium 4 1.5GHz has dropped about 13% and the 1.4GHz by 12%. The Pentium III 1.0GHz fell a remarkable 28% making it much for affordable for those looking for an alternative to the Athlon. Expect prices to fall even further into next week as Intel's price cuts begin to settle in even further.

The remaining high-end of the Pentium III line is also seeing the affects of Intel's price cuts. The 933MHz PIII dropped a notable $34 dollars. The prices of the rest of the Pentium III line however, has not changed much over the last two weeks. Expect prices of all Pentium IIIs to fall next week once vendors change their prices in accordance with Intel's recent cuts.

The Celeron 800MHz remains unreasonably priced this week seeing only a slight price drop. Note that the 866MHz Pentium III utilizing a 133MHz FSB can be found $5 cheaper than the 100MHz FSB Celeron 800. The Celeron 766 saw a 15% price drop making it a tad more affordable but still over priced. The 600MHz part is an excellent buy for those looking to overclock their processors. Expect Celeron prices to drop as well once Intel's price cuts set into place.

Related Reviews

Make sure you check out our latest Intel Pentium III Coppermine and Intel Celeron FC-PGA reviews for more information.

Pentium III Reviews Publication Date
Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz & 1.5GHz November 20th, 2000
Intel Pentium III 1.13GHz (1133MHz) July 31st, 2000
Intel Pentium III 933 May 24th, 2000
Intel Pentium III 866, 850 March 20th, 2000
Intel Pentium III 1GHz March 8th, 2000
Intel Pentium III 800 & 750 "Coppermine" December 20th, 1999
Intel Pentium III E FC-PGA (Socket-370) October 26th, 1999
Intel Pentium III E "Coppermine" (Slot-1) October 25th, 1999

 

Celeron Reviews Publication Date
Intel Celeron 800 January 3rd, 2001
Intel Celeron 700 June 26th, 2000
Overclocking the FC-PGA Celeron April 17th, 2000
Intel Celeron 600 "Coppermine128" March 29th, 2000


AMD CPUs

AnandTech Weekly CPU Prices - AMD
CPU Price Change Vendor Shipping Promotion
Athlon Thunderbird 1.2GHz
$268
$2
$11
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 1.1GHz
$226
$3
$11
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 1.0GHz
$176
$1
$11
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 950MHz
$153
$3
$11
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 900MHz
$127
$3
$11
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 850MHz
$108
$6
$11
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 800MHz
$98
$3
$10
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 750MHz
$81
$9
$9
OEM
Athlon Thunderbird 700MHz
$88
$0
$11
Athlon 1.0GHz
$285
$17
$11
OEM
Athlon 950MHz
$197
$59
$11
OEM
Athlon 900MHz
$115
$8
$11
OEM
Athlon 850MHz
$110
$4
$11
OEM
Athlon 800MHz
$106
$4
$11
OEM
Athlon 750MHz
$82
$1
$11
OEM
Athlon 700MHz
$77
$1
$11
OEM
Athlon 650MHz
$67
$0
$11
OEM
Athlon 600MHz
$66
$5
$9
OEM
Athlon 550MHz
$49
$0
$10
OEM
Athlon 500MHz
$62
$0
$8
OEM
Duron 850MHz
$98
$8
$11
OEM
Duron 800MHz
$73
$1
$10
OEM
Duron 750MHz
$61
$1
$11
OEM
Duron 700MHz
$49
$2
$10
OEM
Duron 650MHz
$42
$1
$14
OEM
Duron 600MHz
$40
$7
$10
OEM


It has been another slow week for AMD. Prices in the Thunderbird category have shown very little change this week. Even with Intel's recent move to cut prices, the 1.0GHz Thunderbird is still an excellent processor in terms of price and performance. Another hot deal is the 850MHz part which is very close to the $100 mark. Those looking for AMD's Athlon-C (266MHz FSB) line of Thunderbirds are out of luck once again as they are still nowhere to be found this week. Also, the rumored 1.3GHz Thunderbirds will not be coming out any time soon. And when it does hit, you won't be kicking yourself for making a purchase now since it is highly unlikely that it will be using the cooler-running Palomino core.

If you are still using an older Slot-A based system and are looking to upgrade, the "classic" Slot-A Athlons are still your best bet. This week the price of the 950MHz part rose to about $200, making it less of an attractive buy than before. However, for many readers, buying a new Slot-A processor is still cheaper than buying a new motherboard and CPU. Most Slot-A boards can be made to use the higher speed Athlons with a simple BIOS upgrade.

On the low-end side of AMD's line of processors, we see that prices have not fluctuated much. The new Duron 850MHz can now be found for under the $100 mark; however compared to other Durons, it is over priced. The rest of the Durons, are priced very competitively compared to their Celeron equivalents. For those who don't mind overclocking to reach higher clock speeds, the Duron 650MHz can now be found at around $40 and is a very promising part.

Related Reviews

Make sure you check out our latest Athlon and Duron reviews for more information.

Athlon Reviews Publication Date
AMD's 760 Chipset: DDR for the Athlon is here October 30th, 2000
ALi MAGiK 1: The Athlon gets a second DDR platform November 29th, 2000
AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.2GHz & Duron 800MHz October 17th, 2000
DDR SDRAM - AMD Athlon Performance Preview September 14th, 2000
AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.1GHz August 28th, 2000
AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 1 GHz / 800 MHz June 4th, 2000
AMD Athlon 1GHz, 950MHz, 900MHz March 6th, 2000
AMD Athlon 850 February 14th, 2000
AMD Athlon 800 December 20th, 1999
AMD Athlon 750 November 29th, 1999
AMD Athlon 700 October 4th, 1999
AMD Athlon August 9th, 1999

Duron Reviews Publication Date
AMD Duron 850MHz January 8th, 2001
AMD Duron 800MHz October 17th, 2000 12:56 AM
AMD Duron 750 September 5th, 2000 12:00 PM
AMD Duron June 19th, 2000 12:00 PM


Video Cards

AnandTech Weekly Video Card Prices
Video Card Model Price Change Vendor Shipping Promotion
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 AGP
$170
$0
$6
 
3dfx Voodoo5 5500 PCI
$195
$2
$6
 
3dfx Voodoo4 4500 AGP
$109
$0
$6
 
3dfx Voodoo4 4500 PCI
$120
$0
$6
 
3dfx Voodoo3 3500TV AGP
$100
$35
?
 
ATI RADEON 64MB DDR
$190
$24
$15
 
ATI RADEON 32MB DDR
$108
$10
$12
ATI RADEON 32MB SDR
$100
$27
$8
 
ATI RADEON ALL-IN-WONDER
$235
$4
$12
 
NVIDIA GeForce2 ULTRA 64MB
$399
$19
$12
NVIDIA GeForce2 PRO 64MB
$275
$2
$11
 
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 64MB
$249
$6
$12
 
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32MB
$161
NA
$10
 
NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS 32MB VIVO (ASUS V7700 Deluxe)
$215
$4
$13
 
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 32MB
$87
$0
$11
 
PowerVR KYRO 64MB
$109
NA
$10
 
Matrox G450 32MB
$126
$1
$12
 
Matrox G400 32MB
$109
$0
?
 
Matrox G400 DualHead
$143
$0
$4
 

You should note that 3dfx will soon cease to exist and, as such, will not be able to support their cards properly. So purchasing a 3dfx based card now should be done at your own risk. Prices for most of the Voodoo boards have not changed over the past two weeks. A notable exception is the Voodoo3 3500 which can now be found for $100. This is an excellent buy for those looking to have video input and a TV tuner inside their PC.

The price of ATI Radeon cards continues to drop this week. The Radeon 64MB DDR can now be found for $190, making it $59 cheaper than a GeForce2 GTS 64MB. The 32MB Radeon DDR is only $8 more expensive than the SDR counterpart, and the increase in performance gained with DDR memory greatly outweighs the small price premium. The Radeon 32MB SDR obviously has not been selling as well as expected which accounts for the lack in price change. This makes sense as it is directed primarily at OEMs and system integrators and not end-users.

The GeForce2 Ultra has risen in price this week to close to $400. The prices of the GeForce2 GTS 64MB and the Pro remain relatively unchanged. For a high-end card, the Pro remains a better value in the long run over the GTS because of its faster memory. The GeForce2 GTS VIVO card remained relatively unchanged this week. NVIDIA's GeForce2 MX, although also unchanged in price, is an excellence value when compared to the competition. We would strongly recommend against making any expensive video card purchases right now as the next-generation cards are due out very soon now. If you can wait a few months now is the time to do so, at worst you'll just get a better price on the card you were going to buy anyways.

New this week, we have added the PowerVR KYRO 64MB to the list of video cards. This card is a unique alternative to the 3dfx Voodoo5 and NVIDIA GeForce cards. What makes this card unique is it's tile based rendering engine. Although this is not the most popular card on the block, it does have a decent user backing and maturing drivers not to mention a very competitive price.

Matrox's line of cards have also remained relatively unchanged this week.

Related Reviews

Make sure you check out our latest video card reviews for more information.

Video Card Reviews Publication Date
3dfx Voodoo5 5500AGP
July 11th, 2000
3dfx Voodoo5 5500PCI August 4th, 2000
3dfx Voodoo4 4500AGP
October 23rd, 2000
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR
July 17th, 2000
ATI Radeon 32MB SDR
October 13th, 2000
NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS 32MB
April 26th, 2000
NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS 64MB
June 21st, 2000
NVIDIA GeForce2 Pro 64MB December 5th, 2000
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra
August 14th, 2000
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
June 28th, 2000
ASUS V7700 Deluxe (32MB GeForce2 GTS VIVO)
November 3rd, 2000
Imagination Technologies / STMicro PowerVR Series 3: KYRO
June 7th, 2000
Matrox Millennium G400 & G400MAX
May 20th, 1999
Matrox Millennium G450
September 5th, 2000

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