[citation][nom]iocedmyself[/nom]Seriously, i want an answer to this question Mr.Guilty editor..HOW OUT OF TOUCH CAN ALL OF YOU AT THG POSSIBLY GET?!?How can you possibly expect anyone to put any stock in your advice, your findings or even you basic hardware knowledge after starting the "article" out by admiting that you, someone that tests and reviews hardware for a living, is not only using a 6 year old CPU, but an Intel pentium 4...at 2.8ghz. Your cpu of choice is not only based on arguably the worst cpu arch produced in the last 15 years (possibly second only to the original itanium) but not even the best performing PoS out of the entire craptastic line. Performance is marginally better than a P3 at 1.8ghz, if at all, memory performance is laughable even by intel standards and the cpu can easily double as a hot-plate when you get a late night craving for scrambled eggs... and a nice thick steak. The fact that you have a workstation gpu paired with such a horrid cpu further baffles what kind of broken logic has been used over the years to justify continued use.Given the massive shift in the quality of THG content, it's not a suprising confession, but still depressing in light of the fact that so many ill-informed readers trust the findings of THG articles at face value. There is really no exscuse. For ssssshhhhhhaaaaaammmmme.Aside from the fact that you compare one of the older based AMD boards tech's against the newest considerably more expensive intel IGP board, the exscuse of "it being the cheapest of the low power/low price option is either a very thinly vieled means of manipulation, or is just "one of the cheap-er" options. The use of a 9850 phenom on a 740G board is just stupid. Aside from the painfully obvious performance issues created by sticking a $200 cpu on a $60 board (something that i can only picture being done by the most unknowledgable of people capable of building their own computer) a 780G is actually only $6 more expensive at...$66. Which gets you an IGP with DX10 capability from DX9.0b. I can only assume that the idiotic trend of using 32bit vista as test system was continued here, though i didn't see my assumption confirmed or denied, it should be noted that 64bit Vista ultimate can actually be run on a 780G board using a single core 1.8ghz semperon and still be capable of smooth B-Ray/HD video playback. 32bit Vista only actually taking advantage of 2 gigs of ram, regardless of the 3.56 gigs that may be acknowledged by task manager makes for a much cheaper base componet cost.Foxconn A7GM-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G ---------------------------------$ 66AMD Sempron LE-1100 Sparta 1.9GHz Socket AM2 45W Single-Core------$ 25PNY OPTIMA 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)-----------$ 39SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD502lJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb------------$ 69Total Base hardware cost------------------------------------------$199That would be the cheapest Vista capable AMD system loosely following the system guidelines. However if you have any interest in an equally priced comparison yagainst the intel system.G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)-----$ 89GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-DS4H AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX ----------------------$135AMD Phenom 9150E 1.8GHz Socket AM2+ 65W Quad-Core ----------------$170SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD502lJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb------------$ 69Total base componet cost------------------------------------------$463I list the 9150E as it's low power and aimed at bussiness systems, as this is what the build is supposed to reflect....an office desktop, i think it's fitting. Granted you could go with a regular old phenom for around the same price, could drop down to a 780g board and save $70 or so, chances are the average actual upgrade, and not new build will not require the cost of a hard-disk.All the damaged evidence considered, is made even more pointless by your choice to go with the 780G board which you chose not to use in the review. Nor did you choose to do any virtualization benches....probably because that is yet another on the long list of things intel can't do well,,,, I'm continually amazed, every other day i read an article on THG and actually say aloud to myself "they can't possibly do anything worse then what i just read" but you guys seem to prove me wrong at every turn.You seem to always be able to become increasingly misinformed.[/citation]
Io--while I appreciate the feedback, I don't necessarily think that the decision to use a stable platform as the basis for a business workstation makes anyone out of touch. The reason it's so funny that I was running a Pentium 4 is precisely because I know that it's an old, hot architecture.
The workstation GPU was chosen because it supports four DVI outputs, and has nothing to do with the platform itself--nor does one affect the performance of the other.
Hopefully you'll check out Patrick's follow-up piece, which steps away from the academic frequency comparison (normalizing for the sake of seeing where the data lines up, not necessarily to say one is better than the other as many of the comments here assume) to address a more practical price and power consumption angle.