JuanPC Budget PC October 2009 Edition
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Core Components
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300
Price: 3250 Pesos
This month the Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 beats out the E5200 on Processor of choice for the JuanPC. The price difference between them is practically nil. The Pentium E5300 can be found as low as 3250 pesos. While the E5200 is severely priced compressed at around 10 pesos less. Even if the E5300 were a bit more expensive JuanTech would still choose it because of the slightly higher multiplier compared to its older sibling. That would make a slight difference in overclocking for those who wish to squeeze out the most performance for their peso.
My heart goes out to AMD for its situation right now and really wanted to recommend the Athlon II X2 against chipzilla’s Pentium E5300. In fact, we delayed this article hoping that AMD’s board prices here in the Philippines would lower a bit. Weighing in 2.9Ghz with 2MB cache the Athlon II X2 245 would have won the JuanPC processor slot for this month if not for the motherboard situation.
Unlike the Pentium Dual Cores which have a slew of performance budget boards to choose from AMD’s motherboard situation seems to be compromised. Nothing really comes close to the value offered by the Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2C.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2C
Price: 2450 Pesos
This little Gigabyte board still continues to amaze me. This is perhaps the best value board ever created. It can take the Pentium Dual Core E5300 beyond 3.5ghz easily. Provided you have a chip that overclocks decently. The BIOS options for overclocking are great. Press CTRL-F1 at the BIOS page to enable the enthusiast settings for this board.
The software that it comes with is quite good actually. Even showing power savings over a period of time. Its cool and small with performance unbeatable at its price range.
Quote from our last JuanPC Guide
Never before came a value platform that was as easy to overlock as Intel’s G31 chipset. The choice of the G31 chipset is important in building the JuanPC because we needed a motherboard that could provide great performance at a price that we’d love. The Gigabyte’s GA-G31M-ES2C fit the bill perfectly. ( Click here to read more about it )
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