Best value 2005 products reviewed

The Pentium D 820 processor is the cheapest dual core CPU available. The X2 3800+ is definitely better but then it is much more expensive. The PD 820 has two Pentium 2.8GHz cores onchip, no hyper threading but two 1MB L2 cache. Come on guys, it is the cheapest, easiest and closest route to a Dual Processor rig. Read its review here.

To match that Pentium Processor, grab the ASRock 775DUAL-880PRO. Not the finest motherboard out there but a recent UK user survey by PC Pro found that it was not far from brand names like Asus or Abit. It is probably the cheapest Pentium D compatible motherboard out there. Based on the PT880Pro, it is Linux compatible, has both DDR and DDR2 memory, PCIe and AGP slots as well as Hybrid Booster overclocking technology. Read its review here. You can get that mobo with the above Dual Core processor for around $300.

For AMD fan boys, the more surprising products this year include AMD's Opteron 165 dual core processor which packs what is essentially two first generation Athlon FX processors. It also overclocks like hell. The other product worth mentioning is the Asrock 939Dual-SATA2. Packs the same features as the LGA 775 motherboard above at a very competitive price. It is available, upgradable to M2 socket and is sure to be amongst the best sellers for 2005.

Samsung does not have the largest hard disk drive around but according to Storageview, Samsung produces some of the most silent out there. The P120 is a 240GB HDD which excels on acoustics and heat dissipation thanks to its two 120GB platters. It is somewhat average on high end apps but you will easily let this go when you consider its price, the fact that it is a SATA2 part and supports NCQ. I would also recommend purchasing large HDDs in pairs to RAID them. Better be prudent.

The best value for money graphics card has to be the Sapphire Radeon X800GTO2. The retail version of this card can be bought for less than $200 making it one of the best graphic purchases of any time. Like the 9500Pro at its time, the X800GTO2 can be modded to a much faster GPU - the X850XT with16 pipelines and can be overclocked like hell. Nvidia fanatics will be well served looking at the Geforce 6800GS video card over here. It is more expensive but do not require you to overclock or mod it plus it is unbeatable at this price when playing Open GL games. µ