Components
Intel Core 2 Duo
A diverse family including some stellar CPUs and numerous also-rans.
Jul 29, 2008 1:54 PM
AMD Sempron
A cheap, lightweight choice for single-core applications, but you get the performance you pay for.
Jul 29, 2008 1:49 PM
AMD Phenom X4
A smartly engineered processor, but for today’s applications it’s lacking in bang per buck.
Jul 29, 2008 1:45 PM
AMD Athlon X2
An old standard, but one that still provides decent performance at a great price.
Jul 29, 2008 1:41 PM
Corsair HX 620W
A quality PSU with an excellent 5 year warranty.
Jun 2, 2008 11:53 AM
Seasonic X900
A Power supply built with a little too much power and too little warranty.
Jun 2, 2008 11:49 AM
FSP Everest 1010
Expensive, but eye catching and very powerful.
Jun 2, 2008 11:23 AM
AMD Phenom 9500
A world first on the desktop, Phenom is good but a long way from outstanding.
Jan 17, 2008 4:48 PM
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650
This first of a new generation is only a little faster than the old, but its potential is clearly huge
Dec 11, 2007 11:08 AM
Intel Pentium 4
In its day, it held the speed crown, but today’s dual-core CPUs leave it trailing for power, efficiency and value.
Jul 6, 2007 12:25 PM
Intel Xeon 5300 series
Impressive technology, but increasing cores doesn’t necessarily increase performance.
Apr 30, 2007 9:58 AM
Intel Pentium D
The 915 is an good budget choice, but elsewhere this family is eclipsed by newer offerings.
Feb 26, 2007 3:22 PM