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AnchorDesk

John Morris and Josh Taylor
Speed vs. cost: 2GHz is nice, but saving money's even nicer

John Morris and Josh Taylor
Contributing Editors, AnchorDesk
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
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Intel keeps on pushing its Pentium 4 processor. This week the company announced it had broken the 2GHz barrier--almost exactly 18 months after AMD and Intel first shipped 1GHz desktop chips. Guess good old Moore's Law is right on schedule (even though technically it refers to the number of transistors on a chip, not the clock speed). Intel also announced a 1.9GHz P4 processor.

What will 2GHz get you? ZDNet Reviews has tested three new desktops based on this P4 processor: the ABS Performance System 8, Gateway Performance 2000XL Digital Media, and HP Pavilion 9900. As with previous Pentium processors, the 2GHz chip enjoys broad industry support, and you can also find systems from Compaq, Dell, MicronPC, Systemax, and others starting at around $1,500.

ALL THREE of the first systems ZDNet tested exhibited the consistently high level of performance we expected across the board, from business productivity and Internet content-creation applications to 3D games and digital video encoding. Although you can find 2GHz P4 systems starting for as little as $1,500, these fully loaded PCs ranged in price from $2,500 to $3,000.

The ABS Performance System 8 had a slight edge on performance, and includes an excellent array of components, all for a reasonable $2,500. The Gateway Performance 2000XL packs the most PC you can currently buy for $3,000, including a 15-inch flat-panel LCD display. Finally, the HP Pavilion 9900 is a home system with legs, thanks to a whopping 80GB hard drive and an excellent 19-inch monitor.

But unless you have to have the fastest thing out there, you may be more interested in the second piece of breaking processor news--namely, significant price drops on existing processors. Intel slashed the prices of slower P4 chips, including reducing the price of the recently released 1.8GHz, which cost $562 at launch, to $256. AMD wasn't to be outdone, cutting Athlon processor prices by similar amounts. The company reportedly will also ship a 1.5GHz Athlon next month. (Currently, the Athlon tops out at 1.4GHz.)

DESPITE INTEL'S aggressive pricing strategies, Pentium-based systems continue to cost a little more than Athlon systems, which despite their slower clock speeds, still deliver similar performance on many common applications. For example, a Compaq Presario 7000Z with a 1.4GHz Athlon processor, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, GeForce3 graphics card with 64MB DDR memory, 48X CD-ROM drive, and 17-inch monitor is currently listed at $1,677. A Compaq Presario 7000T with a 2.0GHz P4 processor and nearly identical configuration costs $420 more ($2,097). However, if you drop down to a 1.5GHz P4, the same system will cost a more competitive $1,797.

So if the 2GHz P4 doesn't make choosing a new desktop system any easier, at least it will help you keep some more money in the old checking account.

Is 2GHz too fast? Or is there always a place for the fastest possible PC? Tell us in TalkBack.

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