Intel
Intel has been in the game since the beginning. A long time ago, they had the monopoly on processors. Whenever you heard computer, you heard Intel. It’s no wonder that they’re one of the big guns right now, giving you top performance with their Hyper-Threading technology. They seem to have made a slight flop with their Prescott processors, but that remains to be seen on where they are headed with that.
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The Intel system will be i875 based using an Intel i875PBZ motherboard with a P4 3.2GHz processor. The processor itself goes for approximately $320. Latest prices can be found here. This processor is based on a 0.13 micron technology. Although this isn't the latest technology offered by Intel, we all know that 0.09 micron technology a.k.a. the Prescott cores don't perform as well. Next generation Intel processors are around the corner, and hopefully they'll make up for the Prescott's short comings.
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The motherboard costs about $150. Latest prices on i875 chipset motherboards can be found here. Intel roadmaps show that a 3.6 GHz processor is just around the corner in Q2 of this year, and a 3.80GHz in Q3. This chipset supports such features as an 800 MHz bus, dual DDR 400 memory, Intel Hyper-Threading technology and so forth. This is the most powerful chipset offered by Intel as of yet.
