56 MA XIMUMPC JANUARY 2006
CPU: AMD SEMPRON 2800+
Budget PC’s today usually rely on a silver-haired
Athlon XP or Celeron processor—castoffs from
last-generation machines. For our budget box,
we didn’t want leftovers or dime-store bar-
gains. Instead, we selected AMD’s fairly new
Sempron 2800+. Don’t confuse this with the
early Semprons, which were rebadged Athlon
XP processors; this budget chip is based on the
same core used in the Athlon 64. It has an on-die
memory controller and runs in Socket 754. And
because it’s a 90nm Sempron, this chip even
supports 64-bit OSes. It runs at 1.6GHz and has
256KB of L2 cache, but because its power con-
sumption tops out at a mere 62 watts, it runs cool.
It might be budget today, but just a few years ago,
this would be top of the line.MOTHERBOARD:
MSI RS480M-IL
MSI’s RS480M-IL micro ATX board might not fea-
ture SLI or CrossFire support, but the integrated
graphics in the ATI RS480 chipset are far superior
to the crap graphics included with the Intel 915
chipset, which is found in most of today’s budget
boxes. Even better, the RS480M-IL lets us run an
economical, but 64-bit capable, AMD processors
on the Socket 754 interface. And should the $300
PC be drafted for gaming duties down the road,
we can always upgrade the integrated Radeon
8500 graphics. Pop a brand-new, cutting-edge
GPU into the PCI Express slot and this isn’t a
bad gaming rig! We love its upgradeability, and
appreciate its native SATA support, USB 2.0, and
onboard FireWire and audio. For a budget box,
what more could you want?THE PARTS
CPU AMD Sempron 2800+ http://www.amd.com $75
MOBO MSI RS480M-IL http://www.msicomputer.com $80
MEMORY Generic 512MB PC3200 NA $38
HARD DRIVE 80GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA http://www.seagate.com $45
OPTICAL DRIVE Lite-On 16x double layer http://www.liteonit.com $42
CASE Generic ATX case NA $30
OS Ubuntu Linux http://www.ubuntulinux.org Free
GRAND TOTAL $310WHAT ELSE
COSTS AROUND$300?
DeLonghi EC701 Espresso Maker, http://www.amazon.com One night in the cheapest room at San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton, One night in the cheapest room at San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton, http://www.ritz-carlton.com Ghillie suit with optional Rifl e Wrap, Ghillie suit with optional Rifl e Wrap, http://www.army-surplus.com Biological stain analysis (two-day carrier service included), http://www.genetree.com$300
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