NEC PowerMate VL350 Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8 GHz

Advantages: Pretty cheap, fast, very cool therefore overclockable
Disadvantages: none whatsoever

...It's an amd, it says its a 64 bit athlon 3000+ but what does this mean in plain english! Well first of all it is 64-bit which basically means that it is compatible with 64-bit operating systems and programs which is not necessary at the moment but in the future it will be. Secondly, the name suggests the clock speed is 3.0GHz but it is actually clocked at 1.8GHz. The reason it is called a 3000+ is because that is the relative performance output, due to its architecture it is a lot more efficient than say an athlon xp 1.8GHz, hence the name. I have had one of these since January, i have had no problems with it at all, it is a lot cooler than the old athlons, mainly due to the new transistor size being 90nm rather than the old 130nm. All in all a very good, relatively cheap INVESTMENT into a socket 939 system that will leave you... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Very quick and responsive, easy to install and lots of available cooling fans.
Disadvantages: It's not dual core so it struggles sometimes when milti-tasking

...I bought this processor recently as an upgrade to an amd 64 3000+ 1.8ghz. to be honest, i didnt expect much of a speed improvement, but the 400mhz extra from the 3000+ really provides an excellent speed boost. I do a multi media and design course at college so i use Flash and photoshop software alot, along with demanding video editing software, and this processor has boosted rendoring times and graphics to no end! I play games, and i have found that this processor will handle ALL of the games i have tried on it, with ease! These games include: World of warcraft, Brothers in arms, Vice City, Quake 4 and half life 2 ALL were at HIGHEST graphical settings. If you only need this processor for a general computer then it is more than adequate to meet your needs. It will handle internet and word processing with no problems whatsoever... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Lightning fast with a variety of applications, fantastic price, good package
Disadvantages: Runs a bit hot, not much 64-bit software yet.

...THE CHOICE I recently decided it was time to finally give my ancient Athlon 500-based system a rest and build a new one (on a budget of around £400). Obviously the CPU is a fairly important choice to make when building a new computer so I put in a lot of thought and research and eventually settled on the AMD Athlon64 3000+ for my new machine. The current price of the 3000+ model makes it only slightly more expensive than the 2800+ and actually cheaper than the equivalent AthlonXP! There's no Intel processor available that can touch it at this price. I paid around £95 for the P-I-B (Processor-In-Box) package, which includes everything you need. The Athlon64 comes in various varieties, 754pin, 939pin, FX and a range of speeds, all of which have slight differences and may require different motherboards. The 3000+ I chose is a 754pin... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful