AMD's Athlon II X4 645 is a native socket AM3 processor and is backwards compatible with older socket AM2+ motherboards, an element that is clearly missing from Intel's expanding circus of sockets. Just like the flagship processors, the Athlon II X4 645 will support 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP operating system, but best of all it's priced at an economical $122USD.

Intel’s integrated graphics have improved dramatically with the release of the GMA HD on the CPU die it is close to the same or better performance as the other solutions on the market. Of course AMD and NVIDIA have not released new integrated graphics chipsets for a while now (the 890G chipset is coming), but this sets the minimum bar just a little higher with support for DirectX 10.0 and OpenGL 2.1. Another consideration is support for DisplayPort, and HDMI as well as support for USB 3.0. GIGABYTE’s board is excellent feature-wise for an inexpensive board with support for USB 3.0, CrossfireX and DDR3-2200 memory. Performance is excellent on the board as well. H55 boards are priced under $100 giving you excellent systems at reasonable pricing.