Blogs PC Hardware Buyer's Guide, December 2010

As most of our long-term readers will know, we produce a PC hardware buyer’s guide each month, detailing our views on what PC components you should be buying and why. It’s a great opportunity for us to summarise our findings of the last month and for you guys to tell us that we're wrong....

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/12/03/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-december-2010/

 

Good idea, take a Christmas break, the old Intel chips will go nowhere until the end of January if they keep to tradition, and the AMD 870 mobos are having a new Southbridge fitted so you can have 2 USB3s and SATA 3 interfaces (denoted by the letter A after the number) - that puts the price back to £65-70 but for AMD upgraders it's the best you'll get until PCI-E 3.0 lands on the boards in the more modern chipsets. Will edit that if the newest chipsets also get the new southbridge too.

I look forward to the new year build guide!

 

I liked that. It shows you don't take yourself too seriously.

BTW you need to sort out that massive /eurl error.

 

I understand your reasoning for not doing a guide but considering the VAT rise on 1st Jan I'd rather not wait until then for a new guide. I guess I'll keep an eye on reviews and attempt to make up my own system from anything that appears in the the next week or so.

The main issue is that the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 mobo in the November guide has vanished, can anyone recommend a decent alternative for a similar price?

 

i was looking to start a lga1156 build soon but i'm going to wait til sandy bridge to see what it does to prices, and sandy bridge's own performance.
can i still go out and buy a PSU, RAM and case now so i can avoid the extra VAT on them (and spread the cost)? i'm assuming they'll be compatible regardless of what i go for in the end?
clearly a cooler and motherboard wont be?

 

The VAT rise is an extra £2.50 per £100, is that really a big issue?

Looking forward to the next hardware buyers guide!

 

The VAT rise will matter more on food and clothes than tech gear. It's not an immediate hit on one-off purchases, but the drip-drip effect that will add up.

Depends whether the guide gets written and scheduled to appear over New Year's Weeekend when the 3rd is a bank hol - the VAT will be Tuesday 4th onwards - there's a slim chance you can still get a build ordered before things go up.

 

I'm targeting a new graphics card this christmas, and of course i'm waiting for the 6970/50 to show their hand. Sensible move bit-tech, just get us the important reviews asap please!

 

Maybe BT could issue a pre-VAT hike cheap'n'cheerful buyers guide?

Although, if it were a car purchase then yeah, needed, PC bits not so.

 

Most foods don't have VAT, its funny seeing people complain about their weekly shop going to be higher and yet it really won't as most food is VAT free or lower rate which isn't changing.

P.S. I realise you weren't complaining, just a little rant about what I keep reading in the papers lol!

Either way, 2.5% might not seem much to some people but if you don't have much cash to spare every little helps!

If anyone has any suggestions as a replacement for the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 it would be appreciated, preferably the same price or less if possible...

Thanks!

 

So much excitement and disappointment all at once...

 

yea, not worth upgrading yet till we can see those new sandys and make an informative decision.
As mentioned they going no where so why not overclock them just a little to give you that extra bit of juice, just do it carefully as you dont want to pop anything this close to the imminent release and have to shell out now to replace.
I'll be watching this space.

 

It might still be worth buying your RAM this side of the new year though (if BT's article earlier this week is anything to go by). I wonder if I can pick up 8GB 1600Mhz DDR3 for £100... :/

 

you can just about if you are willing to pay £110 for those new Corsair's

 

good idea come back with more fresh stuff in jan

 

Oops, better not tell my mate who I just built a nice little i5 system for

Suits me though, I reckon I'll be waiting at least 6 months before I start planning my upgrade.

 

the rise on vat effects everything, as theres vat on fuel :\

 

How high is VAT in the uk? It's sitting at 23% here in croatia at the moment...

Buyer's guide-wise, it makes perfect sense to skip a month and wait and see what happens...
Tho, I do like reading through it for fun

 

I just built an i5 system for myself... Still I suspect it will serve me well for a few years yet, regardless of what comes out next year.

Now if I could just get my hands on another 8gigs of ram

 

Gutted! My Graphics card died yesterday so i need to replace, i'll just have to base my decision on Novembers guide as i really can't wait a month. I guess whats good now will still be good in a month anyways even if it does get superceded.