Im told by a few people theres some new end stuff coming out, as in i think a new type of processors and motherboards aswell as the next step of graphics cards. I think these are set to be released in 2007 and they are meant to be a pretty big jump from the current high end stuff. I heard it involved directx10 and how thats a big leap from current gaming etc. (anyone able to give me the names of such things? i really only heard it through a few whispers hear and there. Id look for it but i have no idea what im searching for ) I could be wrong although i admit my weakness is in knowing what stuff is set to come out in the near future Il have the money i need to build a amazing top end pc in exactly 2 months but im now unsure whether i should simply hold onto it and wait for the latest stuff to come out and get those componants instead so it remains stop end spec's for longer? No doubt this is a silly thread to the knowledged but since im abit uninformed in the upcoming parts, anyone able to give me some information and advice on the parts coming out and whether it would be best to wait or simply build using current top end componants? My thx in advance Solidus
there is *always* something significantly better only a few months away. If you have the money to build a new PC and want a new PC then by all means go for it. The only case when I would ever wait for something to come out is when its release is imminent (like in the next week or so) and its a very big deal. as it stands, DX10 video cards are a good distance away, Conroe isnt going to be here any time soon (intels new killer CPU) and AM2 (AMDs new platform) isnt really worth waiting around for imo
Not to mention that you won't see DX9 support dropped overnight, going by the fact that most games/apps/cards/etc support down to DX7. Spend all your time waiting and you'll never buy something. There's that point where you have to just say 'screw it!' and buy knowing that the Next Big Thing is only a couple months out. In this case, you may want to try and reserve a bit of cash for a PPU, but other than that I'd just say go for it now. For a gaming rig, I'd say definately snag a dual-core and two gigs of ram with a high-end card (x1900/7900 series), but aside from that there's not too much to worry about. For now, AMD still has the gaming edge, and you can expect s939 chips to drop in price when AM2 comes out, and probably the same for LGA775 if Conroe introduces a new package. Memory only stands to get cheaper (you can get a PC3200 2GB kit for $150 or so now, stateside anyways) and performance roughly doubles between GPU generations without a giant shift in price point (it's definately on the rise, but usually the second-best models, GT/XT vs GTX/XTX, are usually an excellent value). Until your system is over a five years old, you can realistically assume that there will still be upgrades available. And considering how long PCs have been available, that's like, umm, I suck an analogies but you get the idea. You can still buy SDRAM and you could probably find ISA cards if you spent some time looking, and PCI video cards are also still available, no matter now much they suck. I'd seriously consider getting another two gigs of ram for my comp if it weren't for the 3.xxxGB limit on 32-bit OSes (why is beyond me, 2^32 bytes = 4GB), knowing full well that AM2 will make that obsolete once its available. As it is, I'll probably have to hold off for Vista unless there's a gaming breakthrough in Linux or XP-64 stops having craptastic everything support, but that's aside the point. If it was 'quantum computing chips available next month' then by all means wait for it, but newer kit being available doesn't make your entire rig instantly obsolete. Dated, perhaps, but not obsolete. It's true of anything, you just only notice it on things that you follow. I'm looking for a new bike, and for all I know there could be some huge new thing coming a week after I buy it, but I'm not concerned.
I'm also in the market for a new rig to replace my 5 year old rig (Athlon XP 2200+, 512MB DDR333 RAM, GeForce 4 Ti4600). I can play HL2 on it just fine, but when it comes to the hardware killing games like Oblivion, my comp just puts up its hands and says "nope, ain't gonna happen". While new stuff is always nice and fast, it's not without it's bugs and issues. I think right now is the perfect time to buy a socket 939 platform because of how mature all the hardware is (Nvidia chipsets, heck even the newer ATi chipsets are extremely stable and perform well). All the bugs and issues have been documented and problems are easily solved by just doing a google search. If there's such a thing as vintage in computers, this is it. On the new stuff, if you run into a problem, the support is nonexistant. As for what I'm going to get, I think I've decided on the Asus A8R32-MVP board, 2 Gigs of high quality ram probably Corsair (might look for some Samsung TCCD), maybe a 4800+ X2 processor, and a X1900XTX card running Win X64 (fewer 64bit viruses running around). Should be able to do anything I throw at it for at least the next 3 years and if I need to, I can throw in another X1900XTX and run crossfire down the road, or just get a newer PCI-E graphics card. As for Conroe, I'm not falling for the hype until I see some real world performance figures, and so far I haven't seen any. And AM2, it'll be like 2008 before we see a new chip to jump for. -L6
If you want to go AMD but don't want to wait for Conroe, AM2 is a good choice for upgradability. It'll be their dominant platform for a while now and, while not offering the immediate performance boost of Conroe, will develop and eventually house AMD's more competitive offerings. Unless you're absolutely determined to buy now, I'd give it a few months and see how things turn out.
Unless you're prepared to wait until some time in 2007 it makes sense to go for dual-core 939 now with a good DX9 card such as 7900GT or X1800XT. Intel are due to launch their new CPU+mobo in the next few months but expect prices to be through the roof, and I doubt performance will be much better than existing 939 Athlon64. AMD are due to launch their DDR2 'AM2' CPU+mobo this year but it's not expected to significantly increase performance except for quad-core (which isn't as really sigificant as dual-core). The next big step for AMD is due to come in 2007; the K8L CPUs which are expected to significantly increase floating point power but as with all unreleased things it's pretty much guess work. I imagine it will just keep them a touch ahead of Intel, if they do fall a touch behind when Intel's new CPUs arrive. DirectX10 is likely to be out around the time of Windows Vista, most likely early 2007. Even when it does come out by the time games really use it the initial cards will be too slow to really benefit anyway. I'd expect it to be 2008 before you really need DX10 to any significant degree. There's not likely to be any remotely major new gfx releases until early 2007, so you can buy a current mid to high-end with as much peace of mind as you ever can expect to. As said all of this new technology (including Vista itself) is likely to have issues and in most cases significant pricing too, and that's if it's not delayed. IMHO go with a 939 dual-core A64-X2_3800+ and o/c, combine it with 2x1GB PC3200-PC4000 and a 7900GT/X1800XT or similar and enjoy. [EDIT] Lemur 6 you could gain a fair deal of performance for just £40-45, 9700Pro which aren't far behind 9800Pro which in turn aren't far behind 6600GT. Your XP2200+ will limit it a little but you'll still have a significant gain over any GF4TI. If you could o/c your CPU or buy a better one that would be even better too. Of course Skt754 is cheap and AMD have officially stated it will outlive 939 as their budget choice, so there's life in the old dog yet. A 754 Sempron_3100+ is better and cooler than the best SktA can offer.
Thx for the advice guys! Just some theory crafting here: If i buy say: 4800 Amdx2 processor 2-3gig ram (a fast and quality brand) x2 7900gtx in sli and the rest of the componants in 2 months (all top spec/brand) This pc will be able to keep playing games until 2008? If i get 2 years out of something like this il be happy since i can go onto upgrade and sell off the old parts. This is probably a very naive view, i apologise but my understanding of the market isnt that great :s
Why not buy it all at once? Prices fall all the time and you'll probably be able to save £50-100 by getting it all in 2 months. Either way, you're best off getting only 2GB of RAM (to maintain dual-channel with an even number of sticks) and a good cooler with that X2 for some overclocking later down the line With regard to future-proofing... two 7900s in SLI should most definitely play everything right up to 2008. It depends what resolution you're gaming at, but you shouldn't have a problem - you might have to turn down some settings in a year or so, but they'll run just fine.
yup I plan to buy the computer all together in 2months time(maybe 2 and a half), i have £1500 saved so far and hope to make another £1000-1500 in the next 2 months so hopefully il have a good amount to spend. Iv been working my ass off on my parttime job so this is going to be my reward, im going all out baby
Sounds like a fine plan, but lest ye not forget, you can save yourself big money by buying a slower CPU and overclocking it. Why pay £200 extra for something you might just get anyway? Always worth a thought.
quoted as it needs to be said again and while its always a "maybe" when overclocking, its almost a dead set that a 4400+ would give you the same clocks as a 4800+
ah yeh i know what you guys mean but iv never overclocked anything in my life :S Im a little worried i may screw it up if i attempt to overclock anything, buying a higher grade just saves me the trouble i guess :S I wish i wasnt such a big noob with this stuff
Its as easy as anything. Loads of guides on the net, its a looks far more complicated than it looks. Once you've done it once, its easy.
Ah see, I'm playing Oblivion on my room mate's comp, and her's uses a 6600GT and performance is pretty dodgy sometimes and at medium resolutions at that. I'd rather not spend any more money on this dated system and go with something that'll be a bit more useful down the road.
