Advice on new build - wait or go?

[immunoboy7]

Current System
[FONT=&quot]Asus M4A785TD-M EVO with an [/FONT][FONT=&quot]AMD Athlon II X4 on Win xp

Use:
- Light photoshop work
- Nero or Adobe Suite to burn DVDs that contain compilations of home videos
- No real gaming
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]- I tend to build every 3-4 years and spend ~1,200-1,500. I would like to get into more video editing.
- I don't overclock.
- Not really tied to any brand, but I'd rather spend extra for stability, quality and longevity.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I'm getting tired of a DVD taking an hour to be transcoded for burning. I'd like to move to Win7 and also upgrade to a SSD. My current system is fine, but since I am thinking of upgrading, is there a significant leap forward coming with CPUs or Boards that I should wait for?

Thanks.

[/FONT]

 

[lehtv]

Ivy bridge isn't going to be a huge leap over Sandy bridge in terms of pure performance, it seems to be more concerned with reducing power consumption. If you want to upgrade, go with Sandy Bridge now. Compare to Athlon X4: about 100% faster.

If you're sure about no OC - here's what I'd recommend:

i5-2400
H67 board with SATA 6gb/s
2x4GB DDR3 1333 1.5V
64GB or 128GB SSD, e.g. Crucial M4 or Samsung 830
Windows 7 64 Home OEM

Total ~$500-600 depending SSD size.

Probably keep your current Case, PSU and drives. What PSU do you have?

But perhaps you could reconsider the overclocking part? It is pretty easy and safe to increase the performance of an unlocked Sandy Bridge i5-2500K or 2600K by 30% or so, all you need is an aftermarket cooler and a motherboard that supports overclocking. This will ensure you get the most out of the setup in the long term - you wouldn't have to OC now, could save it for later.

Do you buy from the US?

 

[immunoboy7]

Thanks. Yes, I'll be buying in the US.

I have a [FONT=&quot]500W Thermaltake Purepower. If I do want to try an OC, is there a preferable motherboard?
[/FONT]

 

[T_Yamamoto]

overclocking requires a

i5 2500K and a z68 motherboard

 

[lehtv]

^ Yes. Asrock Z68M should do everything you need from a mobo.

 

[ther00kie16]

Are you near a microcenter? They have the best CPU + motherboard combo deals. Also, it sounds like your budget allows for i7 2600k, which is better for video encoding. But if you are not nuts about that, the extra $100 probably isn't worth it.

 

[mfenn]

If you're sure about no OC - here's what I'd recommend:

i5-2400
H67 board with SATA 6gb/s
2x4GB DDR3 1333 1.5V
64GB or 128GB SSD, e.g. Crucial M4 or Samsung 830
Windows 7 64 Home OEM

Total ~$500-600 depending SSD size.

Great advice. IMHO spending $600 every 18-24 months will net you better performance over time than getting a monster build every 3-4 years.