building a new rig - now, or later?

[wfbberzerker]

i'm going to be building a new rig for a friend of mine, and i've got a budget of about 1500-2000 to work with. he doesn't have a specific timetable of when he wants it by, but i was going to start working on it over thanksgiving unless there was a good reason to wait. it seems like there are several reasons worth waiting:

-vista comes out in a few months
-new set of core 2's are coming out in early 2007
-aren't a bunch of new video cards coming out soon?

i know you can't just wait to see when the next big thing is coming out since it's a neverending cycle, but i don't want to go ahead and build it right now and find out i could have saved/upgraded a lot if i had waited a month.

as far as vista goes, i may just install xp now, seeing as it will be several months before it comes out for purchase, not to mention i'd want to wait and have all the kinks worked out. so, i'll just find a copy of xp layin around for now.

any input would be appreciated!

 

[Bat123Man]

Any new Core 2's coming out early next year are going to be priced well out of your price range, so don't worry about them. Also, virtually any place you buy a computer now will give you an upgrade coupon for Vista (for the price of XP). Of course, you do have to buy the system from them.....

For that budget, I would just follow the AnandTech upgraded Midrange guide, but make a few important changes. Get an E6600 to take advantage of the 4MB L2 cache, an Asus Deluxe mobo with the 680i chipset on it (it's SLI), 2 GB of 5400 RAM (the guide recommends 6400, you could even go as high as 8000 if you can fit it in your budget), and any G80 card you can afford. That card alone will currently set you back over 450 bones, but it will give you the ability to play graphically intensive games such as FEAR at an unheard of resolution of 2560x1600 with every single advanced option set as high as they will go and still crank out 64 FPS. That is unbelievable. If you can swing it, I would go for it. Also, as the mobo has SLI, later on down the road when the complete immersion 3D games come out, you can slap in a second 8800 board and laugh your head off.

That means :
E6600 - 308
Asus Striker Extreme 680i - 249
2 GB 5400 RAM - 200
PNY 8800 GTS - 459

That leaves you with 783 bucks to play with and still be under 2000. But you will have the biggest baddest machine on the block. You can fill in the less important parts from the Midrange buyers guide.

BM

 

[wfbberzerker]

thanks for the input. however, as for the core 2s coming out next year, aren't the introduction of new processors generally accompanied by a price reduction for the old ones?

also, if i'm planning on building, does microsoft or whoever offer the upgrade coupon for vista? or is that solely a system vendor type deal?

 

[Bat123Man]

Sometimes, but prices are set by demand. New CPUs are always priced to the ceiling because only enthusiasts who have lots of money and need to be running the latest and greatest will buy them. But if the E6600 is selling well, particularly when compared to its AMD competition, I wouldn't hold my breath about any dramatic price drops.

I have never heard of any vendor, MS or otherwise, offering XP now with a coupon for Vista later. That is a marketing idea to get you to buy a complete system from a computer shop. If you go onto any site, and look for software for sale, you will see the price for XP but I have never seen an actual online store where Vista is offered for the same price (as in buy XP now, get Vista for free later). The only way the computer shop could make this viable is if they also had your new rig business as well (including labour costs to put it together, and buying all parts from them).

BM