building new pc..need suggestions/advice

[eddiebravo]

right now i am planning to build a new pc in early may and id like to keep the budget under $3200 or so(this is only for the case and actual pc, i don't need a monitor, speakers, mouse, etc.). i havent been following the tech scene lately because of school/work, but ive heard that intels conroe and amd's am2 are going to be pretty sweet. when are they supposed to hit stores? is it worth buying a high end sli/crossfire system now or is it better to wait for that next gen stuff?

i specc'ed this out on newegg really quick:

LITE-ON Combo Drive Black IDE Model SOHC-5236V BK RTL - Retail

Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
(i know, 74gigs is small, but i will have an external drive too. this one will just be for games)

ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

BFG Tech BFGR79512GTXOCE Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

BFG Tech BFGR79512GTXOCE Geforce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

LITE-ON Beige IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9S - Retail

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - OEM

SILVERSTONE ZEUS SST-ST65ZF ATX12V 650W Power Supply - Retail

THERMALRIGHT XP-90C CPU Copper Heatsink - Retail

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200C2PRO - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADAFX60CDBOX - Retail


how does sli compare to crossfire? any thoughts/suggestions? thanks.

 

[Henny]

I would definately wait a couple months if you can. With Conroe, things are going to get very exciting!!!

 

[eddiebravo]

how many is a "couple" of months? buying a new pc is always frustrating because i always feel like new technology is just around the corner.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Assume 4-6 months since even if conroe ships early the CPUs and motherboards may be scarce and overpriced for a month or two.

If you don't mind replacing your motherboard, CPU and RAM early next year you could get a single-core 3700+ - 4000+ now, they are more than fast enough to keep the SLI GTXs fed and games don't currently benefit from dual-core.

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: eddiebravo
how many is a "couple" of months? buying a new pc is always frustrating because i always feel like new technology is just around the corner.

Conroe supposedly comes out in July but it might be another month or so for the channel to get stocked.

You're right. There will always be an excuse to wait.

In this case I do plan to wait.

 

[eddiebravo]

well i definitely dont want to wait 6 months...how much could i put together a ~3700+ system for now if i was just going to use that in the interim until conroe or am3?

but i have to ask, is conroe really going to be THAT much better? when i step back and look at the big picture, an fx60, 2 gigs of high end ram, and sli 7900gtx 512mb cards seems like a freakishly powerful system. wouldnt that last me quite a while before any game comes close to taxing it?(im happy with 1024x768 with details maxed) in other words, even though conroe is faster, will it actually make a noticable difference, especially considering the fact that games dont even take advantage of dual core yet?

edit///hmm if it comes out in july, i could definitely wait until then. also, what is the deal with intel and hardware drm? will this be included in conroe? if so, i am definitely not interested.

 

[skooma]

If you can wait, wait.

If not, then I agree with DaveSimmons- lose the fx60 at the minimum and IMO lose the sli'd 7900's. nvidias new cards may be here when conroe arrives.

Of course, if you have the money, screw it. But I'd still lose the fx-60.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

dont wait. nobody will be buying conroe once it comes it. let it mature (will take another couple of months) and by that time it'll be december or january when mb's mature and software is compatile

 

[eddiebravo]

yea im leaning towards just going ahead with the new pc in may. i cant imagine running into performace issues with the kind of pc i am going to build for a loooong time. hell, my 3200+, geforce 6800gt and 1 gig of ram runs halflife 2 beautifully.

even if conroe is going to be 20% faster or whatever, it just seems like it would be useless overhead for quite a while. and by the time the fx60 is outdated and conroe's superiority starts to matter, id be ready to upgrade again anyways. and by that time conroe will have been surpassed too.

that is of course, unless conroe really offers a huge technological leap forward from the fx60...does it?