Get a new PC now or wait after the storm calms?

[SlickR12345]

Hey should I get a new PC now and I mean this January or wait till march until GPU/CPU/DDR3 prices fall down a bit and the competition does its own.

Now it seems with only ATI having DX11 GPU's their performance per buck is really crappy, Intel being the first to release their new I3 CPU's and AMD will come later and DDR3 tech still new and fresh is still expensive.

But than again I have a very old system so even something like a core2 e6300 and GT9600 would be huge gain in performance!

So what do you think about it, wait for competition to crank up and prices go down or just buy now and don't overthink!?

 

[happy medium]

I would wait till March..........I am.

 

[cbn]

You could buy a X58 mainboard now.

Then upgrade in march to 32nm Xeon 12mb L3 cache quad core and choose from either "Fermi" or "Cypress" cored GPUs.

Later on throw in a SATA 3/USB3 AIB. This still allows full x16 crossfire later on as the X58 has 36 total lanes of PCI-E 2.0.

But than again I have a very old system so even something like a core2 e6300 and GT9600 would be huge gain in performance!

If shopping for a budget system, I think you would like LGA 1156/Core i3.

 

[blanketyblank]

Depends what you want to do with the system. I've seen some really nice prices for refurb systems before Christmas beloved patriot under $300 for a refurbished gateway quadcore. If you're willing to use older tech than just buy when the price is good (you can't build something like that for that kind of price especially with OS). Prices won't fall anymore on that sort of stuff for quite a while.
If you want new tech then just wait as long as you can. Prices generally only go down with some exceptions like ddr2.

 

[crisium]

Things can only get better. We have been in a GPU drought / famine / whatever since September. The only high end card that hasn't risen in price drastically or disappeared is the 4890. Once Nvidia re-enters the competitive scene the 5800 series might be affordable.

 

[Udgnim]

honestly, even when Fermi is released and assuming it is faster than what ATI is offering, I'd expect there to be supply issues and Fermi to enter the market at a very high pricepoint.

I'll guess that the 58XX series cards will finally be back to selling at MSRP by March and would not be surprised at all if prices don't budge for a while once Fermi is released.

 

[ronnn]

Waiting is always cheaper than spending real money. But than you have a slower computer.

 

[Lonyo]

No point in waiting for DDR3 prices to fall.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory...hips_to_Remain_Tight_Memory_Module_Maker.html

But no point in buying a graphics card now either.
Might as well wait to see what Fermi offers, _IF_ you are considering a high end graphics card, otherwise, might as well get whatever fits your budget.
From the sounds of it (or lack of sounds), NV isn't going to come out with anything mainstream for a while, so if your GPU budget is going to be $200 or less, why wait?

DDR3 and DDR2 are pretty much at price parity IIRC, but they aren't going to go down.

As always, you can wait forever for the next set of tech releases, but they you will never buy anything.
Unless there is something imminent on the horizon which could really impact your buying choice, holding off for the next big thing is mostly pointless, since if A is 1 month away, and then B is 2 months away, C another month later, and then A2 gets scheduled for another month away, and you end up never buying anything.

Unless you are wanting a high end card, buy now and be happy.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Now it seems with only ATI having DX11 GPU's their performance per buck is really crappy

Trolling?

 

[cubeless]

you should wait... forever... because it's obvious you need very little computing power to do whatever you do with a computer if you have the hardware you allude to...

 

[SlickR12345]

Thanks a lot guys, really great input.
For a minute there I was going to wait until March but than Lonyo struck me, maybe there will be even more wait for prices to fall down, maybe a newer tech will be 2 months away and I will end up buying nothing for at least 3 more months.
And as it is, technology is fast and no way one can follow it, you you don't want to cash 1500 euros every three or four months.

Anyways this is what i had in mind for buying; I'm going the cheap way and the "smart" way here and since AMD is using same socket technology and its tech (mobo's and cpu's) are way cheaper I'm going with AMD. I have never ever used AMD processor so I think this will be it, in getting one. Anyways to my build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
GPU: ATI HD 5770 (will search for rev.2 cooler, since anandtech reviews it as better, although clearly lacking more testing and types of tests)
Memory: 2GB DDR3 1066MHz
HDD: WD 500GB 7200rpm 16mb cache
PSU: 600W (nave no idea what company, since here we have more unknown companies for PSU, and the good ones are way too expensive for my taste, over 80 euros and more)
MB: AM3, probably MSI 790 bridge (or should i go with some other bridge? I want some cheap motherboard that WILL have overclocking abilities) I plan on O'C'ing my CPU by a small amount.

What do you guys think? Anything you would like to recommend or suggest a company or an actual motherboard, since I'm pretty much lost in this huge jungle of motherboards and sockets and chipsets and bridges and stuff)

 

[cubeless]

if you only get 2gb, buy a single dimm so that when you immediately upgrade to 4gb you can just buy another dimm...

that will be a lovely pc...

 

[Shilohen]

A new nifty technology is always around the corner. March should see Fermi, most likely HD 5890, Vertex II SSD, maybe the new SATA 3 Corsair SSD. However, then you'll only be 6 months away from new CPU release and maybe even the 6xxx serie. Some months later and you could even get a Bulldozer CPU!

Personally, I'm a huge waiter when it come to buying a computer, because I always want something that will last me for a long time, so the scenario above is my own personal nightmare. To counteract myself, I find a game I want, whatever the specifications for it are (even if the game requires only some very old tech), and buy the best computer fitting my budget when it gets released, ignoring the other external conjectures.

So, in your case, do you need a new computer now? Since you seem to be willing to wait, maybe you don't and could just save your money until you do need it and buy whatever best within your budget at that moment.


Regards,

 

[blanketyblank]

I'd go with a WD 640 GB HD. They are faster and not much more expensive. I've actually seen them for cheaper than 500 GB drives. You could go lower on the PSU with those components though 600W does leave you room to upgrade to a high end GPU if you ever feel the need for it.
I won't comment on the AMD chip since I've been out of the loop on the CPU side of things for a while. Last time I looked AMD chips were vastly inferior OCers compared to their intel counterparts.

 

[SlickR12345]

I'd go with a WD 640 GB HD. They are faster and not much more expensive. I've actually seen them for cheaper than 500 GB drives. You could go lower on the PSU with those components though 600W does leave you room to upgrade to a high end GPU if you ever feel the need for it.
I won't comment on the AMD chip since I've been out of the loop on the CPU side of things for a while. Last time I looked AMD chips were vastly inferior OCers compared to their intel counterparts.

Thanks a lot, I'll write that in my list and poke around here, to see what the prices are. Its kind of hard, because PC components here are always 10% to 20% more expensive than everywhere in the world.
And if WD 640GB is actually cheaper than a 500GB WD say in half the world, chances are its like 20 euros more expensive here!

@Shilohen:
Here, I can really see you are just like me. Think of buying, than changing my mind, than again and the cycle repeats for way too long.
But I've been way overdue for buying a new PC, so I'm defensively buying one this January!

@cubeless:
I agree, it would make for a smoother and better upgrade along the road!

 

[TemjinGold]

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
GPU: ATI HD 5770 (will search for rev.2 cooler, since anandtech reviews it as better, although clearly lacking more testing and types of tests)
Memory: 2GB DDR3 1066MHz
HDD: WD 500GB 7200rpm 16mb cache
PSU: 600W (nave no idea what company, since here we have more unknown companies for PSU, and the good ones are way too expensive for my taste, over 80 euros and more)
MB: AM3, probably MSI 790 bridge (or should i go with some other bridge? I want some cheap motherboard that WILL have overclocking abilities) I plan on O'C'ing my CPU by a small amount.

This is really not the place to skimp. You are better off with a lower wattage unit that's a good brand if need be. With a 5770, you don't need anything near 600w anyways.

 

[cbn]

Anyways this is what i had in mind for buying; I'm going the cheap way and the "smart" way here and since AMD is using same socket technology and its tech (mobo's and cpu's) are way cheaper I'm going with AMD. I have never ever used AMD processor so I think this will be it, in getting one. Anyways to my build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
GPU: ATI HD 5770 (will search for rev.2 cooler, since anandtech reviews it as better, although clearly lacking more testing and types of tests)
Memory: 2GB DDR3 1066MHz
HDD: WD 500GB 7200rpm 16mb cache
PSU: 600W (nave no idea what company, since here we have more unknown companies for PSU, and the good ones are way too expensive for my taste, over 80 euros and more)
MB: AM3, probably MSI 790 bridge (or should i go with some other bridge? I want some cheap motherboard that WILL have overclocking abilities) I plan on O'C'ing my CPU by a small amount.

What do you guys think? Anything you would like to recommend or suggest a company or an actual motherboard, since I'm pretty much lost in this huge jungle of motherboards and sockets and chipsets and bridges and stuff)

You might want to look into a C3 stepping Phenom II.

I agree with what other posters have said about the PSU. Name brand units with good energy efficiency rates (read quiet and cool) are not that expensive.

P.S. Have you compared prices to LGA 1156 yet? 45nm Core i5 750 is very strong against Phenom II x4 and 32nm Core i3 is very strong against Athlon II x4.

 

[Ranulf]

No point in waiting for DDR3 prices to fall.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory...hips_to_Remain_Tight_Memory_Module_Maker.html

But no point in buying a graphics card now either.
Might as well wait to see what Fermi offers, _IF_ you are considering a high end graphics card, otherwise, might as well get whatever fits your budget.
From the sounds of it (or lack of sounds), NV isn't going to come out with anything mainstream for a while, so if your GPU budget is going to be $200 or less, why wait?

You're probably right on waiting but I'm trying to figure out if I want a cheaper solution with the 5770 or just forking over the cash now for the 5850 with more future proofing and better performance at 1920x1080 in all the games I want to play that I've been avoiding on my 7950gt card.

 

[RussianSensation]

What about overclocking that E6300 to 3.4ghz? You can pair it with 5770. That would still be pretty good.

Alternatively, I'd probably go with Core i5 750.

 

[crisium]

Dude, if you still have a 7950GT which is a 2006 card, then you obviously run with cards for the long haul. I think you want the 5850 if you plan another 3 years.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

The storm hasn't even begun.

DDR3 was expensive. Now it's actually the price of DDR2, which rose. RAM is not going to get any cheaper any time soon either.

CPU's are very stable price wise. Release after release. You're not seeing dramatic price drops. Intel's CPU's just are not budging on the Quad end of things. AMD is keeping their prices just a bit lower than Intel, but they're not going crazy cheap either. No one is.

GPU is about the only reason to wait for anything. It's the only component that actually has a price tag worth waiting for it to drop. It's the most expensive component in the system these days if you want to game. We've got GPU's that cost twice what your CPU will cost. It's crazy. A $400 GPU is something to consider waiting on if you're wanting something to last worth it's money. GPU's don't provide the power per dollar over time that our CPU's do. Look at yester year's dualcores, still able to do their jobs today, but a lot of yester year GPU's just can't run a lot of new games very well. I wouldn't get the latest greatest GPU. I'd get the middle weight, save some green ($100+ kind of save) and get another one later if you need to. For example, ATI has their 5xxx series cards. They're awesome. nVidia hasn't caught up. We've already seen the prices rise on the ATI cards. Not a whole lot in some cases, but quite a bit in others. nVidia cards are going to be more expensive probably. What makes you think ATI will have to drop their prices to compete? They will already be a tad cheaper. nVidia doesn't have to lower their prices either. Neither of them will have to.

They might drop a tiny bit, but waiting months for a $20 savings is not going to net gain you anything.

I'd get what you want now and enjoy it. Waiting will just show you that... there's always something new to wait for, and you waste months of waiting on something only find you have to wait for something else. Get something good now and just ride the wave.

Very best,

 

[adairusmc]

I'd get what you want now and enjoy it. Waiting will just show you that... there's always something new to wait for, and you waste months of waiting on something only find you have to wait for something else. Get something good now and just ride the wave.

This.

 

[SlickR12345]

Thanks a lot.
So look for C stepping for the amd cpu, brand name 500W PSU. 2GB of stick ram.

Any input on a cheap but decent motherboard that will allow me to O'C my CPU?