Is now the time?

[shade3413]

I am new here and have been out of the tech scene for scene for about 6 months having moved and about another 2 years before that only checked in once and a while.
The last few days I've read some articles and brushed up on whats new and up and coming in terms of enthusiast PCs.
I have the money not to buy a rig that will land me somewhere between the mid and high ranges but nothing new on the market has jumped out at me as a really good deal as it did with my last upgrade.
I am asking in the opinions of the tech gurus around Anandtech do you feel now is the time to upgrade? I realize there is always something coming out for the PC that will out date even the best systems in a few months, half a years max. In the end though there are always prime times to buy a fancy new machine. So with whats happening in the tech industry is this the time to do it or are there some very interesting things on the horizon I should hoard my money for?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JackMDS]

Welcome to AnandTech's General Hardware Forum.

Your question is so general that there is No focused way to answer it.

What do you have Now?
What are you using it for?
What are your focused aspiration for the future?

 

[nerp]

Blurt out current specs and what you want to do with your new rig, indicate a general price range and we'd be happy to help.

 

[shade3413]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Welcome to AnandTech's General Hardware Forum.

Your question is so general that there is No focused way to answer it.

What do you have Now?
What are you using it for?
What are your focused aspiration for the future?

Ah sorry yes should have given the details

Currently I am running a system containing:
AMD 3700+ 2.21ghz 64 bit processor
ATI X800 GTO Graphics card
2 gigs of some standard brand DDR1 400 RAM
Along with a pretty standard motherboard and 2 hardrives that will be replaced as they are coming to the end of their lifespan.

Passing all these components down

Now for my new build I am a gamer and I also work from home. My work is on the PC but shouldn't have any real affect on my choice of components as they aren't process intensive tasks.

I am currently sporting a 2407WFP dell monitor.. so its 24 inches widescreen running at 1920x1200 res. I'm thinking I'll have to go heavier on the video card to get the resolutions I want to run at.

I did a quick basic build of the essentials:
OCZ 4GB DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Platinum (2x2GB) £246.74
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 £187.99
EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 £234.99
Leadtek GeForce 9600 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI £111.61

I am thinking of dropping the DDR3 altogether but it does seem like an emerging technology I'd like to get into. Also I'll buy a few new hard drives, looking at the new WD 660s for that role.

I am a Canadian living in the UK this the price in pounds. My budget at the moment is about 1000-1500 pounds and if I wait it'll only get higher.

 

[betasub]

The Time is Now.

 

[jkresh]

that would be a major jump over what you have now, but the question is do you feel like things are running slowly? If you want to keep a system for 3+ years then waiting for Nehalem (end of this year beginning of 09) might be worthwhile as it is likely to be a big jump over anything out now and will require a new socket. If your current machine has pci express then you could pick up a 9600gt which would be a major upgrade for gaming and would still work when you do the new build.

 

[shade3413]

Originally posted by: jkresh
that would be a major jump over what you have now, but the question is do you feel like things are running slowly? If you want to keep a system for 3+ years then waiting for Nehalem (end of this year beginning of 09) might be worthwhile as it is likely to be a big jump over anything out now and will require a new socket. If your current machine has pci express then you could pick up a 9600gt which would be a major upgrade for gaming and would still work when you do the new build.

Nehalem is extremely tempting it looks like it will be an excellent achievement but then again don't they all before they come out? I am finding things arn't running quite were I want them to anymore. UT3 isn't able to be put on high settings anymore and crysis I haven't even attempted but I expect the worst. Also My card doesn't have the newest shader model thus I am unable to play the likes of bioshock.

As previously noted I have a 24 inch monitor and want to make the most out of the 1920x1200 it is possible of displaying. I think this will mean dipping deeper into the best video cards around?

I'm looking to run the likes of crysis, fallout 3, warhammer online, etc. fallout 3 we don't know what the sys req will be therefore its hard to build a system around. Warhammer wont be any problem probably even for my current system. In the end I am defiantly looking towards the future.

My one other concern is even the nvidia flagship the 9800 GX2 only hit 40fps on the high res tests done by anandtech. This makes it look like things will go downhill fast even when blowing 600 dollars or 400 pounds on a god card.