Just another should-I-wait-for-Nehalem-or-buy-now thread

[Nvy]

Hello!

So, as you might have figured out I don't know if I should wait for Nehalem or just buy a new system right now.

My current computer is a AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (2.2Ghz), 2x512 DDR (200mhz), Radeon x850xt (256mb).

The biggest problems with this rig is that I can't run any new games, or play 1080 videos, works great for surfing the web though


So I would really benefit from a new setup, but I don't know if I can wait one more year for Nahelem to sink in.

If I should buy a new system today I'll proably would have taken a p45 board, E8500, 2x2 1066Mhz memory, 4870, and a WD 640 GB HD, and clock it to 3,8GHz+.

so, reason I need/want a new comp: playing 1080 videos, play any of todays games, and having an overall faster system.

Should I buy now or wait? give me your opinions.

Oh, and I'm very concerned about performance vs price, I don't like to pay 1000$ more for a 0.2 Ghz faster CPU, if you know what I mean

 

[myocardia]

Welcome to anandtech. Whether or not you wait roughly another year year or so is up to you and your accountant, assuming you're married. I can tell you that when I upgraded from an Opteron 170 (2.0 Ghz dual-core) @ 2.8 Ghz to a Q6600, the difference in gaming was astounding, and that was with the same video card, an X1900XT. Once I upgraded my video card to an 8800GT, it was even better.

With the pricing of components these days, it's a good time to upgrade. I see you've done your homework, and have chosen good parts. If you can afford them, you won't be sorry.

 

[minmaster]

hmm if you play 1080 videos at the native resolution, then you must have at least a resolution of 1920x1200 (or the rare 1920x1080) LCD. from what i gather, in addition to the nice cpu+mobo+memory you mentioned, you also need a capable video card. in the video card section, there are members discussing video cards for 1920x1200 and it seems to me that you would want something like the 4870, or 8800GT/4850 at the very least to have decent fps at such high resolution. if i were you, i'd wait unless there are games right now that you are dying to play. just see how things become at the end of this year. by that time the first batch of nehalems will be released, probably further reducing cost of LGA 775 cpus. and the 4870 might even drop to the price that 4850 is at right now. either way, you'll have better choices then and can consider nehalem if price permits.

 

[wwswimming]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115130

Q9650 for $560.

4 cores @ 3 GHz.

might be fast enough.

Nehalem will be faster, but it will be awhile before they're down to $560.

 

[Rebel44]

I agree with myocardia - if you have money buy now - if you want to use this PC for 2+ years it would IMO be better to use Q9550 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115041

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Welcome to anandtech.
With the pricing of components these days, it's a good time to upgrade. I see you've done your homework, and have chosen good parts. If you can afford them, you won't be sorry.

+1

 

[apoppin]

Sure, Neha is coming .. but it is only one CPU that is affordable and the MBs will no doubt be over $300 and buggy for the early adopters

so i am *betting* that it will be Spring before Neha kicks Penryn's butt in gaming .. i could be wrong .. but i doubt i can upgrade before than twice [and i may suffer for my choice - or not]
- you pays your money and you takes your chances

i went for e8500/asus p5e x48 MB/2x2GB PC8500 .. and i got a GTX280 coming also

 

[perdomot]

Given your selection of components, I would buy now as those parts have been well tested and are a good value whereas Nehalem will be new, expensive and buggy.

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN

Originally posted by: myocardia
Welcome to anandtech.
With the pricing of components these days, it's a good time to upgrade. I see you've done your homework, and have chosen good parts. If you can afford them, you won't be sorry.

+1

+2

 

[MyLeftNut]

I think if you were to buy now, you won't go wrong with building a cheap setup like an E5200 and a cheap motherboard that does 300-400fsb max. The e5200 has trouble with 400fsb anyways. So in the end $130-$140 can get you the cpu and mobo which you should be able to overclock to ~3.8ghz on safe volts.

 

[RussianSensation]

Buy now. The parts you chose are very good.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Take a look at my Latest Core i7 release date info thread. Me and many others are still stuck with P4's and we're waiting for Core i7 (Nehalem). Nobody knows the pricing so it is best to wait and see instead of buying a dead socket (LGA 775). We only have 1-2 more months. Trust me you can wait.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
Take a look at my Latest Core i7 release date info thread. Me and many others are still stuck with P4's and we're waiting for Core i7 (Nehalem). Nobody knows the pricing so it is best to wait and see instead of buying a dead socket (LGA 775). We only have 1-2 more months. Trust me you can wait.

What if i don't trust you?

[actually i *dont* - to prove it, i ordered Asus P5e deluxe x48 MB, 4GB PC8500 DDR2 and e85500 - Yesterday!! ]

Perhaps you will spend $350 on a buggy-as-hell Neha MB and on an under-performing CPU unoptimized for gaming and expensive DDR3 .. or ..

Perhaps you are right

However, just from looking at intel's history, i'd say i am right and that i7 will be close-to-worthless to gamers [over OC'd Penryn] for about 6 months

i actually held a x58 MB in my hands last week and it looked buggy - and really [really] expensive [3 pairs of DDR3 slots]
of course the reps wouldn't say .. but $300[+] is about right for the MB

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Wow, you got a dead socket with a legacy dual-core processor. I'm sure that will last you a long time. Dual-cores are old no matter how much you overclock them. You forgot to mention your 72 pin EDO ram. I don't understand why so many people bash and make assumptions over something that didn't even come out yet. Maybe some people say those things because they already upgraded and they want to think that they still have the best.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
Wow, you got a dead socket with a legacy dual-core processor. I'm sure that will last you a long time. Dual-cores are old no matter how much you overclock them. You forgot to mention your 72 pin EDO ram.

and you got a Radeon x850xt

however, i knew *better* than to get PressHot
i had the EE till last year then i went to PCIe .. Wed i will have PCie 2.0 and
HD4870x3 in 16x + 16x CrossfireX

that should keep up with Neha for about 6-9 months .. at 19x12



to each his own

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Uhh, mine is older than two years. In fact, it's almost three.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
Uhh, mine is older than two years. In fact, it's almost three.

yeah you don't even know what HDR looks like

i got rid of mine 2 years ago for x1950/512 then PCIe 1.0 last May with 2900xt crossfire and 16x10 gaming

this year i went to 19x12 and need to upgrade again - or i'd still have my 8800GTX for 16x10 and DX9

all it means is that i am ahead of you on the upgrade cycle

i do it every 6 months at the least ...

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

yeah you don't even know what HRD looks like

You mean HDR?

all it means is that i am ahead of you on the upgrade cycle

Good for you. :thumbsup:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem

yeah you don't even know what HRD looks like

You mean HDR?

all it means is that i am ahead of you on the upgrade cycle

Good for you. :thumbsup:

i edited the typo .. yes, you don't play DX10 games .. that is the reason i am upgrading; and to play DX10 games fully maxed out at 19x12, you need serious HW

What i *meant* is that when you upgrade to what is in your Avatar, you will be ahead of me in the cycle

good for you, also
:thumbsup:

in the meantime you put up with lesser graphics and saved money. i did this for many years and i had my own P4 2.80c @ 3.33 Ghz for over THREE years before i started upgrading.

But then i also did it to learn more about HW - and now i am reviewing HW. So i will also upgrade to Neha .. but after you do [likely]. Upgrading is just expensive. i spent close to $2k on HW this month.

 

[walk2k]

I was going to wait but now think I'll go ahead and upgrade to a good cheap dual-core (will wait for i7 to go quad).

E8500 (3.16Ghz), Asus P5Q Pro (P45), 2GB DDR2 1066 = $375.
Already have a 8800GT.

i7 when it comes out it will probably be around $500 for the 2.93Ghz, boards $250 and 3-channel DDR3 $250 at least. $500+250+250 = $1000

If I wait until a good i7 system is under $600 and upgrade then it's $375 now + $600 later for i7 = $975 or about the same, only I get to have a better system for a year+ or so.

Of course a good GPU upgrade is worth it for games, assuming your cpu/etc isn't more than 2 yrs old (and even then you can migrate it to your new system as I will) got the 8800GT when it was new, that extended the life of my system until now.

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: Nvy
Hello!

So, as you might have figured out I don't know if I should wait for Nehalem or just buy a new system right now.

My current computer is a AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (2.2Ghz), 2x512 DDR (200mhz), Radeon x850xt (256mb).

The biggest problems with this rig is that I can't run any new games, or play 1080 videos, works great for surfing the web though


So I would really benefit from a new setup, but I don't know if I can wait one more year for Nahelem to sink in.

If I should buy a new system today I'll proably would have taken a p45 board, E8500, 2x2 1066Mhz memory, 4870, and a WD 640 GB HD, and clock it to 3,8GHz+.

so, reason I need/want a new comp: playing 1080 videos, play any of todays games, and having an overall faster system.

Should I buy now or wait? give me your opinions.

Oh, and I'm very concerned about performance vs price, I don't like to pay 1000$ more for a 0.2 Ghz faster CPU, if you know what I mean

Have you thought about doing it a piece at a time?
Try just the 4870 for now, and see how well your current system performs.
Might save you money, and you'll be using the 4870 for any choice you make anyway...

 

[Nvy]

Originally posted by: Viditor

Have you thought about doing it a piece at a time?
Try just the 4870 for now, and see how well your current system performs.
Might save you money, and you'll be using the 4870 for any choice you make anyway...

I think the rest of my setup would be a huge bottleneck.

Anyhow, thanks alot all of you, all your opinons have made me come closer to a final answer on what I should do, I'm not saying I'm there yet, but I'm not far away either

 

[GundamF91]

Just think about when Core2 came out, the early adopters enjoyed massive speed advantage, but this time around, the differential wont' be as great. Also, new tech always get cheaper, so if you want to save money, the best thing to buy when Nehalem came out.........will be Yorkfield.

 

[neosapien]

If you're going for bang for the buck, a nehalem bloomfield probably won't be your best bet. With a ~$700 cost just for the mb/2.66ghz cpu/memory, you're talking about a bare minimum ~$1100 system. If you want the best bang for the buck right now, go for something like this for $602 total:

Antec Sonata III case w/500w power supply: $100
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard: $85
EVGA Geforce 8800GT: $105 after rebate
Intel Pentium E5200 2.5Ghz: $87
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800 memory, any good brand: $77
WD Caviar 640GB HDD: $85
Samsung 22X DVD±R burner: $28
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro: $25
Antec 120mm TriCool fan: $10

I don't know if Bloomfield is ever going to offer a good price/performance ratio versus value CPUs like the E5200, because Bloomfield is supposed to be a performance part, and price seems to increase exponentially, rather than linearly, as performance increases. The E5200 will probably be the best bang for the buck part until Q3 '09 when Havendale comes out. If Havendale will support overclocking, then it will likely be the next best bang for the buck cpu. If Havendale doesn't support overclocking, then it will probably be a tossup at that time over whether to keep an E5200 or get the Havendale.