M2 - to wait or not to wait?

[HoldenMan]

Well, I'm building a new system....I was actually planning on getting the parts tomorrow.......but I've waited this long, I guess I could manage to stretch it out for another couple of weeks......seeing as I hear M2 will be out in March sometime

I don't suppose anybody has any idea on prices etc when M2 comes out?

I was just thinking M2 would be more 'futureproof'

But then again, my other line of thinking is that I don't know how long it'll take for more than a couple of M2 motherboards to hit the shelf...and how they'll price compared to current s939 boards......or, for that matter, how reliable it'll be being a new technology, so on that note while it comes out in a few weeks, it might not be worth getting for a few months.

But then again, just the presence of M2 on the market may force s939 prices down....but would it? And how much of a drop would that be?

Ackk...thoughts?

 

[Unkno]

depends how long you plan to keep your new system....if your planning on upgrading it in 1-2.5 years, then get 939 since there may be a few glitches (not to mention the higher prices) of a new socket...


it all really depends on how much better the performance would be with AM2....if you don't really need the system yet, you could hold out to see if the higher prices is worth it.

 

[HoldenMan]

I want to keep the system for 2-3 years...upgrading bits and pieces when it's required.

I suppose getting a s939 mobo/cpu then upgrading to AM2 in 18-24months (if needed) is an option.

Even if I do that, still wondering how much s939 prices will drop as soon as AM2 comes out, if at all.....

 

[kyparrish]

I haven't seen anything personally that makes me feel like AM2 will be such a leap ahead of current 939 technology at its launch. I'm sure down the road it will be great, but I think there is such great value in 939 now that if you need a rig, go ahead and build it.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

cpu pricing on S939 is not goin to drop that much i guess. mobo prices maybe. but if u can wait until summer AM2 launch is set for june not march i think. thing about upgrading from s939 to AM2 is that u will aswell have to upgrade the memory to DDR2. so in the end u cant really upgrade to AM2, it needs more a less a total new build (board, cpu, memory).

 

[Furen]

Yes, it looks like it'll be a June launch. I'm sure they'll be a price drop when AM2 comes out (if only because higher speedgrades are coming out) but I wouldn't expect anything huge. Intel IS having a pretty big price drop in april, I think, so there may be a counter move from AMD as well.

 

[HoldenMan]

Hmm...definitely not waiting until June....lol

 

[Stoneburner]

IS m2 going to REQUIRE ddr2? or are teh new chips going to have it an option

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

I personally plan on spending 300 dollars for the OCZ phase change unit (at least I hope it will cost around $300 ) and get my current X2 to 3.0ghtz (maybe a little more because right now I am at 2.64, I am not too greedy though). I think I will wait until DDR3 comes out after DDR2 on the AMD platform before upgrading my 939.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33
I think I will wait until DDR3 comes out after DDR2 on the AMD platform before upgrading my 939.

ddr2 didn't even come out yet and your waiting for ddr3?

BTW memory makes little to no difference in gaming.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Stoneburner
IS m2 going to REQUIRE ddr2? or are teh new chips going to have it an option

You will have to use DDR2 with AM2. You don't get an option of RAM types as the mem controller is integrated into the cpu.

 

[LED]

I'm up and running while waiting for it

 

[Jules]

the only thing better is the DDR2 Support. other then that.

 

[Doctorweir]

Originally posted by: HoldenMan
I want to keep the system for 2-3 years...upgrading bits and pieces when it's required.

I suppose getting a s939 mobo/cpu then upgrading to AM2 in 18-24months (if needed) is an option.

Even if I do that, still wondering how much s939 prices will drop as soon as AM2 comes out, if at all.....

Due date for AM2 is June and that's not worth the wait if you want a rig NOW
Performance-wise a nice 939 Dual Core Opteron setup with 2.6+ GHz will easily last 3 years to come.
And graphics-wise (which is and will be the actual and future bottleneck) you are already future/upgrade-proof for the years to come with PCIe.

 

[Skott]

The M2 chips obviously will surpass the 939s because they'll take us to 3GHz and beyond. In the beginning though it'll be a slow and expensive start I'm thinking. I figure the lowest end M2 chip will be about on par with the highest end 939 chip and be more expensive. This seems to be the norm when it comes to new chip lines. Maybe we'll get lucky and the first M2 chip will be like the 3800 X2 and be easily overclockable to much higher speeds?

 

[A554SS1N]

Originally posted by: SpeedZealot369

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33
I think I will wait until DDR3 comes out after DDR2 on the AMD platform before upgrading my 939.

ddr2 didn't even come out yet and your waiting for ddr3?

BTW memory makes little to no difference in gaming.

2GB is smoother in games

Regarding the speeds, well, in gaming, if the memory is faster, then levels may load a little faster (taking into account the limitation of hard disk). Plus speed helps if there is a lot of swapping in memory.

 

[Dribble]

As I understand it the first AM2 chips aren't much faster (either in clock speed or fps in games) then 939 - it is basically the 939 chip with a DDR2 memory controller so it's not going to run much differently. The reason to buy it is that when the next gen AMD cpu's come out (with 4 cores or whatever) they will use AM2 and DDR2 so if you're lucky you'll just be able to pop the new processor in and off you go. With 939 you'll need a new motherboard and memory too.
imo that midlife upgrade is worth the wait, particularly as cpu performance is increasing much more rapidly again with quad cores due out next year. However it depends on how long you want to wait ... they may be coming out in June but i bet it's a few more months before prices settle down and some decient o/cers motherboards come out.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

no i think transition will be smooth and that motherboard manufactures already have their AM2 mainboards in production, so that close after or even before you can buy an AM2 Cpu u will also be able to buy a good board with all features from Asus, DFI, Epox, MSI etc. No waiting.

 

[Dribble]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
no i think transition will be smooth and that motherboard manufactures already have their AM2 mainboards in production, so that close after or even before you can buy an AM2 Cpu u will also be able to buy a good board with all features from Asus, DFI, Epox, MSI etc. No waiting.

Hopefully you are right. I'm sure there will be working motherboards from the release date but going by most previous generations chances are the'll be something wrong with them (e.g. SATA won't lock properly so can't o/c more then 5%). There's also bound to be a couple of months of price gourging. The cheap time to buy will almost certainly be later in the autumn when Conroe has arrived and amd finally has some competition.