New system, Is there a point in waiting?

[Rbox]

I am in need of a new system, as my p III isn?t cutting it no more, at first I was thinking bout waiting for the launch of LGA775 next month, but then I got thinking?

At the same speeds Northwood is faster then Prescott, at least until higher speeds are released, but Grantsdale only supports Prescott.

The only reasoning for choosing Grantsdale after all, is being future proof; HOWEVER since the upcoming BTX form factor is going to require new casing, new cooling, and new power supplies, how future proof is the first crop of Grantsdale really going to be? Plus taking a look back, the upgrade path is almost never plausible; Intel usually changed chipsets after about 18 months, which means holding a system for round 3 years wouldn?t give you much of upgrade options due to new chipsets, new casings and so on.

Lastly prices, there is no doubt the pricing of older socket 478 MB and CPU is cheaper and will maintain a certain gap between the upcoming LGA 775 and 478.

I should note that the system would mainly be used for encoding and editing so graphics isn?t an issue for now.

Please follow my logic and tell me what you think, is there a real point in waiting for Grantsdale or not?

 

[myocardia]

I say if you're sure you want a heater (sorry, meant Prescott), then you should probably wait. But I personally wouldn't wait, since a P4C overclocks extremely well, and for Intel chips, they are going for very good prices right now.

 

[psiu]

Just get what you need now......

There's always going to be new and better. Although, in this case, perhaps waiting a few months and seeing how the PCI-X with the new assorted video cards topic plays. Add to that S-ATA, and it might be a good idea to wait for a little bit.

A new system built with today's stuff should still be supported in a few years though. I don't think the ATX standard will die out TOO fast. It will, but it will take awhile (as far as cases/psu's go).

Probably just start pricing a system that will do what you want it to do, and you'll be fine. It will still do the encoding and editing in 3 years just as well as it does it now. :beer:

 

[myocardia]

Both the Abit IS7 and IC7 already have SATA. It's only the Sis chipset motherboards that don't have it. BTW, those are the two motherboards I would recommend to you, Rbox.

 

[THUGSROOK]

buy now ~ not a prescott tho

 

[MichaelZ]

No point waiting. Get what you need because better things will always come out.

New Prescott on LGA775 should be noticably faster than S478. S478 Prescott is basically a test bed. If you get a S478 Prescott you'd be like the poor saps who bought first S423 P4s. BUT what do you expect the pricing to be? It's safe to say it won't be cheap as new technology never is. Northwood P4 prices are very decent right now, hook it up to a 865PE or better based motherboard and you'll be all set even for NV40 which will be AGP.

I've been holding out on upgrading my graphics card as the Ti still does a good enough job with a fast enough CPU. What other parts do you have? The savings on the 775 Prescott / Grantsdale MB combo might provide you with cash to spare for a new HDD or contribute towards a good video card.